Since her glittering career came to an end former Wallaroos playmaker Alana Thomas has well and truly made her mark as a mentor, after stunning success in 2017 she was crowned Rugby Australia’s Community Coach of the Year last month – the second straight year a female coach has claimed the gong.
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Thomas led the Melbourne Unicorns to a premiership this year, which was the catalyst for the award, but she also continued in her role as head coach of Victoria’s state side, which competed at the Australian and Southern States championships.
Thomas, a former Orange Emus and Forbes Platypi pivot, was on hand at Rugby Australia’s night of nights to accept the Geoff 'Bunter' Shaw Award and was understandably thrilled – and overwhelmed – with the win.
“You don’t do it for the recognition, but it is really nice to get,” Thomas said.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all, I didn’t know I’d been nominated until I got a call from [Rugby Australia] to say they wanted to send me up for the awards night.”
The Unicorns secured the Lindforth Cup in a thrilling grand final, winning 19-17 over Uni Panthers.
Of course Thomas’ aim was always to win a premiership, every coach’s is, and while she knew the side could be capable of doing so she admitted she thought the Unicorns might take some time to hit their straps.
They didn’t.
“We had a few players new to rugby and that sort of thing so I was expecting us to maybe start the season a little slowly but then we came out and had a really great win in the first round, that made me sit up and rethink where I thought we were as a team a little bit,” she laughed.
“The grand final was tough, we stuck in there and hit the lead with about three minutes to go, and held on.”
Thomas’ move into coaching was a pretty natural progression, she was among the Wallaroos’ leaders toward the back end of her career – which spanned from 2006-2010 – but actually moved to Melbourne, originally, to pursue her career in accounting.
Two years ago Thomas, originally from Glen Innes, took on the role of business services co-ordinator with the Victorian Institute of Sport, giving her the best of both worlds in combining her career with her passion for sport.
Now, she harbours dreams of moving into Australia’s set-up.
“I’d love to eventually move into the Wallaroos set-up, that’s certainly the end goal,” she said.
“Right now I probably see myself as more of an assistant coach in those terms, but it would provide me a great opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business.”
There was another success story in 2017 that Thomas was thrilled about too, Forbes’ Blowes Clothing Cup win.
“I always follow along with what’s happening around the Central West, it’ll always be home in a way after the success I had while I was there,” she said.
“It was great to see Forbes win that one, I’d followed along with the heart-breaking losses from penalty goals but from what I’d read and seen I thought the guys were always a chance in that grand final.
“I watched the live stream and by the end of it I was really willing that final whistle to blow, the first one since 2003 after the Bali bombings with plenty of new faces, it was great.
“More than anything it was great to see people like (president) Tracey Prior enjoy that kind of success, after so many years of hard work.”