'I've been burnt in the past': With both clubs courting him, why did Greg choose Lions over Emus

Stints at Gordon Highlanders, Western Sydney Two Blues, and Warringah Rats saw the North Shore man coach every grade from colts to Shute Shield.

He considers his time under the guidance of current Waratah's coach Darren Coleman and former Wallaby Mark Gerrard while coaching at Warringah as the most valuable of them all.

But it hasn't all been sunshine and roses.

"I've been burnt in the past where I've taken on a coaching role where I didn't have any kind of alignment with the committee, with their vision, how they see things," he said.

So when both Emus and Orange City began courting him, he thought long and hard about which club he wanted to call his own.

The decision wasn't made any easier by the fact he'd previously coached current players from both clubs.

"It was a little bit of a hard one because people were hitting me up, but I was pretty honest with them and said I'd speak to both and see what suits me best. It's about me getting the right feel," Lee added.

"It's one thing for a player to encourage you, but it's another to have good alignment with the people you're going to be working with."

In the end, he felt more Lions were a better fit and so he signed on as City's first grade coach for 2024.

But his reasoning for moving from Sydney to the Central West wasn't determined by rugby.

A school teacher by trade, Lee got tired of the "hustle and bustle" and decided it was time for a tree change.

He'd previously visited the Colour City an even took in a derby during the 2023 Blowes Clothing Cup season.

"It's a little bit different in that people genuinely play for the love of the game," he said.

"Not that it doesn't happen in Sydney, but say you're at a Premiership club, there's a lot of guys that are fighting hard for a professional contract if they can get it. They're mixed up with guys who love their footy, but realise they aren't going to play Super Rugby.

"There's that imbalance as a coach which you've got to try and alleviate any differences."

He likened the atmosphere in Orange to coaching community rugby in Sydney.

"People are not getting paid, they love the game and they want to get better. It's about the contest and the after-match and I think we've lose a bit of that in Sydney," Lee added.

"I enjoy bush footy."

With his coaching future now locked up for the foreseeable future, how does he plan on getting the Lions back to being title contenders?

Well, the first thing he needs to do is prove to his players he wants success just as badly as they do.

"I've maintained this mantra for a long time in my coaching philosophy that no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care," he said.

"Ultimately with what I've seen so far, there's a lot of potential and it's a matter of identifying if blokes are in the right positions, if everyone got their fair share of play time and all that kind of stuff I'll get to learn about when pre-season comes."

One thing you can guarantee out of Lee is he'll always be up for a yarn.

"When I came to some Orange games, people just say g'day to you which is very different to Sydney because people just walk past you. Unless you know them, they don't care," Lee said.

"I don't think they care that much about the person next door and I want to get back to somewhere that they do."