He enjoyed an illustrious career with the Sydney Swans, returned to the SCG as forwards coach and tackled a stint as midfield coach.
And as Brett Kirk enters a new chapter in his storied journey in red and white, the former 241-match champion is determined to keep driving the club to greater heights.
In an off-season reshuffle of Sydney’s football department, Kirk made the switch from midfield coach to a role in high performance and development.
The 2005 premiership midfielder is now orchestrating the work of development coaches Jeremy Laidler and Lloyd Perris, working closely with the high-performance team and ensuring communication between the coaching team and high-performance department flows smoothly – and he says he’s intent on continuing to propel the club forward.
“I love the footy club. I’ve spent a great chunk of my life here and it’s really shaped who I am,” Kirk told SwansTV.
“I’m really indebted to the footy club and grateful that I’m now in a position to share the experience and wisdom that I’ve gained with the young players coming through. I want to keep building on the culture we’ve got here – the Bloods culture and what we want to stand for as a footy club – and keep the club driving towards success.”
Kirk worked as an assistant coach with Fremantle over the course of three years and returned to Sydney ahead of season 2016.
The dual Bob Skilton medallist oversaw the Swans’ forward line in seasons 2016 and 2017, before taking charge of the midfield brigade for 2018 and 2019.
“I’m really enjoying having a more holistic look at players and the club and how we can move forward and be successful,” Kirk said.
“A big part of my role is I’m involved in a lot of medical, conditioning and strength meetings, understanding what players are doing and understanding what they need to do. Then it’s about being a conduit and sharing that information between the rest of our coaching staff.
“It’s really important to be on the same page. What a certain player might be working on with their footy might transfer to what they’re working on in the gym. It all goes hand in hand.”
A key tool in Kirk’s professional and personal lives is books on self-development, so much so that his office could be mistaken for a library.
Among his stash of books sitting in a corner of his office are An Open Heart by the Dalai Lama, The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield and The Greatness Guide by Robin Sharma.
Kirk hopes his interest in self-development books rubs off on the players.
“I’m all about improving in any way I can, whether that’s as a coach, as a dad, as a mate and so on,” Kirk said.
“I’m always looking at different ways I can look at things and challenge myself and explore my thinking. So I put my books in the corner of my office, I have a library card and hopefully it pricks the curiosity of our players. If they can pick them up, check them out and take something away themselves then that’s really good.”
