Matt Duffie will start his post-playing career by rejoining Melbourne Storm in a newly created role as Pathways Coach from June.
Duffie, 31, announced his retirement from rugby union at the weekend and will return to the club where he played 62 NRL matches across the 2010-15 seasons.
Based in Melbourne, he will take charge of coaching and mentoring Storm’s best development players, including the footballers involved in the Storm First Nations Pathway Program supported by Coles.
Duffie first joined Storm at the end of 2008 and was part of the club’s premiership-winning NYC under-20s team in 2009.
He scored two tries on his NRL debut in 2010 and was named Storm’s Rookie of the Year for that season.
Unfortunately, a sizeable part of his Storm career was affected by serious injuries, but he showed outstanding resolve and resilience to reach the 50-game mark and represented New Zealand before finishing up with Storm in 2015.
He went on to have a fine rugby career, highlighted by two caps for the vaunted NZ All Blacks and 54 matches for the Auckland-based Blues in Super Rugby.
Storm General Manager – Football Frank Ponissi said Duffie would be a welcome addition to Melbourne’s coaching team.
“Matt had a strong passion for improving his game as a player and we’re sure he will be a success in passing on all the knowledge he has gained as a coach to the young players in our system,” Ponissi said.
He knows the ups and downs of the game, what it takes to succeed and what it takes to fight back from adversity
Frank Ponissi General Manager - Football
“His attitude and what he achieved here as a player is still used as an example to our players of today.
