Recruitment guru Peter Mulholland has joined the Raiders as the new NRL recruitment and high performance manager. Mulholland replaces David Hamilton who finished up with the club after 17 years of service. Hamilton along with head coach Ricky Stuart spearheaded the major roster overhaul that has occurred at the Raiders. Just five players from the top 25 players in 2013 remain with the team.
Mulholland is extremely respected for his past stints coaching Paris St Germain, the Western Reds, North Sydney Bears and assisting at Penrith Panthers. Recently he has focused on recruitment management, spending time at Canterbury, Newcastle and St George before joining the Raiders.
Having only been with the Raiders for a few weeks, Mulholland’s first job was assessing where the team is at currently and plans for future seasons.
“There are really good things in place at the club, the junior setup is as good as any I’ve seen. Working with Ezra Howe (Junior Recruitment Manager) we will be looking at our Under 20’s and determining the potential NRL players. Also identifying what Ricky needs moving forward into 2017 and 2018, which we have already had meetings on. At the moment it is just working on that process for 2017.” Mulholland said.
Mulholland’s role will see him devoting time to both recruitment and high performance. Mulholland will oversee numerous areas of high performance while he will remain more hands on with recruitment. Achieving the optimal balance between both will be the most important thing.
Mulholland’s 13 years coaching at St Greg’s boarding school has equipped him with expertise at picking talented players and developing them into stars. Josh Hodgson was a perfect example of the Raiders recruiting outside their normal locations and Hodgson definitely repaid recruiters faith with a fantastic first season. Mulholland is a supporter of recruiting from outside normal areas as well.
“I had luck to go over this year and watch the Super League magic weekend. The English competition is incredibly tough. It isn’t as skilful as the NRL in a lot of ways, it is probably a little bit faster and it is very physical. They are tough men. Elliott Whitehead is going to be a very, very successful player in the NRL. The ITM Cup (Rugby Union) in New Zealand is the next best competition to look at. ”
Following the roster overhaul Mulholland is very confident about the current Raiders team and the future outlook.
“This is the first year Ricky will have his own team. It takes a coach two or three years, sometimes even longer to turn a roster around. I think he has done a marvellous job. Before I came to the Raiders the talk around the other teams was how strong the Raiders will be in 2016.”
The Raiders returning to the finals in 2016 is vital to Mulholland and all involved with the team. Mulholland is confident when quizzed on how he thinks the team will go in 2016.
“Returning to the finals is the bottom line. I think we have every opportunity of making the finals in 2016. We haven’t lost a game yet.”
Peter Mulholland's interview is featured in the fourth and final edition of the 2015 Raider magazine, which is now available. Also included in the magazine is an interview with Sia Soliola after he picked up the 2015 Meninga Medal plus heaps more!
CLICK HERE to read the online version of the Raider Magazine.
NOTE: Physical copies of the magazine will be available at Raiders HQ mid-December. There will be no copies sent via mailout.
CLICK HERE to read all of the past issues of this year's magazine.
