Brumbies head coach Dan McKellar has extended with the club until the end of the 2022 and is keen to continue building on the success heโs achieved in the capital since taking the reins in 2018.
McKellar made the announcement a week before his side kicks off their title defence against the Western Force for round one of the 2021 Super Rugby AU season on Thursday 19 February.
He described the decision to stay in the capital a no-brainer.
โThere was absolutely no reason to consider going anywhere,โ he said.
โI donโt think coaches are too different to players; you like to have all the off-field business sorted out so we can just focus on whatโs important, and thatโs February 19.โ
โWeโre nowhere near our ceiling, we feel weโve got a whole lot of improvement in us โ thatโs coaches and players โ and that excites us,โ McKellar said.
Brumbies head coach Dan McKellar
2021 will be the 44-year-oldโs fourth season in charge at the club with the side winning the inaugural Super Rugby AU title last year.
McKellar first arrived in the capital in 2011, where he took the Tuggeranong Vikings to back-to-back John I Dent Championships, before joining the Brumbies as an assistant coach in 2013.
Long feared for their set-piece and famous rolling maul, under McKellarโs tutelage the Brumbies have become a more balanced side by way of an expansive, dynamic attack and stingy defence.
โWe like to think now weโve got a whole lot more tools in the kit,โ McKellar said.
Having rounded out the sideโs rugby program with help from assistant coaches Laurie Fisher and new addition Rod Seib, McKellar said thereโs still plenty to work on over the next two years.
โWe want to get better,โ he said.
Fisher and Seib will both be at the club until at least the end of 2022 too, keeping the core coaching unit together.
โWeโre nowhere near our ceiling, we feel weโve got a whole lot of improvement in us โ thatโs coaches and players โ and that excites us,โ McKellar said.
โWhilst we won Super Rugby AU (in 2020), we probably look back on it and feel like we didnโt play to our full potential.
โThereโs certain areas of our attack that weโve done a lot of work on since the end of 2017 to be honest.
โWe were very good defensively last year โฆ We think we can be better and use defence to get the ball back to then go on attack; they go hand in hand.โ
Having been touted as a future international coach and with the 2023 Rugby World Cup on the horizon, McKellar was non-committal on whether heโd like to join the Wallabies set-up before the tournament.
โPlayers aspire to play at the highest level, coaches are no different and thatโs certainly what I aspire to do one day,โ he said.
โWhether thatโs in the near future or a few years down the track, or if it doesnโt happen it doesnโt happen.
โLifeโs all about opportunity and timing and if that opportunity presents at the right time for me, itโs obviously something Iโd consider.โ
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