A full-circle moment unfolded at the GIANTS this week when world champion coxswain Nick Dunlop visited the club to share some words of wisdom with the GIANTS’ AFLW program.
Dunlop, the son of the club’s former number one ticket holder and current board member Mel Doyle, has established himself in his own right in recent years, with the 25-year-old becoming one of Australia’s most accomplished coxswains.
A current member of the Australian Men’s Eight team, Dunlop only recently returned from the European rowing season and stopped by the club to share his unique skillset as a communicator with the GIANTS’ AFLW program.
With his family having strong connections to the club for many years, Dunlop said his visit this week brought back some fond memories.
“I’ve been a longtime fan of the GIANTS, with Mum being in love with them,” he laughed.
“I don’t think I’ve been out here since before COVID, so it didn’t have the new recovery facility – it’s great.
“I remember coming out here as a kid in school holidays and running water for the men’s team while they were training, which was back when I was little. I feel like I’ve been a genuine, true fan from day one.
“So it’s pretty cool that the worlds kind of cross over that way and I’m back here.”
Dunlop, who holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in psychology from the University of Washington in Seattle, was asked through a connection at the club to come in and share insights into his role with the Australian Rowing Team and the importance of communication to success.
“I was asked to come and talk about communication, as my unique role as the cox kind of bridges that gap of part coach, part athlete.
“I feel like that is the bottom line of my role: effective communication. And I guess people skills ties into that as well.
“It’s kind of one of those things that I like to think is a universal skill and that you can always find crossover in these sorts of things.
“So I wanted to give them [the AFLW program] a bit of insight into what my role actually looks like, why I need to focus on this skill and why it’s useful, relevant and required for success.”
Dunlop had a couple of key focuses he shared with the AFLW squad.
“I spoke a bit about how I frame up feedback for the rowers in my boat,” he said.
“I frame it two ways. It’s either, ‘I need X from you,’ and it comes from a place of knowing that I’ve seen you do it better before, and I know you can do it better.
“Or the other avenue is, you kind of ask for something technically from one rower, and you get the others to kind of get around them and support them.
“So saying to someone, ‘Hey, I need you to really take the lead on this,’ and then you get others to kind of support them and back them up.
“That kind of builds the trust, the forming of one unit, one crew, kind of working as one mind versus nine separate minds.
“That’s my role: to communicate one actionable theme that everyone can do to be faster as a unit.
“I need to be the constant balance. You’re not going to keep everyone happy, but it’s about trying to navigate different people at different times in stressful situations.
“I also explained the reason behind pulling in a group of people versus an individual, and why one [way of communicating] works for one person and doesn’t work for someone else.”
Dunlop loved sharing his insights with the group, noting he too can learn from the club’s AFLW players.
“It was really cool. They were all locked in. I was honoured to be able to share a slice of my story and my role.
“Even just listening to their chat afterwards and having a bit of a debrief from the weekend’s game, highlighting what they can change, what they did well and what they need to double down on.
“It’s just always interesting how teams operate, and you can always learn from any team in this sort of environment.
“I guess the way I look at it is, when someone comes in and talks to our team, if even one person takes away something from it that helps them, then it’s worthwhile for the whole team to be there.
“So I hope that they feel the same way – that it’s sparked someone’s interest, at least, or given them something to think about.
“And it doesn’t matter whether you’re obviously mid-season now, but it doesn’t matter if you’re pre-season or post-season. It’s always something you’re going to be navigating.
“Hopefully they got something from me because I really enjoyed it. It’s funny because being around them has got me itching to get back to training myself.”
