{"id":328904,"date":"2025-12-05T07:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/328904\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T07:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:05:08","slug":"rugby-union-superstar-lands-nrl-coaching-role-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/328904\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby union superstar lands NRL coaching role for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"firstHeading\" class=\"firstHeading mw-first-heading\">French rugby union icon Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Michalak will return to NRL outfit Cronulla Sharks in 2026, taking on a role as an assistant coach once his duties with Racing 92 are seen through to the end of their Top 14 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Now 43, Michalak \u2013 who operated as a fly-half during an illustrious playing career in the 15-a-side code \u2013 previously spent time working for the Sharks as a Kicking and Skills consultant back in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Toulouse, he played 77 Test matches for France on the international stage while plying his club career in South Africa as well as his home country.<\/p>\n<p>The former Lyon star has been an Attack Coach with Racing 92 since 2023, and will remain in that role until the end of their current campaign before heading Down Under and joining <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loverugbyleague.com\/tag\/cronulla\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cronulla<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Rugby union superstar lands NRL coaching role for 2026 as appointment confirmed<\/p>\n<p>Craig Fitzgibbon\u2019s Sharks finished fifth on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loverugbyleague.com\/nrl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> ladder in 2025 and came within 80 minutes of a Grand Final appearance, being beaten by eventual runners-up Melbourne Storm.<\/p>\n<p>In Michalak, they have brought on board a coach with plenty of experience in both codes having also previously spent time with fellow NRL club Sydney Roosters.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Fitzgibbon had plenty of praise for the Frenchman, saying: \u201cFred\u2019s experience on the international stage will be an invaluable asset for our squad, especially heading into the business end of next season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s already built strong relationships with many of our players and staff through his consultancy work and we have no doubt as to the value he\u2019ll provide our program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wish Fred well as he looks to finish his time at Racing 92 on a high note and can\u2019t wait to welcome him to our club full time in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the Sharks announced Michalak\u2019s appointment, they confirmed that he would be replacing Josh Hannay, who has taken up a head coach role at the Gold Coast Titans for 2026. Hannay has replaced Des Hasler in the Titans\u2019 hotseat ahead of next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French rugby union icon Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Michalak will return to NRL outfit Cronulla Sharks in 2026, taking on a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-328904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}