Zane Hilton has been re-signed by the Queensland Reds for two years in a strong show of coaching continuity.<\/p>\n
Hilton\u2019s productive three seasons as set piece mentor, beside Reds Head Coach Les Kiss, will now flow into an assistant coach role with incoming Head Coach Vern Cotter for 2027-28.<\/p>\n
Hilton\u2019s work is highly valued and the results have been concrete with the strong scrum, lineout and rolling maul that feature in the Reds\u2019 make-up.<\/p>\n
The well-travelled Hilton, 44, brings all the experience and expertise he has harnessed across two decades as a coach.<\/p>\n
Reds assistant coach Zane Hilton shares a winning moment post-match with lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto<\/p>\n
His resume includes being an assistant coach with Tonga at the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the dual role as High-Performance General Manager\/assistant coach for Samoa in the lead-up to the 2019 edition.<\/p>\n
He had an initial skills coaching stint with Benetton Rugby in Italy in 2006,\u00a0nine seasons with Japanese clubs and three years as forwards coach with the Melbourne Rebels (2014-17) in Super Rugby.<\/p>\n
Throughout, he has remained a proud Queenslander.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty simple. Every day I say I\u2019m in my dream job coaching the players I do. I\u2019m lucky enough to be watching many of them grow and grow each year having first seen them in the school and club system in Queensland,” Hilton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo continue to be a part of that is not something I take lightly. This job with Queensland is an honour, not a stepping stone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guiding his club side Brothers to the 2009 Hospital Cup premiership will always be one of his coaching highs after honing off-field skills as the Queensland Rugby Union’s Regional College Manager (2003-06).<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys like (Reds Head of Talent Management) Paul Carozza and (Buildcorp Reds Academy Head Coach) Dale Roberson do an amazing job in identifying, developing and retaining talent in the Academy system,\u201d Hilton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the reasons I want to be in Queensland rugby is to see our rugby developed so we are a sustainable force over 10-15 years. Queensland is one of the great rugby nurseries so it is an exciting space to work in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hilton said working in a coaching team with Kiss and fellow assistants Brad Davis, Jonathan Fisher and Roberson continues to be a cutting-edge environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are forever learning and growing as individuals just as the team continues to evolve,\u201d Hilton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt the Reds have matured under Les. Apart from the amount of rugby knowledge he brings, there is no doubt he has a great ability to align a whole organisation from the change room up with how good of a person he is.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of his phrases is \u2018you be you\u2019 and you do enjoy the responsibility to get your area nailed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Queensland Reds General Manager-High Performance Sam Cordingley said Hilton’s expertise is highly valued.<\/p>\n
“We are really pleased to have Zane re-commit to the Reds. His experience as a coach is an obvious asset but what sets him apart is his passion for all things Queensland rugby,” Cordingley said.<\/p>\n
Hilton said everything there is to play for at the Reds this season is his focus.<\/p>\n
Hilton will be part of the Reds group embarking today on the trip to Super Round to play an Anzac Day match against the Blues in a packed house at a new stadium in Christchurch on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you represent Queensland, there is excitement. The big occasions, these games, are ones you want to work in. The significance of Anzac Day just adds to it,\u201d Hilton said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zane Hilton has been re-signed by the Queensland Reds for two years in a strong show of coaching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,13506,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-625076","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-reds","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625076","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=625076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}