England legend Mike Catt joins Waratahs' new-look coaching group

The NSW Waratahs have made some more headline-grabbing moves in the off-season with the club announcing their star-studded coaching and high performance team for 2025. Head coach Dan McKellar will be joined by three assistants who boast a wealth of quality and experience.

Rugby World Cup winner Mike Catt will serve as the assistant coach for the attack. The former backline utility helped England win the sport’s ultimate prize for the first and only time in 2003, and he’s since transitioned into coaching.

Catt OBE, who was infamously caught on the wrong end of a destructive run by the late Jonah Lomu at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, has experience as an attack coach with London Irish in England’s Premiership, as well as England, Italy and Ireland.

Former Australia A coach Dan Palmer will reunite with McKellar as the set-piece guru, with the pair working together at the ACT Brumbies and the Leicester Tigers. Palmer was a Waratah during his playing days and also donned Wallaby gold in 2012.

Finally, another Waratah will return to the club. Lachlan McCaffrey will be the defence coach for the Sydney-based club in 2025, with the enforcer Act Brumbies enforcer adding invaluable experience after playing stints in the UK, Japan and the USA.

McCaffrey has worked as an assistant for Otago and the head coach for Gungahlin Eagles since transitioning into a coaching career.

Waratahs legend Tom Carter will also take over as the Head of Athletic Performance and looking over the athletic performance program for SVNS Series women’s champions Australia for the last five and a half years.

Catt, Palmer, McCaffrey and Carter have all signed on for at least three years.

“We’re thrilled to have acquired such a well-credentialed and experienced group of individuals to lea our club forward,” Director of High Performance, Simon Raiwalui, said in a statement.

“The process encompassed talent identification and analysis domestically and internationally and I’m confident that these men will each make a positive impact on the Waratahs.

“Our players will be blessed with elite guidance and expertise to progress their careers and bring on-field success to our members and fans.”

This new-look coaching group is another step in the right direction for the Tahs as they look to improve on their disappointing campaign last season.

The Waratahs have been quite busy in the off-season by adding some real firepower to their playing ranks for 2025. Earlier this week, prop Taniela Tupou became the latest Wallaby to sign on for next year’s campaign.

Andrew Kellaway, Darby Lancaster and Rob Leota are other Australian internationals who have inked deals with the franchise. Sydney Roosters flyer is, of course, another massive coup for the club after signing a lucrative deal to jump codes from the NRL.

“Taniela is one of Australia’s best rugby players and any club in the world would be happy to have his services,” Raiwalui said earlier this week.

“His signing is a portrayal of the positive direction that the Waratahs are heading in, and I have no doubt that our members and fans will be eagerly anticipating seeing Taniela running out in sky blue next season.”