Birth name | Zane Hilton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 1981 (age 43–44) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | St Joseph's College, Nudgee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Zane Hilton (born 1981) is an Australian professional rugby union coach with over two decades of experience in player development and team strategy across domestic and international rugby. His career spans key roles in Australia, Europe, and Asia, contributing significantly to the growth of rugby at various levels.
Early Career and Development Roles
Hilton began his coaching career as a Development Officer and Regional College Manager for the Queensland Rugby Union from 2000 to 2006, focusing on nurturing grassroots talent and building a strong foundation for future rugby programs in Queensland. [1]
International Coaching Experience
Hilton served as a skills coach for Benetton Treviso in Italy during the 2006–2007 season, working on player skill enhancement and contributing to the overall development of the team. [2]
Domestic Coaching in Australia
Hilton joined the University of Queensland Rugby Club in 2007 as an Assistant Coach and Academy Manager, helping prepare the team for competitive success in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. [3] In 2009, he became the head coach for Brothers Rugby Club in Brisbane, leading the team to win the Queensland Premier Rugby title and ending a 23-year premiership drought. [4]
Coaching in Japan
From 2011 to 2014, Hilton served as head coach for Kyuden Voltex and Canon Eagles in Japan. His leadership focused on tactical advancements and player development, helping achieve team promotions within Japan’s competitive rugby leagues. [5]
Super Rugby and National Championship
Hilton joined the Melbourne Rebels in 2014 as Forwards Coach in Super Rugby, where he was instrumental in enhancing the team’s set-piece strategies and building a strong forward pack. [6] Concurrently, he served as head coach for Melbourne Rising in the National Rugby Championship, focusing on identifying and developing young talent while maintaining competitive team performances. [7]
National Team Roles
Hilton held the position of High Performance Manager for Samoa Rugby Union from 2018 to 2019, overseeing player development across all Samoa national teams, including both men’s and women’s squads in 15-a-side and 7-a-side formats. He also contributed to Samoa’s preparations for the Rugby World Cup during this period. [8] In 2023, Hilton was the Assistant Coach for the Tonga National Team during their Rugby World Cup campaign. [9]
Return to Australian Rugby
From 2019-2023, Zane Hilton returned to Kyuden Voltex as head coach and built the team from scratch again to take them up to Division 2 of Japanese Rugby. His work exemplified his ability to rebuild and enhance teams within competitive environments. [10]
In 2023, Hilton returned to Australia as an Assistant Coach for the Queensland Reds in Super Rugby. His expertise has been pivotal in refining the team’s lineout, maul, and scrum tactics, earning praise for his innovative approaches. [11]
Recent Endeavors
In 2024, Hilton became Assistant Coach for Australia A, helping prepare the team for the Spring Tour series against England. [12]
Chris Latham is an Australian former rugby union player who enjoyed a distinguished representative career with the Wests Bulldogs, Queensland Reds and Australia between 1998 and 2007 before signing with Worcester Warriors in the UK and later Japanese club Kyuden Voltex.
Nathan Patrick Grey is a former Australian rugby union footballer, who played mostly at centre, sometimes flyhalf. He is currently the defence coach for the New South Wales Waratahs and the Australian national team.
Kyūshu Kyuden Voltex is a Japanese rugby team owned by Kyushu Electric Power Co.. The nickname "Voltex" is a conflation of "Voltage" and "Techniques" and was decided after the team won promotion to the Top League. The team is based in Kashii, Fukuoka and from the 2007-8 season is playing in the semi-professional Top League at the top of Japanese domestic rugby. It is the third team based in Kyūshū to play in the league, the other two being Coca-Cola Red Sparks and Munakata Sanix Blues.
Queensland Country is an Australian rugby union football team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team is one of two Queensland sides in the competition, the other being Brisbane City. Queensland Country is organised and managed by the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU), with the coaching and training programs used at the Queensland Reds extended to players joining the team from the Reds, Premier and Country rugby teams.
Willie Poching is a New Zealand professional rugby league football coach and former player. He is the former head-coach of Wakefield Trinity in the Super League. When he was appointed head coach of Wakefield, he became the first Samoan head coach of a first grade rugby league club. A former New Zealand, and Samoa international representative forward, he spent his career playing for clubs in New Zealand, Australia and finally England, winning the Super League championship with Leeds Rhinos in 2004.
2008 was the first competitive season for the Cairns based CRGT Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club. They were one of 11 clubs that played in the thirteenth season of Queensland's top rugby league competition, QRL's Wizard Queensland Cup.
The Samoa women's national rugby league team, also known as the Fetū Sāmoa, represents Samoa in Women's rugby league. They are administered by the Rugby League Samoa.
Tom McVerry is an Australian rugby union player who currently plays as a loose forward for the Brumbies in the international Super Rugby competition.
Sean Hedger is an Australian professional rugby union coach. He is currently an assistant coach of the Super Rugby team the Melbourne Rebels. He was appointed as head coach of the Melbourne Rising for the inaugural season of Australia's National Rugby Championship in 2014.
Steve Anderson is a former Assistant Coach of Glasgow Rugby, now known as the Glasgow Warriors; a former rugby league coach of various clubs including assistant coach Australian Kangaroos; a former High Performance Manager of the Scottish and Irish Rugby Unions; and now head coach, High Performance, Rugby Australia
The Queensland Under-20 rugby league team, also known as Queensland Under-20s or Queensland U20, represents Queensland in the sport of rugby league at an under-20 age level. Since 2012, the team has played an annual fixture against the New South Wales Under-20s team for the Darren Lockyer Shield. The team features players selected from the NRL, Intrust Super Cup, Canterbury Cup NSW, Hastings Deering Colts and Jersey Flegg Cup competitions. They are administered by the Queensland Rugby League.
Kristian Woolf is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Dolphins in the National Rugby League (NRL). At international level, he has coached Tonga.
Anthony Eddy is a rugby union coach who recently was employed by the Ireland Rugby Football Union from December 2014 to March 2022. His role with the IRFU was as both the Director of rugby sevens and the Director of women's rugby. Eddy was brought in to oversee the Ireland national rugby sevens team shortly after the program was established in October 2014.
Keenan Palasia is a Samoa international rugby league and Māori All Stars footballer who plays as a lock and prop for the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, nicknamed "Hammer", is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback for the Dolphins in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Peter Wilkins is an English rugby union coach. He is currently Head Coach of Irish provincial team Connacht Rugby in the United Rugby Championship competition. He was previously Senior Coach and Attack Coach at Connacht Rugby in the Guinness Pro14, Assistant Coach of Edinburgh Rugby, also in the Guinness Pro14, and Assistant Coach of the Queensland Reds in the Super Rugby competition. Prior to this, he held roles as Head Performance Analyst of the Queensland Reds, Head Coach of Queensland Reds A, and Coaching Coordinator of Queensland Country in the Australian National Rugby Championship.
The United States national under-23 rugby union team represents the United States in rugby union at U23 level. It is currently sponsored by multinational insurance corporation, AIG.
The 2024 Queensland Reds season was the 28th Queensland Reds season in the Super Rugby since entering the professional era in 1996. In addition to the domestic competition played across the Tasman and the Pacific, the Reds also hosted Wales on their tour of Australia (July) following the conclusion of the season, and toured Tonga, playing a development XV fixture in Nukuʻalofa.
Timothy Atkinson is an Australian former professional rugby union player.
Luke Doherty is an Australian former professional rugby union player.