Dr Andrew Dixon

As my time with Oldham RLFC comes to an end, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on the season and the processes that underpinned it. I set out with two objectives: maintain player availability above 85% and win a trophy. We achieved the first, finishing with 91.48% availability across 33 games. Ultimately, we fell short on the second.

Availability is an MDT outcome. Our challenge was simple: get the right information, at the right time, to make the right decisions. We adopted the mantra: the best ability is availability.

Bringing in medical consultant Nathan Mill was pivotal to provide clear assessment processes and guidance throughout the year for our medical staff - not only a first class person but unbelievable practitioner who had a huge impact on how we operated.

Our coaching staff were consistently open to conversations around adjusting/ modifying individuals training - you don’t achieve high availability without this buy-in & trust. The players deserve equal credit. We had a senior group who knew their bodies and communicated exceptionally well. My role was to bring everything together: medical information, player feedback, GPS load, time on feet and training demands to decide when to push, when to pull, and how to keep players building capacity and tolerance through training rather than simply removing them from it.

91.48% is the outcome. The processes, systems and frameworks behind it are what I’m most proud of.