Performance science
for the squad.
Sports performance coaching and mentoring built on three decades inside professional sport — across the codes, women's and men's, elite through to grass-roots. Mentor presentations, workshops and embedded cycles installed inside your training week, not bolted on top.
For the elite athlete inside a team.
Composure, recovery and identity — owned on demand, inside the squad.
Built for senior players, captains and contracted athletes — women and men — across NRL, rugby union, netball, cricket, AFL/AFLW, football (soccer) and Olympic codes. We work shoulder-to-shoulder with your club's coaches, S&C and performance staff — never around them. The cycle adapts to your competition rhythm and your stage of career.
Built around your training week.
Designed to fit inside your club's training week. The same protocols used by senior athletes operating at the top of professional sport — installed in the rhythm your club already trains to.
State Map
A baseline of your current state, recovery patterns and decision habits — built from interviews, performance data and inputs from your existing performance team.
Pre-performance Routines
Install repeatable arousal-control, focus and recovery rituals you own inside your normal training week — the same protocols used by athletes operating at the top of their sport.
Skill Cycles
Targeted blocks on the edges you've prioritised — pressure decision-making, identity protection through poor results, competition-week rhythm and post-loss recovery.
Season Review
Structured review of season or quarter performance against the targets set in your State Map. Outputs feed the next block so capability compounds rather than resets.
The shifts athletes report.
A repeatable internal protocol for arriving at the start line, the tip-off or the contest in the state your craft requires.
Active recovery routines — physical and psychological — that protect career length, not just next week's session.
Reduced cognitive debt during competition and a clearer hierarchy of what to think about, what to ignore, when to ask.
A sense of self that doesn't collapse with a poor result — and rebuilds from setback faster than competitors.
For elite clubs across the codes.
Mentor-led presentations, workshops and embedded cycles — delivered inside your club, alongside your staff.
Built for professional and semi-professional clubs across NRL, rugby union, netball, cricket, AFL/AFLW, football (soccer) and Olympic-program environments — women's and men's programs alike. Engagements range from a single keynote to your playing group through to a full season-long embedded cycle. Delivered on-site, alongside your head coach, football department and high-performance team. We add a specialist line — we never replace the people already in the room.
Embedded inside your performance unit.
Engagements range from one-off mentor presentations through to fully embedded season-long cycles. Whatever the scope, the work happens inside your training week — adapted to your code, your competition cycle and your existing high-performance department.
Club Diagnostic
A baseline of culture, decision rhythm and recovery norms across the playing group, coaching staff and performance unit — built shoulder-to-shoulder with your existing department.
Operating Rituals
Install the playing-group and staff routines that make state-regulation, recovery and early conflict-repair the norm rather than the exception inside the four walls of the club.
Embedded Cycles
Regular on-site blocks on game-day decision-making, identity through losing runs and coach–staff alignment — embedded inside your training week so the work happens with you, not on top of you.
Season Review
Structured review with the football and performance department against the targets set at Diagnostic. Outputs feed pre-season planning so the work compounds across seasons.
The shifts clubs report.
A shared internal protocol used across the squad in the moments that decide quarters, halves and finals.
Physical and psychological recovery treated with the same rigour as load and training — across the playing group and the staff who run them.
Coaches and senior players sharing a common hierarchy of what to think about, what to ignore and when to back the call.
Identity and standards that don't collapse during a five-game slide — and rebuild before the season is gone.
For grass-roots clubs.
The same thinking the elite use — sized to a community club, and fundable through real Australian grant pathways.
Most community clubs are run by a small group of volunteers carrying a heavy load — committee, coaches, parents, team managers. We bring a scaled version of the cycle into your club: mentor presentations to your playing groups, capability sessions for your coaches and committee, and short workshops on culture, identity and recovery. Designed to be accessible at the grass-roots level — and structured so it can be funded through grants rather than club reserves.
Real Australian funding pathways — designed for the volunteers, coaches and committee members who carry community sport.
Australian funding pathways that fit.
We've structured the grass-roots offering so it maps onto the categories real Australian programs already fund — coach and volunteer development, member welfare, and participation programs. Three example pathways many community clubs use, subject to current opening rounds and eligibility:
ASF Fundraising Platform
Not a grant, but the only mechanism in Australia that lets supporters donate to a club tax-deductibly. List a project on the ASF and raise funds from your members and community to cover coaching, development programs and athlete welfare — including a Change Room cycle for your club.
Official program pageVolunteer & Officials category
Designed to improve the skills and retention of volunteers, coaches and officials — a direct fit for our mentor presentations and workshops to your committee, coaching staff and team managers. Eligibility, opening rounds and amounts vary by state.
Official program pageVolunteer Grants 2025–26
Open to community organisations including grass-roots sporting clubs. Useful for funding development sessions and capability work for the volunteers who keep your club running. Expressions of interest go through your local Federal MP.
Official program pageState-level programs (NSW Local Sport Grant Program, QLD FairPlay & Active Industry Fund, WA CSRFF, SA Active Club Program and others) also fund development work for community clubs. Eligibility, opening rounds and grant amounts change year to year — we're happy to help you scope a program that fits your state's current criteria. Get in touch and we'll work through it together.
The people who walk in with you.
Coaches, athletes and performance specialists who have spent careers in the rooms you operate in.
Every Sports engagement is led by Matt Elliott and shaped to your code. The right specialists from the collective walk in alongside him — never a roster of lookalikes, always the people we'd actually call when the result matters.
Matt Elliott
Founder · Leadership & Culture Coach
Three decades inside professional sport. Former NRL head coach. Designed the cycle the Sports arm runs.
Anthony Minichiello
Elite Athlete · Wellbeing Educator
275-game NRL fullback, premiership winner and dual international. The lived experience of fifteen elite seasons.
Brett Robinson
Performance & Olympic Coach
Olympic and professional performance therapist. Designs the recovery and conditioning systems elite bodies rely on.
Mark Hughes
Premiership Winner & Advocate
Newcastle Knights premiership winner and brain-cancer survivor. Leads our work on identity through adversity.
Nam Baldwin
High-Performance Coach
Coach to Olympians, world-champion surfers and special-forces operators. The state-regulation specialist.
Bring The Change Room to your sport.
Whether you're a contracted athlete, an elite club rebuilding a culture across an entire department, or a community club looking to scope a grant-funded program for your players and volunteers — start with a conversation.
Enquire