Chris Latham says he’s got a “burning desire” to coach the Reds and is willing to continue to travel the world, including rugby’s final frontier in the USA, to “prove” that he’s got what it takes to succeed in Super Rugby.
As a player, Latham was one of the Wallabies’ finest. A World Cup winner who featured at three tournaments, including Australia’s last triumph in 1999, Latham scored 40 tries and won the John Eales Medal in 2006 as the nation’s best player in his penultimate season in gold.
Extraordinarily, his storied career as a player came despite only playing his first game as an 18-year-old.
But moving into coaching has proved more difficult.
“Unfortunately, there’s no pathway for a coach in Australia so, no, you don’t get that [feedback],” Latham told The Roar. “You’ve just got to go and prove yourself.”
Not that Latham, the once brilliant fullback, is complaining.
Queensland Reds great Chris Latham says he wants to coach his old side in Super Rugby. (Photo by Darren England/Getty Images)
Instead, Latham has picked up the whistle and run with it, heading across the world looking for coaching opportunities.
It’s taken him to Japan, Samoa and now Chicago in the USA, via Utah and most recently, the Seattle Seawolves, where he worked under former Irish hooker Allen Clarke as the side’s attack coach.
“I don’t have any bad blood or ill to say about Australian rugby or Queensland rugby because I’m not in there,” he said.
“They’ve always got my full support, and as an ex-player and someone who loves the game, I want them to do well. I want any coach that’s in there to do well because, ultimately, if Australia does well or the Reds do well then everyone else gets to feed off that, and I think that’s something that gets missed.
“Every year you may not be favoured by the coach and get selected, and so be it, that’s one person’s opinion, it’s an opinion of someone that’s not going to hire you for something, and you can either lay down or you can do something about it and go after something somewhere else.
“Some people stick around and do what they do and they get themselves good alliances and get in and that’s good, but I believe we’re a very non-discriminative game where whether you’re tall, short, fat, skinny, no matter where you come from, and it’s very evident, especially within Australia being very multicultural, I thought it was very good to actually get out and experience different cultures, coach different nationalities and learn the difference in cultures.
“To coach in Japan, coach Samoa and now obviously coach in America, it all leads to the resume of trying to gain as much experience across the board, so then when I do have that opportunity I’ve been open to pretty much all over the world in rugby and what people are doing and how people are doing it, and that’s kind of how I’ve seen my journey as a coach.”
So what’s the end goal?
“I don’t hold any secrets, and I’ve always been someone to speak my mind and speak the truth, and ultimately my ultimate goal is to coach the Reds,” Latham said.
“I put a lot of time and effort and love into that place and it means the world to me. It’s home to me. Every time I go to Ballymore, I get that special feeling and sense of belonging and home. I just love the place and I love the Reds, and I always have and I was very passionate when I played for my state.
“I have a burning desire of wanting to give back now and I always have, and I’ve made that very clear on a lot of occasions that my end goal is I want to coach the Reds.
“I want to take the Reds back to where it used to be and that was being successful and being a force within Australian rugby, and I want that to happen again and that is the burning desire.
“Until that opportunity comes along, I obviously need to keep sharpening my tools and keep making sure that if and when that opportunity happens, I’ll be ready to make the most of it.”
Seattle sports atmospheres are like nothing else. Check out more at VisitSeattle.org
Limited opportunities in Australia have seen Chris Latham spend the past five years coaching in the United States, including Utah, Seattle and now Chicago. (Photo by Stuart Walmsley/Getty Images)
Latham is a part of the growing contingent of coaches to have headed to the Major League Rugby competition for opportunities.
After standing down at Utah in the Covid pandemic, Latham returned to the MLR and continued his development at the Seattle Seawolves.
It’s an experience he’s eternally grateful for.
“Obviously Seattle’s a very sporty city as is pretty much really any sporting city that’s got a major NFL or NBA team, but I guess rugby is quite a fair way down in the pecking order,” Latham admitted.
“But I think rugby in America is a lot bigger than what a lot of people think from a community point of view. It’s played a lot, and it’s played a lot across all of America, and no matter wherever you go there’s always local rugby clubs, and the traditions in which rugby’s built on, which is community and family and supporting networks, that’s all very strong throughout America.
“I guess when you get into the professional side of it, the MLR is still very raw and small in comparison to the NFL, NBA and NHL, and pretty much your stable sports in America, which is always going to be the way. If you look at the way that soccer has grown in America and where it is now to where it was rugby’s probably in that same situation when soccer first started. All in all, it is growing.”
Indeed, it took the 1994 FIFA World Cup for football to grow and Major League Soccer to take off.
Thirty years on football has exploded, with the Seattle Sounders building one of the biggest fan bases in the world.
It’s why Seattle is poised to hold several FIFA Club World Cup fixtures in 2025, as well as the FIFA men’s World Cup in 2026.
Major League Rugby is hoping to catch fire in much the same way as its rival football code did back in 1994 when the USA host the 2031 Rugby World Cup. Seattle, too, is set to play a major role as a host city for the 12th World Cup installment.
The Seattle Seawolves made the Major League Rugby final in 2024, with Chris Latham as their assistant coach. Photo: Supplied
But, according to Latham, for it to truly take off the MLR is going to need to attract a broadcaster to invest in the growing competition.
“There’s very little money coming in and there’s no one making money out of it, so we’re definitely going to have to get to a point where money can be brought back into the clubs and then clubs can then invest in community rugby development programs and things like that, so it has a chance to survive,” Latham said.
Those financial challengers aren’t isolated only to the MLR, with almost every competition and national union losing money.
Fortunately, though, Seattle is one of the best run clubs in the league and insiders believe the Seawolves are giving “hope” to the rest.
“We were lucky that Seattle has owners that are very smart businessmen, and they know how to diverse costs and make money appear by entrepreneurial things, and they just seem to make it happen,” Latham said.
“It’s a club that commercially had its sponsors and is well resourced and well looked after.
“I was hugely impressed with the way that the whole franchise has run and set out from the owner through the CEO, director of rugby and manager, and how they structure all that into the coaching ranks, so from a flow point of view and a running point of view I think they’ve really nailed that exceptionally well.
“They’ve got a really sustainable business model moving forward, and I think they’re one of the very few that have a strong academy program. Ultimately, that’s what you want to be doing as a coach, you want to be producing the next talent for America if you’re going over there to coach in America, and, to do that, you need a good academy.”
Wallabies great Chris Latham believes rugby in the USA can take off. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
So can rugby flourish in the USA?
“One hundred per cent it can, definitely,” Latham said.
“It just needs a major sponsor, a TV deal across the whole country, and it needs money coming back in so you can start to develop and invest more in players and coaching.
“As soon as you do that the game will be massive. It’s unbelievable, every time someone new comes to the game and you see them every week, they just come up to you and say ‘I’ve never been to a rugby game before, I cannot believe how good this game is, where has this game been?’
“Never once have I ever heard of someone walking out not enjoying the game of rugby, so it just needs to get out there more, and to get out there more you just need bigger budgets where you can get more players coming where they’re not right at the end of their stage.”
Our writer, Christy, made the trip to Seattle with Visit Seattle, diving into the city’s electric sports vibe, outdoor adventures, and renowned food scene. Christy explored Pike Place Market, where he joined a Coffee Crawl—the coffee in Seattle is possibly the best in the States. He also checked out the iconic Dick’s Burgers and stopped by sports bar Rough & Tumble, a woman-owned, women-focused sports bar that’s only the second of its kind in the U.S.
Beyond the food scene, he took a kayak tour on Elliott Bay with Alki Kayak Tours, soaking in epic views of the Seattle skyline, the Cascade Mountains, and the Olympic Mountains. As part of his sports trip to Seattle, Christy also visited the historic Shell House, home of the legendary “Boys in the Boat” and a symbol of rowing excellence. Meanwhile, Filson, an iconic Seattle-based outdoor clothing brand served as a beautiful setting for Christy’s interview with Detlef Schrempf and Philipp Grubauer – and is a top spot for shopping in town! During his trip, Christy stayed at Hotel Alexis in downtown Seattle.
Seattle’s mix of nature and urban edge makes it a magnet for pro athletes and fans alike. This visit was all about checking out the sporting pulse ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with the city gearing up to host six games on home turf.
Check out more at Visit Seattle or book your trip now with itravel.
Christy Doranhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2025/02/06/no-pathway-in-australia-the-burning-desire-fuelling-wallabies-greats-dream-and-why-its-taken-him-to-usa/‘No pathway in Australia’: The ‘burning desire’ fuelling Wallabies great’s dream – and why it’s taken him to USA
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