Exclusive Interview

Mark Rudan – ‘Western United to become Australia’s next biggest club’

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Mark Rudan has always been a quiet achiever. He always let his boots do the talking either as a no nonsense central defender or fullback.

Mark Rudan, the Western United senior coach, has always been a quiet achiever.

As a professional player he always let his boots do the talking either as a no nonsense central defender or fullback.

Life after football can be very difficult for many former players but Rudan has made the transition to coaching with total aplomb.

After cementing his career with NSW NPL 1 club, Sydney United, where his teams won a number of honours, Rudan turned the fortunes of a depressed Wellington Phoenix in the 2018/19 A-League and recently completed an outstanding, maiden season with debutantes, Western United.

However, if you ask Mark Rudan whether life is easy in the cutthroat world of football coaching, he will confirm a consistent work ethic , detailed research, analysis and preparation and superior man management skills are essential in any coaching success story.

In this interview with Roger Sleeman, Rudan reflects on his playing career, coaching experience and football philosophy.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

You were part of that amazing Sydney United production line of the 1990’s which included Jason Culina, David Zdrilic, Tony Popovic, Ante Milicic, Paul Bilokapic , Ante Moric and Sean and Mark Babic.

Can this ever be replicated?

MARK RUDAN

Football goes in cycles but a lot of things we do now on the pitch were done in the 1970’s.

However, these days, there are vast improvements in preparation, player welfare and diet.

People try to complicate the game but it can be a very simple if you treat it that way.

In relation to the golden era at Sydney United, you have to remember there was a strong tradition in the Croatian community and a way for our parents to integrate into the wider community through the football club.

Consequently, we gave everything on the football field in recognition of our heritage.

I remember the youth coaches like former Socceroo, Dennis Yaager who helped me so much and in particular,Maurice Sullivan, the legendary club flanker, who coached me in u14’s and was a great influence on my career because he told me if I put the work in I could make the grade.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

When you first came through the Sydney United youth system, did you ever believe you would reach the pinnacle in Australian football coaching?

MARK RUDAN

When I first started playing, coaching was the furthest thing from my mind and I just wanted to be the best player I could be.

I wasn’t blessed with exceptional talent but I possessed an inner determination, resilience and a motivation to get the best out of myself which are qualities often more important than star quality.

Today, I regularly see young talented players who have the skills set but don’t have the necessary qualities to fight for success.

My identification with coaching really developed when I was in Germany at Allemania Aachen with Jorg Berger, my second coach at the club.

His understanding of the game and ability to adjust tactics and formation during a game and his man management skills, separated him from any other coach I’d known.

He was the first person who really made me think coaching could be an option after my playing days were over.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

How much did Les Scheinflug, coach of the Young Socceroos, influence your philosophy of football at the 1995 finals?

MARK RUDAN

Les was good because he liked me and that does help when the player has the confidence of his coach.

Les made me vice captain to Mark Viduka which was a great honor.

Also, he played with a back three which I utilise as a coach today.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

Who was the major influence in your playing career and early development?

MARK RUDAN

Yaager and Sullivan encouraged me to have the belief I could go so far in the game but you needed to follow certain steps to get there.

After the 1997 World Cup loss to Iran in Melbourne, I went up to my colleagues from the AIS like Muscat, Horvat, Viduka and Moore who inspired me.

At the AIS, Ron Smith and Steve O’Connor converted me from midfield to central defence and playing next to Craig Moore was a great plus because he coached me in that position.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

What did you learn playing in Japan at Avispa Fukuoka during the 2008 season ,and can you relate your experiences?

MARK RUDAN

I was 32 years of age when Pierre Littbarski took me there after I was coming out of contract with Sydney FC. Fortunately, John Kosmina was prepared to let me go because there wasn’t a long term future at the club for me.

Japan showed me what true professionalism was. If they could train six times a day they would because you had to drag them off the pitch.

I wished I’d gone there when I was younger because it would’ve developed me as a footballer.

Their youth system intrigued me and in my first training session in Japan, their first touch, positional play and passing ability were incredible

I watched their Youth Academy players who played 50-60 games from 13’s up, while training every day.

We talk about overkill and overtraining here but you only have to go there to see how they’ve achieved so much which changed my ideas on the youth system as it should be presented in Australia.

Foe every youth player who we rate in Australia, there are a thousand like them in Japan.

 

Western United’s Mark Rudan exclusive with Soccerscene

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

How important was your coaching experience at Sydney United?

MARK RUDAN

Sydney United is a high pressure club and I believed if I could cut my teeth for 3-5 years, it would be ideal for my coaching preparation.

I wasn’t a player who had a big name and could get a job easily so I had to do it the hard way with the necessary work input to provide longevity.

The year before , the club avoided relegation by one point so I was able to change the whole structure of the club , including the youth team setup.

In the first year we became champions of the NPL and we won the Australian Championship.

All in all we won two Australian Championships, two Premierships and the Waratah Cup in the five years I was at the club.

It was a great grounding before I received the offer from Wellington which helped me not to be overawed and end up on the scrapheap in the first year.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

Your efforts at Wellington Phoenix were remarkable?

Can you explain how you did it?

MARK RUDAN

At the moment I walked into the club , I could see both players and staff were down.

I spoke to each board member, including chairman Rob Morrison and asked, do you think we can win a trophy?

There wasn’t much belief but I was optimistic and I wanted to rebuild just as I’d done at Sydney United.

It was a matter of planning to change the objectives and culture of the football club.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

Roy Krishna was a large part of your success at Wellington.

How did you extract maximum value from him?

MARK RUDAN

I knew Roy had natural pace and he could finish.

I got to know him well and particularly his background so I was able to gain his respect and assist in his self motivation.

I changed his role to more of a central striker rather than a winger.

I told him before the season started he would be the leading striker in the A-League but he didn’t believe it.

We worked hard every day on his positioning, different runs and their timing and his finishing.

The fact he won the A-League Player of the Year and the Golden Boot in 2018/19, followed by Diamanti winning the player of the year in the recently concluded season were proud moments for me.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

Could you tell us about Diamanti?

MARK RUDAN

As a coach, I needed to get the best out of him.

Initially, he called me Mr. as all the Italian players do.

However, I had to earn his respect and looking at his record, it was no different when I brought Steve Taylor to Wellington who was managed by some great people like Sir Bobby Robson.

Dimanti fitted into the culture of the club but I needed to fit him into the team pattern which he proved many times over.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

A feature of your season at Western United was your ability to blend experience with youth, e.g. Diamanti, Berisha, Durante, Calvert and Paine with Perias, Dillon,Skotidis and Cavallo.

It was a brave step so were you confident of achieving success?

MARK RUDAN

Long days up to twelve hours in establishing the new player structure was the norm but as a coach it’s my job to get the best out of all players and develop their full potential for the team

Risdon had been out in the cold for a few seasons but came back to his best and returned to the Socceroo squad.

Also Paine was challenged and had his best year yet and Burgess came out of his shell and really hit his straps.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

Besart Berisha was a revelation during the season.

How did you achieve that outcome?

MARK RUDAN

We knew he hadn’t played much football in the last twelve months after Victory let him go.

One conversation with him in Germany convinced me I wanted him for the new club because he revealed the mentality I required for the team to succeed.

Berisha is a great professional who doesn’t like being taken off and he gave me the glare when he was replaced in one match. I spoke to him about the importance of working together which really resonated with him.

He has that winning mentality and was so important in the winning streak of seven wins in eight games post COVID-19.

Young players looked up to him because in every moment he demonstrated his quest to improve performance, despite his age.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

That magnificent goal setup by Dylan Pierias for Steve Lustica against Sydney FC in the second last round of normal competition was a spellbinder.

Why didn’t Pierias get more game time during the season?

MARK RUDAN

Pierias was previously an out and out winger so we had to improve his aerobic capacity for the wingback position. There’s no doubting his electrifying pace as he cruised past King and Tzavellas to design that goal against Sydney F.C.

This took all year to develop because he had to be trained in the wing back position and we had to improve his defensive qualities.

These young players are used to playing a 4-3-3 formation and find it hard to adjust to a 3-5-2 system.

4-3-3 only allows you to play with one striker and this is the reason we’re not producing any good strikers at the moment.

 

ROGER SLEEMAN

What is the future of Western United?

MARK RUDAN

It will be the biggest club in Australia within 5 years because its located in the largest growth corridor in the country and some of the best people in Australian football are on the Board and employed in the Executive.

I have a three year deal and I’d certainly like to be there for the opening game of the new stadium which is two to three years off.

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A Coroner’s Call: Why Football Can No Longer Ignore the Science on CTE

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Fabrizio Andrea Bertani / Shutterstock.com

The recent coronial inquest into the death of Gordon McQueen has once again forced football to confront an uncomfortable truth.

The former Manchester United and Leeds United defender was renowned for his aerial prowess. But decades after his playing career ended, McQueen was diagnosed with dementia. The coroner has now formally linked his condition to repeated heading of a football. This is a landmark acknowledgement that many in the scientific community say has been years in the making.

For Ian Greener, Australia’s HEADSAFE representative and former State Director of Coaching at Football Victoria, the ruling should be a turning point.

“The evidence has been there since 2019,” Greener tells Soccerscene. “But the general public and much of the football community have simply not been told.”

The Research Football Can’t Ignore

Much of the modern understanding of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in football stems from the work of Professor Willie Stewart at the University of Glasgow. Commissioned by the English FA and PFA, his landmark 2019 FIELD study found former professional footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to develop neurodegenerative disease. For defenders, that risk rose to five times more likely.

Stewart then spent years re-examining his findings through analysing lifestyle, alcohol consumption, social factors and broader health variables across tens of thousands of records.

“He looked at everything,” Greener explains. “Drugs, diet, social background. After years of further research, he came back to the same conclusion — there is no other explanation apart from repeated head impacts.”

CTE differs from concussion. Concussion is visible and immediate. It can be identified through dizziness, nausea and blurred vision. CTE is silent. The damage accumulates over decades and can only be confirmed post-mortem through examination of brain tissue.

Greener explains the science in simple terms: repeated head impacts cause the brain to move within the skull, stretching neurons. This releases tau protein, which clumps together over time and disrupts electrical messaging in the brain. The result can be memory loss, personality change, aggression, anxiety, and in some cases, suicidal behaviour.

“It’s not about frightening people,” he says. “It’s about understanding brain health.”

Not About Banning Heading

HEADSAFE, founded by the family of former Middlesbrough player Bill Gates after his battle with dementia, operates across three fronts: research support, financial assistance for affected families, and coach education.

“We are not about banning heading,” Greener stresses. “Heading is an integral part of football. What we’re saying is: minimise the repeated heading in training. Most of the damage is done there.”

In England, guidelines already exist. Children under 12 are not permitted to practise heading in training. Though monitoring is difficult, In the Premier League, players are advised to limit high-force headers to around 10 per week. In Scotland, players are not permitted to head the ball the day before or after a match.

Australia, however, has no formalised CTE-specific guidelines.

Greener says attempts to engage both Football Victoria and Football Australia have so far gained little traction. Instead, he has taken the message directly to clubs, academies and grassroots coaches through workshops and podcasts.

“We just need a module in coach education,” he says. “If we’ve embraced sports science in nutrition, recovery and match analysis, then we also have to embrace the science on repeated head impacts.”

What concerns Greener most is not just the science, but the time lag between evidence and action. “This was once considered an old person’s disease,” he says. “But the science now shows it begins much earlier. The symptoms might not appear for decades, but the damage can start in youth.” He argues that brain health should sit alongside hydration, nutrition and recovery in every coaching curriculum. “We talk about load management for muscles. Why wouldn’t we talk about load management for the brain?”

A Duty of Care

The urgency is heightened by the rapid growth of the women’s game. Emerging research suggests female players may experience head impacts differently due to chemical and physiological factors.

“It’s about duty of care,” Greener says. “My grandson has just started playing. I want to know that whether I’m there or not, he’s protected.”

McQueen’s case has placed the spotlight firmly back on football’s responsibility. With further inquests pending in the UK, including that of Bill Gates later this year, pressure is unlikely to ease.

Football has adapted before — from concussion substitutes to advanced medical protocols. The next step, Greener argues, is simple:

“Make every header count. Don’t do 30 or 40 for the sake of it. Protect the brain, protect the player, protect the future of the game.”

The Future of Football with Bill Papastergiadis

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One Nil

In our first episode of Unfiltered, our conversation with Bill Papastergiadis quickly cemented why he’s the National Chairman and Managing Partner at Moraine Agnew Lawyers, President of the Greek Community of Melbourne, President of South Melbourne FC, and a board member across several organisations.The episode serves as a lens for examining the deep interconnections between football, community, governance, and the tangled politics beneath Australia’s sporting landscape.

Football and the Ties That Bind

For Australian football stakeholders, the implications are clear. Football’s true power isn’t just what happens in the technical area or at the board table; it’s how sport can unify diverse cultures and channel rivalries into positive outcomes. Papastergiadis reflects on his own journey, where law and leadership blend seamlessly into community-building: “All of the things we work in have an interconnection…my job as a lawyer relates to my work at South Melbourne Hallas.” Clubs are, in this sense, social institutions, able to support not just athletes, but families, grassroots volunteers, and community partners.

Yet, the podcast doesn’t shy away from highlighting how politics shapes the game, for better and worse. “Football brings out the best in us and sometimes not the best in us,” Papastergiadis admits. Behind every bid for a stadium, every negotiation with government or governing bodies, there’s manoeuvring, advocacy, and, at times, division. As he puts it, “People are trying to use whatever skill or relationship they have to get their club where they want it to be. They will describe that as political. Politics is really part of our lives.”

The Fight for Access

It’s in this way that the episode’s most substantial industry analysis emerges. The conversation turns to the national second tier- the newly launched Australian Championship, and the legacy of locking NPL clubs out of the A-League.

“I hope it’s fixed. We will agitate for it to be fixed. Not because for the sake of South Melbourne, but for the sake of every club in this country. They all deserve…to aspire, to dream and to bring out the best in themselves and to progress. You can’t stop that in humanity.”

Papastergiadis credits Football Australia and Football Victoria’s recent efforts to re-introduce competition between historic clubs:

“Every club went another level in terms of player engagement, fan engagement, creating a better experience, match day experience for their supporters. Everything went up because we introduced competition again.” Fan attendance soared by up to 600% in one season, and clubs invested in both players and match-day infrastructure. For commercial operators, administrators, and sponsors, this speaks to a simple truth: when doors open, football’s audience answers.

Community, Identity and Social Cohesion

The episode also asks hard questions about identity and inclusion, both for clubs and communities. Papastergiadis doesn’t downplay the tensions that can arise from tribalism or historical rivalries, yet he champions the need for clubs to embrace their heritage within a multicultural framework. “We’re an Australian club, first and foremost (…) we do have, however, a history and it’s a history that gives meaning and purpose to the club. Let’s not deny that, but let’s make sure that history is conveyed in a way which promotes social cohesion, which doesn’t exclude others.”

He draws a direct line between football, ethnic history, and social progress, arguing that attempts to erase cultural identity or punish clubs for their backgrounds was a regressive move rooted in Australia’s old racism. “The demise of the National Soccer League was racist in its execution and to deny those clubs the opportunity to continue to participate solely because of their historical background, particularly when those clubs are what football was built on.”

 

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Industry Lessons and the Path Ahead

Politics will always be embedded within football’s machinery. But, as Papastergiadis notes, the impacts are not inevitably negative, provided that industry leaders focus on engagement, transparency, grit, and trust-building. His advice for clubs working with councils is clear: “Invite them to your events. Invite them to your club presentations. Invite the counsellors to matches. Organise lunches. Through that process, they will find that doors will open. (…) Trust is built over time.”

If anything, this episode illustrates that the future of Australian football rests on industry’s willingness to marry grit and ambition with cultural sensitivity and openness. “The journey is more important than the outcome. We should encourage people to feel good about the particular journey, that daily journey they’re involved in.”

For listeners, football stakeholders, and policymakers, Papastergiadis’ reflections and stories, some poignant, some political, all rooted in decades of experience, are both a window and a challenge. Open the doors, listen deeply, agitate constructively, and let football’s dreams flourish.

Dive into the full episode for more stories, leadership lessons, and insight on shaping Australian football’s next chapter.

Our episode is now out on Spotify, listen here.

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