RUGBY SWITCH:BRYAN CULLEN'S new job as strength and conditioning coach with the Leinster sub-academy starts the week after next, but this is not the Dublin football captain's first gig in rugby union.

Last season, Cullen put Blackrock College RFC under-21s through their paces.

Working with a rugby squad was a prerequisite of the IRFU conditioning course he completed. The link to Blackrock came via another Skerries native, his friend and Old Belvedere outhalf Conal Keane.

Many of the young Blackrock rugby players knew exactly who had just walked on to their training pitch, having been exposed to Gaelic football through local GAA clubs such as Kilmacud Crokes or Cuala, so they were immediately sold.

However, a sizeable minority had no idea who he was.

Cullen wasn’t long impressing them and the coaches with what they considered an excellent pre-season programme that he evolved as their campaign developed.

It gave him some necessary experience in a rugby environment, while also providing a stepping stone into a career in elite professional sport.

There have been several stepping stones, of course, as Cullen nears completion of a PhD in exercise physiology up in DCU.

“I think Bryan going to Leinster is a great move because I would actually class Jason Cowman (Leinster’s head of fitness) as one of the top conditioning coaches, not only in Europe, but in the world,” said fitness coach Mike McGurn.

“Bryan will learn so much off Jason. The fact that it is not GAA is not Bryan’s fault – he has got to make a living. All he has done is secured a job.

“I worked with him on the International Rules in 2008 and his enthusiasm for the conditioning aspect of sport is huge.”

McGurn’s path is not dissimilar to Cullen’s, as a Fermanagh native from a GAA background, he spent several years coaching rugby league in England before being head-hunted by Eddie O’Sullivan’s Ireland set-up.

He is conditioning coach for Anthony Tohill’s International Rules squad and the Armagh footballers.

“Bryan Cullen was given this job before he lifted Sam Maguire,” explained Leinster academy manager Colin McEntee. “We advertised this job in conjunction with the IRFU. It certainly had nothing to do with his profile as Dublin captain – it was just about hiring the right guy.

“Bryan got the job based on his competency and the attributes he will bring to the position. We’d prefer if there wasn’t all this attention surrounding him as there is enough pressure on him settling into a new role.”

But pressurised environments, we know, tend to bring the best out of Cullen.

Despite being troubled by back problems for much of his career, Cullen should still have several seasons in the Dublin panel ahead of him.

“Neither will it interfere with his Gaelic football. We’ll support him in that,” McEntee added.

So, what exactly does the job entail?

Cullen will be working as strength and conditioning coach for the Leinster sub-academy under the direction of Tom Turner – who previously worked with Ulster. The sub-academy is the group of players that are not accepted into the full academy set-up, but, instead, given a year or two after secondary school to develop the essential attributes required to make the step up to the professional environment.

Cullen will work alongside Dave Fagan, who has also worked with several intercounty panels, and Sami Dowling, who doubles up as the strength and conditioning coach of Pat Gilroy’s Dublin football panel.

Move up the conditioning food chain in Leinster and you eventually get to Cowman, who is assisted at senior and full academy level by Daniel Tobin, who also previously worked with Dublin, and Stephen Smith.

McEntee allays any concerns about Cullen’s lack of rugby experience.

“Not an issue. Take Daniel Tobin. He comes from an athletic background (representing Ireland over 400 metres) and initially worked with the sub-academy before moving up to work with the senior squad. It is about competency.”

Cullen’s role with Leinster will be about developing the physical foundations in teenagers to enable them to thrive in the most brutal of professional sports.

“The foundations put in place by our conditioning coaches are for injury prevention and to ensure the young players become functionally sound and have the work done, correctly, that will stick to them long term.”

Fagan, Dowling and Cullen will also work with schoolboys and youths players who are prospective recruits for the academy.

“Yeah, it is a massive role,” McEntee continues. “They will be dealing with over 200 teenagers throughout the season. The game is still growing so it is a great stretch on our resources.

“The position also requires the conditioning coach to interact with coaches in schools and clubs – we call it information sharing – so they must be able to communicate with them and with parents.”

At 27, the new job with Leinster allows Cullen to work in an elite sporting environment while remaining in his home town. And that in turn means he gets to remain part of the Dublin panel he just led to the All-Ireland football title.