Make no mistake; Kai Kara-France is here to help the Warriors win their first premiership.

The Kiwi mixed martial artist was brought into pre-season camp at the back end of 2022 as a wrestling coach, a move that excited many, including The Big League Podcast’s Nathan Limm, who was surprised to learn NRL sides employed coaches of that nature.

The is UFC flyweight is from a rugby league family and like many others has grown up watching, supporting and mourning the Warriors and said he wanted to take the opportunity to add value where he could to the club.

“Full circle, I’m helping out the Warriors, ultimately, winning their first premiership.”

He told The Big League Podcast it was former Warrior Adam Blair, who Kara-France works with on Maori TV’s Te Ao Toa, who said the Mt Smart-based side was looking to hire a wrestling coach.

“He’s (Blair) a part of the coaching at the Warriors and part of the staff down there so he said they’re looking for a wrestling coach and I said I’d love to help if I could.”

Preparing for the 2023 season, Kara-France worked twice a week with the playing group and says there is more to his coaching than simply tackling.

“It’s distributing your weight to be heavier than you are. I’m a prime example of someone that’s light, but I can make myself heavy, I can make myself feel a lot heavier than I am. When you can teach 100kg forwards how to do that, it’s just bone-crushing.”

Body awareness and technique are two things Kara-France tells Nathan Limm are transferable across the two sports.

“How to get up fast, how to slow the ball down and get up without being labored and using too much muscle.”

Of course, he says, there is the by-product of wrestling in cardio that has been seen in a number of strong second half performances from the Warriors this season.

Kara-France says wrestling often comes down to ‘who wants it more’ and that is something he has tried to instill in the playing group during his coaching.

“There’s no easy way to wrestle, you just have to do it.”

 “These small little battles in the gym, on those mats, are transferring onto the field where we’re staying in it. We’re not letting what’s just happened dictate the outcome, we can change it.”

City Kickboxing has become a household name in combat sports, owing to the success of UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya under the tutelage of Eugene Bareman, who has ensured a culture of mindset and accountability for all those that train under his roof.

Mentality is just as important as physicality in sport and Kara-France told Nathan Limm he wants to push his charges during training, forcing them into a ‘dark place’ and to call on their reserve tank.

“Where I’ve come from, being held accountable to a high standard, I guess that’s what I can relay back to the boys.

“You’ve got to go to those dark places, in my trainings we constantly go there daily where we see if you can dip into that reserve tank.”

Kara-France says working with athletically gifted ‘freak athletes’ has been a pleasure and the group have gravitated towards his sessions, but often has to keep an eye on a couple of the more enthusiastic ones.

“There are a few, especially Jazz Tevaga, sometimes I’ll look over and he’s got one of the boys in a rear naked choke or a guillotine and I’ll say if you want me to teach you we can go in the ring!”

Listen to every episode of The Big League Podcast here.