Meet our leadership team

Richard Coulthard

President
Richard became involved in ADR in 2011 when approached by the then President, Mick Conroy, to enable deaf players to play and train with the St George Rugby Club. Richard was instrumental in reviving St George Rugby Union Club back in 2001 after a long absence. Richard is a successful business as the owner and proprietor of Buildtech Pty Ltd.aph. Drag me to add paragraph to your block, write your own text and edit me.

Graham Leonard

Treasurer
A key member of ADR who initiated and organized the inaugural World Deaf Rugby 7s in 2019 in Sydney and former professional rugby player himself, Graham has had a long professional career including the Australian Taxation Office, NSW Totalizer Agency Board (TAB) and AGL Gas.

Wade Atherton

Vice President
Born deaf and fitted with a Cochlear Implant at a young age, Newcastle player Wade first represented the Australian deaf rugby team in 2011.Wade has been selected in both hearing and deaf rugby teams since he was a junior.

Johanna Plante

Secretary

Deb Coulthard

Merchandise & Marketing Manager
Appointed by World Rugby as Australia’s first female Citing Commissioner, Deb has been a pioneer for women in Rugby. She is a former private investigator, fraud investigator, rugby player and team manager. Alongside her position of Secretary of ADR, Deb has played a significant role for ADR organizing sponsorship, touring events, fundraisers, social events and media.

Sally Faehrmann

Director
Sally is a High School PDHPE teacher and was introduced to the Rugby 7s program in her last years of school, following which she went on to play Rugby 7s at Eastwood Rugby. As a relative newcomer to Australian Deaf Rugby, and showing great potential, her coach reached out to Sally a couple of days before the trials for the 2023 World Deaf Tournament and suggested that she should give it a go. Sally was awarded Australian Deaf Player of that Tournament.Needless to say she is hooked and looking forward to test matches in years to come.

Doug Piper

Director
Doug has played over 325 games of rugby across various Sydney competitions.
He has been awarded two different Rugby club Life Memberships, and the Sports Medal of Australia.Doug become interested in deaf Rugby through his work as a teacher to the deaf.

Nick Marior

Director
Nick started playing rugby at the age of 14 in his hometown of Armidale, NSW. He was introduced to Deaf Rugby by his little brother and played for Australian Deaf Rugby from 2004 until his retirement in 2018.
Nick has been a member of the ADR committee since 2014 and also holds the position of Deaf Liaison Officer. He has also held the position of Vice Chairman for World Deaf Rugby 2016-2019.

Mick Conroy

Pacific Rim Deaf Community Liaison Officer
Grew up in Woodstock and Cowra, playing League for local teams and representing Group 10. Moved to Sydney in 1982, where he played for various clubs, including St Christopher’s Saints and Engadine Dragons. He also played Rugby for multiple teams and represented NSW Deaf RL 13 times, Qld Deaf RL 2 times, and served as Australian Deaf Rugby League Captain 4 times. He played 8 tests for Australian Deaf Rugby and participated in 13 tours/series. He was the past president of Australia Deaf Rugby from 2009 to 2019 and has been a Foundation Committee/Board member since 2001.

Dion Woo

Honorary Financial Advisor
Dion is the director of Atech Consulting Group which works on major platforms introducing great personalities, products, and innovative solutions. He was the inaugural Steering Committee member for the Museum of China in Australia and newly elected president of Sydney Lions Club ( Inner West). Also, he is Sydney’s “celebrity emcee” with clients like the City of Sydney, The Star Sydney, Hurun Australia and Treasury Wine Estates. After decades of commitment and advocacy for the not for profit, Dion is now committed to the ADR mission
Acknowledgement of Country
Australian Deaf Rugby acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work. We pay our respects to Ancestors and Elders past, present and emerging.
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