His playing career was cruelly cut short in its prime, but Uni-Norths coach Richard Shuttleworth has used that setback to hone his new craft across all corners of the globe.
A serious knee injury forced Shuttleworth to ditch his boots for the clipboard when he was just 24.
Ever since, the now 40-year-old has made the most of a bad situation, developing his coaching skills in New Zealand, England, Ireland and Hong Kong.
Currently a skill acquisition specialist at the Australian Institute of Sport, Shuttleworth has guided the Owls to three straight wins to begin their season.
After a 37-26 win over perennial semi-finalist Gungahlin last week, Uni-Norths is shaping as the John I Dent Cup's most improved side and will host Wests today
''I played at Brisbane Souths in the days when they had Tim Horan, Jason Little, Sam Scott-Young, basically half the Australian team, and I was knocking on the door [for Queensland] at number seven, Shuttleworth said.
''Because of my injury I started coaching quite young, and what I'm doing at Uni-Norths is use my experience and the lessons I've learned.''
