The best place to start, if you want to understand the real Marko Rudan, is his name.
You probably know him as Mark Rudan. That’s what he’s gone by throughout his career as a player and coach – until this season, his first full one in charge of the Western Sydney Wanderers, when he reintroduced the “o” at the end.
Marko is his birth name, which he has reverted to in honour of his mother, Ana, who for the past five years has been battling brain cancer.
“She never liked people calling me Mark,” he says.
Family is everything to Rudan. It helps explain why he is the way he is: intense, loud, outspoken, passionate, focused. Devoted. Divisive. Absolutely determined to be the next Ange Postecoglou, and prepared to do whatever it takes to get there.
“I’m so invested in every moment, in every detail of a football club,” he tells this masthead, halfway through an impromptu hour-long interview in his office at the Wanderers’ Rooty Hill HQ on the eve of their first finals series after six years of mediocrity, and a first-ever post-season Sydney derby on Saturday night.
Marko Rudan is arguably the A-League’s most divisive coach.Credit: Getty
“Do I have an anger issue, so to speak? Maybe so. I’m not going to deny that. I think I can be better in some moments, too, absolutely. But that’s me. I’m a very passionate person. I say this to my staff and players all the time: don’t listen to the tone of my voice. Listen to the message that comes out.
“I take traits [from] my mother and father. My father was a very strong man who got upset pretty quickly when we didn’t do our homework, or if we didn’t do something correct, didn’t respect our elders, if we spoke out of line or didn’t finish our food at dinner. He was like that.”
There is more to Rudan, 47, than meets the eye. He was a straight-A student and a school captain at De La Salle College, Kingsgrove. He is a voracious reader, constantly seeking advice from experts, businessmen and leaders in other fields on the secrets to success, looking for little bits and pieces he can apply to his own life.
He likes to ask people for their purpose, to better understand what drives them, and why they do the things they do. He believes in the power of positive thinking. He has strong views on masculinity, which he believes is frowned upon in today’s society. He reckons kids these days have it too easy, and aren’t told “no” enough.
‘My demands are quite high. But I wouldn’t ask anyone to do something that I wouldn’t do myself.’
Marko Rudan
“I don’t apologise for being who I am,” Rudan said. “I’m an over-protector of my family, my friends, my players, my staff, my football club. I will walk to the end of this earth for my people. And you see the best and maybe the worst of me – depends on people’s outlook on life.
“In terms of polarising opinion … I’ve become very thick-skinned. There’s things that are said that do not bother me at all. I don’t care what people say. I’ve been involved in things where something comes up, it sounds like a good story, and then people go along with it without actually really looking into what happened.
“Ultimately, I believe I’m a winner.”
Rudan also keeps a journal. He always wakes at 4.30am and writes down his purpose for the day. Usually, it’s to be the best coach, leader, father and husband he can be. Then, when he comes home, he’ll reflect on the day that’s just gone, how it went, where he could have done better, and tries to learn from his mistakes.
Marko Rudan’s bond with his players has been the backbone of Western Sydney’s season, and their first top-six finish in six years.Credit: Getty
When he was offered the chance to coach the Wanderers, his third A-League club, midway through last season, he was immediately interested. But having watched the club cycle through five different managers over five seasons, he told chairman Paul Lederer: “I’m not going to be another number.”
They agreed Rudan would be given one month to assess every single aspect of the football club before deciding if he wanted to commit to the job on permanently. “Because when you get me, you get all of me,” he said.
For 35 days, Rudan methodically assessed the entire club, from top to bottom – men’s, women’s, NPL and academy programs, and every single person within them.
Former teammates Steve Corica and Marko Rudan appear to have fallen out since taking on roles on the opposite side of the Sydney derby divide.Credit: Paramount/10
After just two days, one of his analysts resigned, unhappy with the extended hours they were being asked to commit to.
“My demands are quite high,” he said. “But I wouldn’t ask anyone to do something that I wouldn’t do myself.”
Rudan rearranged the layout of the club’s offices to facilitate more collaboration between coaches and staff. He asked for some walls to be repainted. “I know [our colours are] red and black, but black can be a kind of sleepy colour. You don’t want too much black in certain areas,” he said.
Wanderers chairman Paul Lederer.Credit: Stephen Saphore
He fine-tuned the club’s ethos to three simple words: fight, unity and excellence.
He watched every player and staff member like a hawk.
“I’m big on behaviours and habits,” Rudan said.
“After 35 days, I knew exactly how everybody walked into this place, what time they drove in. I parked myself somewhere, I’d see how they’d walk out of their car. Was their head down, was their head up? Was their toiletries bag in this arm or this arm?
“I’d be here at six in the morning, 5.30am sometimes. I would move and change my place of destination. Sometimes I’d be in the furthest carpark. I’d do that in different areas so they wouldn’t know if they saw me, maybe, or I’d park my car somewhere, so they think that I’m there, but I’d position myself outside of the car somewhere else. There was a lot of COVID activity happening when I first came here, so I’d be in the tents, I put a white cloak on.
“Then I would look [the players] in the eye the first time, I’d see their eyes, I knew something was wrong. ‘How’s your family, mate? Is everything OK? How are your three little kids?’ Maybe they need another school, or they’re not happy with their rental and they’re looking for something else. I need to know they’re just fully focused on this.”
At the end of the month, Rudan went back to Lederer with a list of players and staff who had to go, and other things he said were required to make the Wanderers a force again.
It appears there is method to his madness. This season, with a whole new squad and coaching staff, the Wanderers seem to have rediscovered their identity, their purpose. It feels like all of Rudan’s players would run through 10 brick walls for him. At times, they’ve played their opponents off the park with some scintillating attacking passages.
Their fourth-placed finish, however, suggests there is room for improvement, and for all their progress, they have only finished three points clear of Sydney FC, who are perceived to be on the slide. This campaign, then, will be defined by Saturday night’s elimination final with the Sky Blues, who they’ve beaten twice this season, and dominated in the other derby despite losing.
For Rudan, it’s the start of a longer-term project.
This week, he has scattered little pictures of the A-League’s championship trophy around the club so players never lose sight of what they’re aiming for. All the television screens have been playing a 17-minute loop of their best moments against Sydney FC – some weeks it’s something completely different, and on some days, it’s different footage before and after training. This week, it’s all about positive reinforcement.
“Like I said to the players, you chose to be elite footballers, as beautiful and as tough as it is,” Rudan said.
“With me, it’s not easy. But the growth you’re going to have the next 12 months is going to be huge – if you trust the process, if you trust me the way I trust you.”
