The work never stops for the coaches at Geelong.

James Rahilly is in his first year as a full-timer at the Cattery and has his fingers in a lot of pies, from the Academy program for first, second and third-year players, to assisting Nigel Lappin with the midfield in the AFL, to his coaching role with the VFL and beyond.

Rahilly’s week so far provides an example of what’s required on a day-to-day basis.

On Saturday, Rahilly had a key role to play, assisting Lappin with the midfield as the Cats took on Brisbane at Skilled Stadium.

Then on Sunday, Rahilly was out at Craigieburn in his assistant role at the VFL until late in the day, returning home to spend a couple of precious hours with his two young children (aged 21 months and 11 weeks) before getting to work on the VFL review.

“I put the kids to bed then got cracking on the review and was doing that on the computer until 1am,” he said.

“Then one of the kids decided not to sleep so I’m running on about an hour-and-a-half’s sleep today (Monday).

“We got back into the club about 8am to 8.30am this morning then start focussing on doing the review for the VFL. The coaches talk about a theme for the day.

“We don’t like to show too much, just room for improvements and a couple of things they’ve done well.”

After that was the AFL review around lunchtime where Rahilly’s focus was on the stoppages with Lappin.

“I concentrate on the opposition, but am about two weeks ahead if that makes sense, so I’m on to Collingwood now,” he said.

Monday afternoon was taken up with more meetings with medical, physios finding out where players were at with their fitness.

Then it was off to Melbourne for a dinner for the Coaches’ Club, a supporters group that backs the coaching staff at Geelong.

Then into the car and get home in the wee hours, just in time to tuck into bed for some shut-eye (hopefully) before starting it all again.

Add to that training with the 21 VFL-listed players until 8.30pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and it is not hard to see why Rahilly may fall into bed some nights.

However, it is a life Rahilly is thriving in, and one that he says he feels privileged to be a part of.

“The thing I am just really loving is how keen the young guys are to learn,” Rahilly said.

“It is amazing new group of people of the Y-generation (roughly those born between 1983 and 2000), and the different styles of learning.

“They are different from my age group (Rahilly is 31) and a lot of them want things now.”

Rahilly finished his eight-year playing career at Geelong at the end of the 2005 season and went backpacking through Europe, Central America and northern Africa for 18 months.

On his return, he was offered him a part-time role that expanded last year and eventually turned into a full-time position for 2010.

He said he has noticed a massive change since he first came to the club in 1998.

“It was great to see how so much had changed and improved when I got back (from overseas),” he said.

“I am really keen to keep doing this for the next few years to the best of my ability, whether I become a career coach I am not sure but I am enjoying teaching young players.

“You get a lot of satisfaction from it.”