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When the Ospreys announced 10 departures back in May, it was already apparent where many of the names of their leavers’ list were heading.
Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake and Phil Cokanasiga were off to Gloucester, while James Fender and Jack Walsh were moving a little further afield to France. However, for one of the names on the list, the next destination wasn’t immediately obvious.
If all things go well for Will Greatbanks, however, his next career move could take him to some exciting places.
Because while the likes of Morgan and Lake will continue their rugby journey elsewhere, the 23-year-old has switched his focus from the professional game to something completely different altogether – chasing a career in the yachting industry.
“I think it was a long time I was thinking about it, for a couple of months,” Greatbanks tells WalesOnline. “I was thinking about what I wanted to do long-term and that was the thing that came up.
“I stopped this season with the Ospreys, going to the end of last season. At the minute, I’m studying for qualifications that I need to get into the industry.
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“There’s a couple of courses I need to do. Once I’ve got them, I’ll head down to the yachting hub where I’ll hopefully land a job.
“I’ve already got some contacts throughout this year in the industry who have guided me. It’s a weird industry, putting your foot in the door is a long process.
“You’ve got to get down there and dock-walk really, hand out CVs and hope for a job.”
Greatbanks, who made seven appearances for the Ospreys in his two seasons at the club, now harbours hopes to work his way up the ranks in yachting.
“The long-term ambition is to become a captain of one of these big super yachts,” he explains. “When you start out, the first couple of years, you’ll be a deck-hand.
“Day-to-day, you live and work on the boat full-time. As a deck-hand, you’re responsible for the maintenance of the exterior of the boat.
“So cleaning it regularly. Also with docking operations when you need to park up, you help with lines, the anchor and tying the boat up.
“The qualifications I’m doing is to be able to drive the tenders and the little boats that come with the large yacht itself. So that could be taking guests from the main boat to shore.
“That’s what a day could look like. It’s mainly cleaning the boat to start, but you work your way up and learn new skills. My ambition is to become captain so you’d work yourself up to an officer role – second officer, first officer, chief officer – and then eventually captain.”
While Greatbanks doesn’t necessarily hail from a background in boating, he’s more than comfortable on the water.
And, having met people in the industry, he’s now sure it’s the career he wants to follow.
“Thinking about the change from rugby, I was still quite young as a rugby player,” he says. “But I thought where do I see myself in 10 years?
“Making the change in this career now, while I’m still young, is probably the better option for me, rather than do it later.
“I’ve always loved being on the sea and boating. Playing professional rugby is a lot. It was a dream come true, but I want to build a career that I’m passionate about.
“I loved rugby and still love rugby now. But this is something that’s exciting me a lot at the minute. So I needed to give it a go and have no regrets.”
Lloyd Ashley and the Welsh Rugby Players’ Association were on hand throughout as he prepared for the career move, while the second-row admits his former team-mates “were very supportive and some were even quite jealous to be honest”.
“Hopefully rugby will progress salary-wise like football and they’ll be paying for the yacht ride!”
With no regrets about what he’s doing next, Greatbanks is able to reflect on a couple of years in Wales that brought him back to the UK – having signed from French outfit Soyaux Charente.
“I loved it,” he adds. “It was good.
“I came over from France in the Pro D2. Having grown up in France, I was quite nervous at the start of it – moving back to a country that I didn’t really know.
“Having moved to France when I was seven, I didn’t know the UK that well. But I made very good friends and enjoyed it a lot.”
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