Nicole Jeffery
April 17, 2010

IT is one of the oddest pairings in sport, but it's certainly working for world discus champion Dani Samuels  and world boxing champion Danny Green.
Samuels and Green work out together under strength and conditioning trainer Hayden Knowles, who trains the Parramatta Eels NRL club, creating a unique gym environment, where the 21-year-old Samuels is thriving.
They are such a tight-knit group that the Eels' major sponsor, Pirtek,

has taken Samuels under its wing since she became the youngest discus world champion in history in Berlin in August.
She warmed up for this weekend's Commonwealth Games athletics trials in Perth by watching, for the first time, Green fight and achieve a third-round knockout victory over Manny Siaca in Perth on Wednesday night. "I've trained with him the last few years but I'd never seen him throw a punch before then, apart from shadow boxing," she said. Samuels said it was Green who had shown her the kind of focus and commitment required to become a world champion.
"When I was 17, Hayden got me into the gym just to watch him train, to see the intensity and professionalism he brings to it," she said. "I thought I was training intensely, but to see him apply himself -- he has such focus and intensity, you can see the commitment and the professionalism, and how passionate he is."
Samuels, whose long-time coach is Dennis Knowles, Hayden's father, learned the lesson well.
She made an extraordinary 3m improvement last year to snatch the world title from the established throwers, spinning the plate a mammoth 65.44m.
She has improved on that mark this year, setting a surprise personal best of 65.84m at the Sydney Classic in February, as she strove to establish consistency before aiming for greater distance when she returns to international competition next month.
She knows the challenge is before her following the emergence of a new threat from Croatia last month, where Sandra Perkovic, 19, heaved the disc 66.85m, the biggest throw in the world for two years.
"It was quite a shock to me someone younger had done that, but sometimes you need a knock on the door to remind you that you have to work your hardest to get to the top, then work even harder to stay there," Samuels said.
Samuels expects a "ticked-off" Olympic silver medallist, Cuba's Yarelis Barrios, to come hard at her this year after the Australian denied her the world title. "I know I'm not the most consistent at 65m, I think Barrios is," she said.