About the author
Meet Will Collett
- Farmer
- Soldier
- Federal police officer
- Rugby player
- Coach
- Father
- Mentor
FOR MORE THAN FOUR DECADES, WILL'S LIFE HAS PLACED HIM ALONGSIDE BOYS AND MEN FACING RESPONSIBILITY, CHALLENGE, HARDSHIP AND CHANGE.
A remote Northern Territory cattle station. Years of farm management. Australian Special Forces. The Australian Federal Police. Disaster relief work, rugby fields, coaching sheds and his own kitchen table as a father of three. Making Men came out of what he learned there — and out of what he got wrong along the way.
Canberra, Australia
The road so far
A life built through experience
Will's path hasn't run in a straight line, and it was never planned as a career. It has simply kept putting him beside very different people: stockmen, soldiers, police, farmers, tradesmen, athletes, business owners, fathers — and young men still working out who they want to become.
None of those lives is held up here as better than another. Between them, they are where Will has done most of his learning.
- 01
Childhood
A rural family of five kids
Will was born into a loving rural Australian family — mum, dad, two brothers & two sisters. The family moved to Sydney when he was six, and he went to school there.
- 02
First year out of school
A two-million-acre cattle station
His first year after leaving school was spent working on a remote two-million-acre cattle station in the Northern Territory. Long days, big country, and a very fast education in responsibility.
- 03
Over 10 years
Farm management
Over a decade working and managing the land — livestock, land, seasons, staff and the kind of problems that don't wait until Monday.
- 04
Over 8 years
Australian Special Forces — One Commando Regiment
Over eight years with Australian Special Forces, One Commando Regiment. Earning the coveted green beret and the right to wear it — team above self, standards not negotiable, sacrifice and service, men who carried weight without making a show of it.
- 05
Over 17 years
Australian Federal Police
Over seventeen years with the Australian Federal Police nationally and internationally — accountability, commitment, team work, sacrifice, service. Dealing with the best and worst of humans. Turning up for each other through the darkest of days.
- 06
Over 6 years
Disaster Relief Australia
Two years in Canberra as Associate Director with Disaster Relief Australia, after 4 years volunteering with the organisation — veterans and first responders putting their training back into communities.
- 07
Throughout
Rugby, coaching and mentoring
Running underneath all of it: rugby since he was about five, coaching club, school and state representative teams, and mentoring boys and men both on and off the field.
Experience isn't the same as perfection
Life hasn't always gone to plan
Alongside the work, Will has been through divorce, loss in his family, financial hardship, physical health challenges and mental health challenges. He doesn't dwell on the detail publicly, and he doesn't offer any of it as expertise.
He offers it as context. Making Men isn't written from a position of perfection. It's written by someone who has had success and failure, been knocked over, and had to rebuild — more than once.
The point isn't to avoid every setback. It's learning how to move through one.
“Success means very little if a man lacks character.”
Why the book
Why I wrote Making Men
Will wrote the book because he became increasingly concerned about what he was seeing and hearing — in his own work, in sport, in service, in the community (including online, on the news and on social media), and in conversations with parents, with mothers, and with boys and men themselves.
Plenty of Boys and Men are struggling, and plenty more feel directionless. What they're often missing isn't willingness, it's a practical place to start and a pathway to be the man they were meant to be.
WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME TELLING BOYS WHAT NOT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO BECOME. MAKING MEN ASKS A DIFFERENT QUESTION: WHAT SHOULD THEY BUILD INSTEAD?
The answer he offers is deliberately unglamorous — five foundations to work on, one day at a time: fitness, finances, family and friends, faith and fun.
The framework
Five foundations for a stronger life
Will built the five foundations out of lived experience, not a laboratory. They are his practical way of asking three questions: where am I strong, where am I struggling, and where should I start? For someone who feels stuck, struggling or directionless, that's usually enough to get moving.
Fitness
Build the body that carries every other foundation.
Finances
Earn, protect and grow the resources to survive and provide.
Family & Friends
Lead, love and lean on, the people who make a man.
Faith
Anchor your life to something bigger than yourself.
Fun
Recover, enjoy, laugh, celebrate and keep the fire alive.
One foundation.
One decision.
One day at a time.
Rugby
Still learning. Still playing.
Will has played rugby since he was about five. He represented NSW Country Rugby XV for six years, has been a leader within the Parliamentary Rugby Team since 2007, and he's still playing at 60.
He has coached club sides, school teams and state representative teams — and used every one of them as a chance to mentor boys and men on and off the field. The game has given him community, fitness, travel, leadership and a lot of humility.
Home
Family at the centre
Will lives in Canberra. He has been with his wife for 25 years, and they have three adult children. Ask his wife for the word that describes him and she'll say discipline — the daily routine gets done whether he feels like it or not.
“My family is my life. It is the centre for everything I do.”
Service
Built to serve
Service is the thread that keeps reappearing — on the land, in Defence, in the Australian Federal Police, through Disaster Relief Australia, and in the veteran and first responder communities he still spends time in.
Will is an ambassador for Fortem Australia, and has previously been an ambassador for Soldier On. He has spoken at forums held in connection with veteran affairs and the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. He intends to stay involved with people who serve others, because he thinks that's where a lot of the country's quiet strength lives.
Work with Will
The work continues
Making Men was never meant to stop at the last page. Will takes the same framework into schools, clubs, workplaces and community rooms — and works with people directly, one at a time.
Speaking
Book Will to speak
Schools, sporting clubs, workplaces, remote communities and first responder audiences.
Mentoring
One-on-one mentoring
Direct, practical and structured — built around the five foundations and real accountability.
From Will
You don't need to have everything figured out. You need somewhere to start.
One foundation. One decision. One day at a time.
