It’s that time of the year again. As some teams slip out of contention for the NRL finals, speculation increases on the futures of several coaches.
Since the end of the 2018 season, just four clubs have stuck with their coaches: Sydney Roosters, Melbourne, Parramatta and Canberra. The twelve other clubs have chopped and changed, with Penrith and Manly re-employing Ivan Cleary and Des Hasler respectively with some success; while South Sydney made a Grand Final under Wayne Bennett.
Whatever is going on at the other clubs, changing the coach doesn’t seem to be the answer. In seven years, Newcastle has tried Rick Stone, Nathan Brown and Adam O’Brien; and they look further away from winning a premiership than ever. The same can be said for St George-Illawarra, who persisted with club legend Paul McGregor before turning to Anthony Griffin in 2021. Now it seems Griffin is under pressure, despite signing a contract extension earlier in the year.
Since parting ways with Des Hasler at the end of 2017, Canterbury has tried Dean Pay, Trent Barrett and now Mick Potter. Wests Tigers has often seen a revolving door of coaches, and remain at the bottom of the ladder.
The problem is there are not too many premiership winning top quality coaches available. The successful clubs hold on to their coaches, while the also-rans chop and change.
One reason may be the panic by administrators as clubs look for instant success. That puts pressure on succession planning. For example, Warren Ryan coached Newtown, Canterbury and Balmain between 1979 and 1990 (before stints at Western Suburbs and Newcastle). Players in Ryan coached sides that went on to become head coaches include Chris Anderson, Phil Gould, Terry Lamb, Paul Langmack, Wayne Pearce, Tom Raudonikis, Mick Potter, Andrew Farrar and Steve Folkes.
Similarly, Tim Sheens has guided Royce Simmons, Craig Bellamy, Mal Meninga, Ricky Stuart, David Furner, Ivan Henjak and Kevin Walters.
Not all of those examples have won premierships, but they all had the chance to learn from masters of the trade. Ryan and Sheens were both given the time needed to stamp their mark on their teams, and both reaped the success.
Perhaps some clubs that have invested in the young coaches coming through the ranks could give them a little more time to evolve. Todd Payten, Craig Fitzgibbon, John Morris, and others could very well develop into the next Ryan or Sheens. Hopefully, they will be given that opportunity in what has become a more cut-throat business than ever before.