Daniel Anderson jumped at an 11th hour opportunity to go from development officer to reserve grade coach of the mighty Parramatta Eels in 1998. They won the comp.
He didn’t blink when out of nowhere he was offered the Head Coach position at Warriors and a grand final followed shortly.
St Helen’s was an English challenge and experience, and the dream job for him at Parramatta resulted in another grand final appearance before a quite mysterious demise and disappearance from coaching.
Now he has a completely different challenge and his different style and look on life may just be what the whistleblowers respond to.
In fact, I am that hearing positives abound among their fraternity at present.
Ando will have a new, or even bizarre, theory or two and won’t be afraid to tread on toes or challenge them in very different ways indeed. How they continue to respond and how he counters could be very interesting.
There are some who believe the refs themselves have had a taste of success in choosing and losing their past couple of bosses.
Do they need their heads pulled in? Or perhaps they must be challenged in other ways to make the improvements the game demands of them?
I feel Daniel’s biggest challenges may come in communications with coaches.
Many are or were fed up with an inadequate feedback and assessment system that they feel lacked depth and detail. That is not always his personal strength.
He has a strong reliance on gut feel and relationships with key or senior personnel which may not cut the mustard with demanding coaches. I don’t know what the job demands are in terms of work ethic, but again Ando will be required to up the ante to manage all of those requirements.
On a technical note, he has attacked the need to quickly and emphatically deal with two worrying in-game aspects in my opinion.
The incorrectly awarded tries from obvious obstructions will grow worse this season if not addressed. Every club will follow the Bulldogs in particular and the epidemic levels of pushing the boundaries making it very hard for refs (but not video refs if educated correctly).
The other is the perennial ruck speed issue, which has deteriorated terribly in the past two seasons.
I see Wayne Bennett has been on the attack already about this key area of the game. Wayne loves those rolling rucks that Super League made part of the footy culture of that period, but a few other coaches have found ways of still playing attacking footy or asking a good question of the defence from slow play the balls in recent seasons – notably the play involving the possible obstruction mentioned above.
Those guys are also masters of the wrestle which Wayne wants abolished. Like mobile phones and colour televisions WB, they are here to stay.
I thought maybe Daniel and the refs crew might have waited to have a look at it and adjust as it comes.
It was late into preseason when they let everyone know the way refs are going to adjudicate obstruction but it was direct and concise. It will still happen and there will be lots of screaming from some quarters when they feel they have got a bad call.
Expect Daniel Anderson to be right there to answer questions directly and immediately.
Thinking on his feet and coming up with quick answers is what he thrives on, so don’t be surprised if there are some strong returns of serve this season to noisy media or coaches.
He may not blink first but he can think fast and outside the box when required.
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