In the aftermath of Athletics Australia coach Eric Hollingsworth being sent home from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, it has me thinking, do athletes and teams need their coach to be nice guys or girls?
I don’t know enough about the situation to comment, but it did cause me to think about the different types of coaches in the NRL.
We often hear players make comments such as ‘we are going to cop a spray’ or ‘we know we are going to get our asses kicked’ after a poor performance.
Over at the Sharks, players openly admitted they did not put 100 per cent in under nice guy Peter Sharp. Wade Graham even mentioned that after a bad performance he wouldn’t chew them out as much as full-time coach Shane Flanagan.
Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy, two of the most successful coaches of the modern era, are well known for their halftime and full-time sprays and blow-ups.
One of the most successful managers in world sport, Sir Alex Ferguson, once kicked a boot into star player David Beckham’s head. Hardly the actions of a nice guy.
Darren Lehmann has been described as one of the nicest guys of all time by players, and he managed to guide his side to an Ashes white wash, just months after the side was beaten in England.
Surely the job of a coach or manager is to get the best out of his or her players, and not to be the athletes friend.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m not really commenting on the situation within the athletics team at the Commonwealth Games, as I don’t know the details. However on the surface, it seems as though Hollingsworth’s comments could have been better at times.
He made the negative comments about star hurdler Sally Pearson the day before she kicked off her campaign. I wouldn’t imagine this to be the best way to properly prepare an athlete for an international competition.
Although it would seem as though players someone don’t like the top coaches in the game, it’s obvious that players do respect them.
There are plenty of different traits between successful coaches, however the one constant seems to be respect.
A player may not want to have a beer with a coach, but if he or she respects the person in charge, then they’re far more likely to give their all.
As a fan of the NRL, I don’t want to hear players in the team I support come out and talk about how nice their coach is. I’d much rather hear about how they’ve been put through their paces, chewed out when needed, and turned into a better player.
I’d stake a large wager on the majority of players saying the same.
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