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Having a winning culture or a strong team is perhaps what all clubs across the world in any sport wish to achieve. But what is a winning culture? Can you lose a culture from year to year? Or is culture embedded into the club’s fabric?
Manly and Melbourne are perhaps the greatest examples in the modern NRL of a winning culture. But does this culture just exist among this special group of players? Or have the likes of Cameron Smith and Jamie Lyon created a culture that will remain after they have moved on?
South Sydney have won more premierships then any other team, with 20 titles to their name, but it would be hard to argue that they have a culture of winning. The image that they posses among fans of other clubs is that they are not good enough and choke in big games.
Do South Sydney have a culture of choking? Do they fear the big moment? The next few weeks will let us know. The Rabbitohs have made consecutive preliminary finals but have failed both times to make the grand final.
Last year’s opponents Manly produced a fantastic comeback after being 14-0 down, and any other team may have not made it back. The culture of fighting and never giving up played a massive role in Manly not surrendering.
NSW won its first State of Origin series since I started puberty this year, and throughout the reign it could be argued that at times NSW players expected to lose. This losing culture flowed through the team from veterans to rookies and Queensland was able to take advantage of this to record a historic streak.
Did the winning culture exist in Queensland? Did NSW players consider themselves self inferior? Did they expect to be overrun by their opponents or were they just beaten by some of the best players of all time?
The Sydney Roosters are the greatest example of a changing culture. In 2012 they finished 13th and there were issues with the team. Brian Smith was sacked amid rumours of player unrest and the club was in a very bad place.
Nick Politis hired an unknown coach in Trent Robinson to join James Maloney at the club for 2013. Then news broke that Sonny Bill Williams would honour a five-year-old handshake deal with Politis to return to the NRL, Michael Jennings was released from Penrith and joined the Roosters, and they went on to win the premiership.
The culture changed almost overnight with players committing to a drinking ban, changing their diets, enjoying each others company and focusing solely on footy. A number of Rooster players credited Sonny Bill Williams with the change in the culture with his professionalism.
This may show that a club’s culture does not exist at the club level but exists at the players’ level, and can be changed by just one team member.
Manly have the best culture in the NRL, but when the likes of Anthony Watmough, Jamie Lyon, Jason King, Steve Matai and the Stewart brothers either move on or retire does that culture leave with them? Or can players such as Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran teach this strong culture to the players come in? It will be very interesting to see.
Team culture can be key to a team’s success and a team with a poor culture may self implode when things do not go their way. With the finals fast approaching a team’s culture may well play a huge role in who makes or wins the grand final.
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