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What’s more important to a football team – a great coach or great players? A team of great players can be successful with a mediocre coach, but a great coach won’t be successful with a team of mediocre players.
In fact, I would argue that the importance of the head coach in the NRL is diminishing. The coach is held accountable for the overall performance of the football team, but the reality is that it’s the players that determine the outcome of a game.
The Gold Coast Titans are a perfect example of this fact. The Titans have been a sub-standard football team this season because the players have performed poorly, not because their coach wasn’t good enough. Adding Jack Gibson into the coach’s box wouldn’t have helped the Gold Coast qualify for the finals, but adding Cameron Smith into the line-up might have.
To their credit, the Titans have recognised this. Despite the fact that he carries more baggage than a Dreamliner, the Titans board opted to side with Jarryd Hayne over Neil Henry. They accepted that although his form and fitness have been well off the pace, it’s harder to replace a marquee player like Hayne than a mediocre coach like Henry.
You only need to take a look at the teams currently in finals contention to see that great players are a much more valuable commodity than great coaches. Paul McGregor, Trent Barrett and Anthony Griffin are not considered upper echelon NRL coaches, yet their sides are all likely to feature in September. Why? Because their teams are packed with quality players.
Some would argue that Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy are exceptions to the rule. But it’s hard to separate their success as coaches from the talent on their teams. Were their premierships due to their masterful mentoring or the prolific players at their disposal?
Bellamy’s tenure in Melbourne has been blessed by a trio of future Immortals and some more than handy complementary pieces. Credit should certainly be afforded to Bellamy for helping his players reach their potential, but his resume wouldn’t sparkle quite so brightly if it hadn’t been for the Big Three.
(AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Likewise, Wayne Bennett’s early years in Brisbane were made much more manageable by a stable of rare talent that would have given Godolphin a run for its money. Any team boasting the likes of Langer, Lockyer, Walter, Tallis, Renouf, Webcke, Thorn and Civoniceva (just to name a few!) are going to win more games than they lose, regardless of whether they are coached by Wayne Bennett or Wayne Beavis.
But with Bellamy and Bennett unlikely to leave their posts anytime soon, the Titans should instead focus their energies on recruiting and retaining great players. And the best way to achieve this is to bring in someone capable signing said talent – a general manager of football.
Two names immediately spring to mind – Tim Sheens and Brian Smith. While both may have ended their NRL careers in less than ideal circumstances, there can be no doubting their coaching credentials and their ability to build a successful football team.
Between the two greybeard guides they boast almost 1400 first grade coaching caps across 13 rugby league clubs. Their sides have made nine grand final appearances, and they’ve won four premierships. And that’s without mentioning the 31 games in which Sheens presided over the Australian side, including a World Cup victory in 2013.
In a similar model to the Gould-Griffin partnership at Penrith or the Fulton-Barrett marriage at Manly, either Smith or Sheens could be paired with an inexperienced and inexpensive assistant coach such as Craig Fitzgibbon, Adam O’Brien or Dean Pay. And as they do at Manly and Penrith, the coach would focus on the day-to-day player preparation and team tactics, while the general manager would be responsible for roster management.
(AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Both Sheens and Smith are extremely well connected throughout the rugby league community, with Sheens’ recent stint as Australian coach earning him the respect and admiration of some of the game’s top talent. Either man would be an excellent choice to help rebuild and replenish the roster at the Gold Coast Titans.
Can I see this model working on the Gold Coast? Absolutely. Do I see the board adopting it? Absolutely not. Instead, I expect the Titans to go in one of two ways.
Option 1: if the club is still owned by the NRL, they will pinch pennies and sign a cheap rookie coach. Option 2: if the team has transferred into private ownership, they will make a splashy move to appease the fans and throw money at a big name (Des Hasler perhaps).
Either way, it won’t work. And I expect us to be back here in three years’ time, ready to discuss this issue all over again.
Fifth tackle option
Here are five quick thoughts on the action from Round 25.
1. Call me cynical, but I still don’t fully trust NRL clubs when it comes to HIA testing. During the Parramatta versus Brisbane clash on Thursday evening the Eels must have had five players, all forwards, taken from the field for assessment.
On each occasion, Parramatta was given a free interchange. Some of those decisions were entirely legitimate, with both Frank Pritchard and Tepai Moeroa failing their respective SCAT tests and not returning to the field. But the ‘accidental’ boot to the face suffered by Kenny Edwards didn’t seem like to sort of knock that would require entry into the concussion protocol.
Then again, Edwards is one of the few NRL players to be awarded honorary membership to NIDA.
2. Did Des just buy himself another year?
3. The Canberra Raiders have finally been put out of their misery. After months of threatening to make the finals, they have now been officially eliminated from contention. And it’s a good thing too. Despite their attacking prowess, the Raiders are not a good football team. Their performance against Newcastle wasn’t September-worthy.
Despite the game being a high-scoring affair, it was pock-marked with 37 combined penalties and handling errors across the 80 minutes. That’s a stoppage in play every 2.2 minutes! Worse still, the Raiders missed 23 tackles, allowed four clean line breaks and enabled a Lambless Newcastle to pile on 28 points. Ricky has a lot of work to do over the summer.
4. Josh Dugan is not a good person to have on your football team. He was a toxic presence in Canberra, a disruptive presence in NSW Origin camp, and an unreliable member of the St George Illawarra Dragons. Missing the team bus with your season on the line smacks of a man who just doesn’t care. He’s all yours, Cronulla.
5. With Laurie Daley’s tenure as coach of the New South Wales Origin side now officially over, the frenzied search for his replacement can begin. Or should it be replacements? If I had a seat at the recruitment table, I would encourage the Blues to take an entirely different approach to the one which has failed to yield results over the last dozen years.
Instead of appointing a single man to run the side, why not consider a coaching committee? Imagine the combined Origin nous of a coaching panel comprised Brad Fittler, Andrew Johns, Craig Fitzgibbon and Danny Buderus! Each could be given specific roles within the side, and they could share the onerous media and corporate commitments. Worth a thought.