Patience seems foreign in modern day sport. Everything is instant and the reality of a situation can be distorted in the week to week dissection of results.
The unfashionable truth is that changing the culture of a club takes time.
But are fans, past players and officials willing to sit tight and wait to see a project to bear fruit when it seems far easier to take from the branch early and declare the selection sour?
Parramatta coach Stephen Kearney and his Penrith counterpart Ivan Cleary both have almighty jobs ahead.
Kearney has been forced to deal with a ridiculous amount of pressure and barely a week goes by where his future isn’t a topic of discussion.
The Eels sit on the bottom of the NRL ladder after 15-rounds with an 18-point loss to South Sydney on Saturday night was the latest setback.
Cleary rules with an iron-fist.
He has stripped club hero Luke Lewis of the captaincy, dropped State of Origin centre Michael Jennings to Windsor and given local junior Lachlan Coote a quick reminder of what life could be like outside the comfort of the NRL.
His reward?
The Panthers are just one place above the Eels on the ladder and described yesterday’s loss to the Gold Coast Titans as “an exercise in self-mutilation.”
It’s no great surprise that these two men are under pressure. In-fact on the surface it makes complete sense.
But both have made it known they’re trying to fix problems that aren’t of their making.
They’re trying to put systems in place which will benefit the club for decades.
Both are striving to build a culture that rivals the competition front-runners, but that culture didn’t develop overnight.
Unfortunately for the same fans, past players and officials this takes time – something that is rarely given to people in professional sport.
The alternative is to go for the quick fix, cut ties and bank on the new coach bounce.
It generally only serves to paper over the cracks that will eventually work their way up to the surface again.
Unless coaches are given the time and space to see a plan through, a club tends to be in a constant state of transition.
That’s not healthy either.
So, can a culture changing coach survive in modern day sport, or is the lure of a perceived greener pasture too hard to ignore?
GC Tiger
Guest
Best coaches normally win something.
Luke Doherty
Roar Guru
I'd back Melbourne to win a comp though without 1 of Slater or Smith. That club shows what culture can do.
Luke Doherty
Roar Guru
Interesting to read those comments as well. Sandow needs to feel like he can just do whatever he wants.
Luke Doherty
Roar Guru
I think at the moment it would even be a massive job for Sticky.
Luke Doherty
Roar Guru
Parra fans must shake their heads at the recruitment and retention policy of the club over the last 10-15 years.
Ronnie the Eel
Guest
Yes, sorry guys, my mistake, the Eels played in the gf of 2001 against the Knights - I don't think I was sober much in 2001 so no wonder I only recall the 1986 grand final and 2001 was a year I'd rather forget.... lol..... the way the Eels played in the first half of that 2001 gf they looked like they weren't sober either.... but you still get my point - 2 grand finals in 23 years...... and one of them was after being coached by Anderson who was sacked and replaced by Kearney who may lead us to an award I don't think we have won before? Not sure about Tricky for us, Steve, as the coach, I would rather see Gus Gould or Sterlo if we could entice either of them over.....
Arthur Fonzarelli
Guest
Culture is an over-rated concept. Winning generates its own culture. I would bet there have been poorly coached teams with "cultures" involving the cover-up and nod-wink tolerance of atrocious player misbehaviour that have been very successful on the field. Possibly Knights 2001 fits that description. You can equally guarantee there have been great coaches who have built great cultures whose teams have come last. Cattle is more important than culture. More often than not the team with the most talent wins the comp.
Arthur Fonzarelli
Guest
Brian Smith is the best coach in the NRL. In addition to the clubs mentioned above, he took the Dragons from a rabble in the late 80's to 2 grand finals, then took Parramatta from an even bigger mess to being top 8 regulars over an extended period.
josh
Guest
um, first grand final in 8 years....
Flexible planning
Guest
Nothing wrong with culture change BUT Kearney is running out of excuses. He was involved in a lot of the player purchases and the roster he now has. I think his main problems are his inexperience and one-trick-pony where he is trying to implement a Melbourne-like structure for players that don't play or fit into that structure. As a result he's run out of ideas and is still trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Tim Sheens is a good example when he arrived at the Tigers and saw that they were a small pack he went about developing a structure that would fit the strengths of the players. John Lang interestingly said that Sandow is a player that you create a structure around and not the other way around. Last time I checked Sandow played better footy other Lang than Kearney.
Rabby
Guest
Followed by Stuart and they had no chance. Biggest fool in the game.
JVGO
Guest
The biggest failure as a culture changing coach was Chris Anderson at the Sharks. The Sharks culture was strong and had had them competitive for a long time but he thought he could bring in a Bulldogs culture into the Sharks but without the money and the salary cap rorting and cheating. Biggest fail ever which almost destroyed the club. It has taken over ten years for the Sharks to recover.
Parra Steve
Guest
Ronnie, we made the Grand Final in 2001. Sack Kearney and the Spagnolo. Ricky Stuart to the Eels. Parra 2013
M.O.C.
Roar Guru
Yep - just like yogurt.. mostly made up of single-celled organisms.
steve b
Roar Guru
The problem as you say runs right through to the cleaner,,but its bad decisions made in the past that are causing the problems now..Their is no easy fix , Brett is coaching on the coast and has the go in him to pass it on to the players something like this would be a great start..Spagnolo and crew who thought that the new players that were purchased and amount paid for some was good deal ,,, they got it horribly wrong .. I suggest former players who are interested in putting their hands up to get Parra out of their current mess would be a step in the right direction to get them on board fast ..Spagnolo needs to step down now because its the only way we are going to get rid of him,, because his cronies wont vote him out for fear once the ball starts rolling their jobs might go to..The whole show is a bloody mess and instead of the bloody suits thinking about themselves i wish they would put the good of the club first and do the right thing .The bubble must burst soon the pressure is coming from all angles lets just hope its sooner rather than later. With one of the biggest jnr leagues in the game ,,some of the best and loyal supporters you could ask for,,it makes you wonder how did we end up with this cluster----k !!!!
Ronnie the Eel
Guest
i wonder if ithe Eels performance hasn't got much to do with Kearney? The sacking of Daniel Anderson two seasons after taking the Eels to their first grand final in 23 years was a bit of an explosion, and the year they sacked him they only just missed the 8. Since then with Kearney at the helm, the hapless Eels were very lucky last year to miss the wooden spoon by a spot thanks to the Titans losing the last game, and have now got their worst start to a season in 52 years! Yes, the players and other management actors in clubs have a lot to do with results, but being the wooden spoon runners-up and being in last position all of this yeardoesn't bode well for Kearney and after a season-and-a-half that is ample time to prove himself. Look at the impact a premiership-winning coach like Hasler has had with the Dogs this season - albeit they have a stronger players roster than the Eels, but look what he has also done for the confidence and play of Eels and Warriors discard - Krisnan Inu - coaches can and do have a large impact on both individual players and team performance...
mushi
Guest
It is actually really difficult to tie performance in a turn around with pay in a manner that works for both sides.
Aleks Duric
Roar Guru
The problem is when we've changed boards & CEO's there hasn't been any real leadership change. Going from Fitzgerald to Spagnolo isn't exactly a step in the right direction. Roy holds onto the reigns just as tightly as Fitzy did without offering any new strategy or direction that can actually change the business model of the club. And importing ex-players who aren't experienced in business administration isn't the answer. As much as I love Kenny, Price, Guru etc...I'd much rather a Todd Greenberg in the big chair. There needs to be a value add in the management of a footy club other than winning a couple of premierships 30 years ago. The club is so poorly mismanaged from top down that a new coach isn't going to make the type of impact that is really needed. I'd be all for getting rid of everyone on the board and management and employing a new crop of talented business professionals that have no previous connection with the club. Tie their salaries to performance, and let them start from scratch. Maguire is doing a good job at Souths because he's backed by a CEO and leadership team that are supporting his strategy, not just through empty words, but through the clubs own direction which feeds into the first team operation.
GC Tiger
Guest
Haven't Parramatta had 3 Ceo's, 2 boards, 2 chairmans, 4 coaches in the last 4 years? If that isn't change I don't know what is. You need an experienced coach with good support. I wonder where Para would be this year if they had Micheal Maquire not Kearney.
GC Tiger
Guest
That right all 3 of those clubs have been top 4, no top 8, no bottom 8 teams in the last 6 years.:)