- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It’s not rocket science that coaches are an integral part of a player’s development and that many coaches have made a player’s career through his ability to see ‘something special’, such as Wayne Bennett and Darren Lockyer.
But what about the players who go on the scrap heap or are not fortunate enough to work with such a coach? There are so many and inevitably once you start a footy conversation about past players, the question gets asked, “What happened to him? He had so much potential”, or “He’s so good in some games and terrible in others, if only he played for the Storm.”
Right now I’m sure a lot of you are thinking of a player who fits the bill as someone who started with so much but ended with so little or is currently playing but you think he would offer so much more under a better coach or among a better team.
We’ve seen how some players have benefited from strong coaches recently, like Soward under Bennett or Finch under Craig Bellamy. These two play have played for clubs with unsettled coaches’ boxes, resulting in poor team performances and therefore their games suffered.
I’m not saying these two could or would have been greats under other coaches, but it makes me wonder how other players might have fared given the same opportunity.
Norrie, Lowe and Ryles are other examples who, it’s no surprise, have turned their games around under Bellamy.
So I’m not so much writing this article to argue about who’s a good coach or who should go to what club, rather, I’d like to hear players you would have liked to see under a better coach or in a successful team.
I’d like to throw a few past and present names in the hat myself – who I’d like, or would have liked, to have seen in this situation.
First I’ll start with a few from Penrith, a side which has struggled in the past few seasons but which has some talented players like Coote and Walsh. Penrith fans might argue that these guys are already good players but I’d say they could be so much better under a solid coach, in a solid club structure.
Coote has shown he is versatile by playing five-eighth at the back end of 2012 and Walsh’s kicking game a few years ago was second to none for try assists. Coote for me could be in the vein of the great Lockyer. I’m not suggesting he could be as good but I see a real talented football mind in him that only a lucky few have.
The unsettled club environment, along with injury, haven’t helped and I hope that gets sorted and we see his best at Penrith.
Other current players I’d mention are Pettyborne – once touted as the next Asotasi; Tagatese – the power, strength and speed but lacking direction; Shawn Johnson – the ‘next Benji’ has been bogged down by the Warriors rabble; Ben Roberts – so good on his day but they are so rare; Sau – one of the most damaging runners in the game may have left it late to move to the Storm.
I’ll move on to a past player now and, although I’m only 30, there were so many to pick. As a Souths fan I had a lot of hope for Owen Craigie – such a strong and elusive player at his fittest but his form (and weight) was all over the shop.
Souths are a club which have been through a lot of ups and downs as well as coaches good and bad, so it’s no secret a lot of talent got wasted and Craigie was a prime example.
As I said, I’m interested in hearing the players you would like, or would have liked, to see under another coach or in another team. Players which would be, or could have been, so much more.
The greats that never were.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.