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Tim Sheens is a lot like Ricky Stuart. Both were terrific in their heyday, both had brilliant starts to their coaching career, yet both are dramatically overrated in terms of their current coaching ability.
Although suggesting the incumbent Australia coach should be sacked after leading his side to a 20-point trouncing of the current world champions may sound a little harsh, let me explain my rationale for making such a sensationalist headline:
• The Kangaroos came very close to losing on Friday night. Although the final scoreline does not reflect this, the Kiwis were right in this match up until the 50th minute mark. Barring a controversial video-referee decision, the Kangaroos might have lost Friday night’s match.
• The Kiwis were missing a heap of talent. Benji Marshall, Sonny Bill Williams, Greg Eastwood, Manu Vatuvei, Sam Kasiano, Simon Mannering, Jeremy Smith and Krisnan Inu were all missing from the Kiwis on Friday. Australia was full-strength… that is as good as Australia gets, player-wise.
• Sheens has already said that he thinks that bulk of this team will be there at the next World Cup. While I agree it was sensational looking team, there is still room for improvement and with five months of footy remaining, no-one should be considered ‘safe’ in my opinion. This reeks of a coach that is insecure and resistant to change.
• Finally, and this is the most important reason why Sheens should be replaced, there is a whole host of better NRL coaches waiting in the wings, none more so than Craig Bellamy.
Where the Kangaroos looked most vulnerable was their failure to dominate the ruck and speed of the play-the-ball.
This is an area of the game that Bellamy has revolutionised in recent years.
I know there is some rule that says an NRL coach should not be the Australian Kangaroos coach, but that is nonsense.
You pick the best man for the job and that is most likely going to be an NRL coach that is involved at the highest levels of the game on a week-in, week-out basis.
I acknowledge that Sheens has now led Australia to its 14th straight win, but this is not enough in my opinion. Mal Meninga has led the Queensland Maroons to seven straight series wins, but I don’t see NRL clubs knocking down his door for head-coaching positions.
This is because people realise that some teams are so talented that they can win despite the prowess (or lack of) of their coach.
Tim Sheens was an amazing coach in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had a renaissance back in the mid 2000s, when he reintroduced free-flowing footy and mobile forward packs with the premiership-winning Tigers.
But since 2006 his record is not good enough to have the most important coaching job in Australia.
Any Australian rugby league fan should have the date of 22 November 2008 etched in their memory.
That was the day that the Kiwis came to Suncorp Stadium and won the Rugby League World Cup. The era of the Kangaroos picking incumbents because they could afford to not pick in-form players is well and truly over.
The same realisation should have taken place in terms of selecting the Kangaroos coach.
Of course I do not think Sheens will be dropped. Dropping someone in Australian sport requires a crisis and there is certainly a sense of “she’ll be right, mate” in Australian Kangaroos circles. It reminds me very much of the attitude in late 2008…
So if the Kiwis defend their World Cup in 2013, then expect one all mighty “I told you so!” by furious people like myself, who will reluctantly be backing the Kiwis at the insane odds being offered by bookmakers.
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