We know Paul Kent best as the guy who writes for News Limited and sits alongside Ben Ikin as the co-host of NRL 360 on Wednesday night, but he also sees himself as a human resources expert specialising in rugby league coaches.
His star client is Ricky Stuart, who he has been pushing onto readers and viewers now for years for the State of Origin, Parramatta and Canberra.
After Stuart walked out on the Eels holding the wooden spoon, Kent described him as a “great coach” – not a good coach, a great coach. What a rock, what a mate.
News Limited devotes two pages to Kent on Saturdays, and even though we are ten days away from an Origin decider, he dedicated the guts of his column to his newest client, sacked Cowboys coach Neil Henry. Kent is pushing Henry for the Dragons head coaching job.
How lucky is Henry? He just received a free two-page advert in one of Australia’s biggest newspapers.
NRL 360 had a segment listing the 10 most powerful figures in rugby league today, but surely Kent should have replaced his number one selection, his boss Lachlan Murdoch, with himself.
I doubt even Murdoch could have sold the unsellable like Kent has.
Ricky Stuart is a laughing stock with the most important people in the game, the fans, who have seen him leave the Roosters, Sharks and Eels in tatters. He has been sacked from the Roosters, the Sharks and as the national coach after he lost the ‘unlosable’ World Cup final.
His win record during his last two years at the Roosters and the Sharks was 25 per cent. He won only 5 from 24 games (21 per cent) as Eels coach. Ricky Stuart is now 18-61 (29 per cent) since 2009, but the naïve Raiders board, clearly Paul Kent disciples, signed him up for 800k a season without blinking.
You can understand why Neil Henry must be so excited to be part of the Kent Head Hunting Group.
Dragons CEO Peter Doust is interviewing Neil Henry to be the club’s head coach.
PD: Hello Neil, sit down. I have heard some good things about you.
NH: Thanks Peter, may I call you Peter?
PD: Been reading the Tele and watching NRL 360 and Paul Kent keeps singing your praises.
NH: Good bloke Kenty, I’d like to think he has some idea.
PD: How do you explain that you had the two Australian props, Matt Bowen, Brent Tate and Johnathan Thurston, and only managed to win 48 per cent of games over four years?
NH: You read Kenty, I had a lot of bad ref calls, and I did make JT the player he is today.
PD: Why did you hardly play Jason Taumalolo and Tariq Simms last year?
NH: I preferred Dallas Johnson, Glenn Hall, Gavin Cooper and Tariq’s brother Ashton.
PD: OK, thanks for coming in Neil, and you can call me Mr Doust.
Big CLINT
Guest
What about Slater's elbow to Boyd's head. Slater is a grub and should be cited!!
Imasharky
Guest
When Paul Gallen sent that tweet to the NRL Kent rubbished him said this and that as is his normal thing. If ine watched 360 last year nearly every show he said the same thing about the David Smith and his board and staff but not quite in the same words but having the same meaning what a two faced individual. I mean get real Kent
mandy
Guest
Paul Kent should keep his comments about the Socceroos to himself. To condemn them prior to their game against the Netherlands by scoffingy say they didn't have a chance shows how little he knows. They indeed had a great chance and almost realised it. It's so easy to condemn and be negative when you have little understanding about things. Kent should apologise to the Socceroos (if they cared I guess) and to the rest of Australia. If you don't know what you're talking about, keep quiet.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
Hey, John badseed - I'm only a couple of weeks behind the play here but cant ignore your comment. Well said, and you're bloody right. Probably a bit cheeky to say Bozo pulled the strings in the recent Origin series victory but we'll take the good and use it to shield the 8 years of bad. Cheers, Jason
robdowney
Roar Rookie
i lost respect for ricky when he abused that ref the day after the world cup loss. he often has pretentious in his comments. his early success appears to have inflated his ego and his monetary value. how long can this last?
john badseed
Guest
I thought the common denominators behind NSW loses were Pearce, Gallen, Farah, Bird, Lewis, Hoffman, Morris, Jennings,…. and the selectors from the gutter press. Yeah, Cherry's the start of a young, dynamic, skilful Kangaroos future.
Jackson Henry
Guest
And Bozo who was the common denominator behiand NSW's record run of 8 series losses (apart from our current captain). Bozo who, it seems, in unaccountable to NSW fans. Bozo, who, it seems, must know where the bodies are buried. (And I won't bother with the farce that is the Immortals concept). So no, he doesn't have the credentials to advise Loz. Daley's been the best thing that's happened to NSW in almost a decade. Win lose or otherwise next week, it's time for this clown to call it a night. Other than that I agree with you about Cherry. The talk of him being captain at the next World Cup is entirely justified. I'd just love to know why the Daily Jerry Springergraph are so mad for him.
john badseed
Guest
So Bozo the Immortal, Bozo the coach of Australia's best ever test TEAM, Bozo the man who set up Manly to be the dominant team of the past decade (rorters aside) and mentored Des and Toovs to be the benchmark of NRL coaches, doesn't have the credentials to advise Loz? Do you think he chose Stuart's teams, or Bellyache's? He may be a clown for associating with Hadley yet something tells me Cherry Bomb will be the Kangaroo's half at the next World Cup.
nayfo
Guest
He is so painful to watch on NRL 360, he cant string a sentence together half the time.
Jackson Henry
Guest
Scott, given your peice on Kent, just wondering if you had anything as to why the Faily Tele has this agenda against Cronk? You probably remember wraps on him, but at any rate, I've counted almost 10 articles since the start of the year pushing for Cherry over Cronk. And just today, Nick Walshaw (who's by no means the least credible journo there) put out this peice which almost sounded like it came from something Michael Moore would write - and I quote: "DALY Cherry-Evans has been cleared to begin life as the Queensland No. 7 — meaning Cooper Cronk may never start an Origin or Test again" "Should the Manly playmaker dominate the final two games of the interstate series — and, more worryingly, lead the Maroons to a ninth consecutive title — Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens will come under increasing pressure to anoint him as his starting No. 7 for the Four Nations series.And where would that leave Cronk?" "A mainstay of the representative scene for five years, the Melbourne playmaker was already under pressure to retain his No. 7 jersey before the current Origin series got underway." Is Bozo the Utter Clown mates with any of this mob? I'm assuming he must be - why else would a Sydney Jerry Spionger Show of a newspaper be pushing for 1) A player from what many see as the most hated team in the NRL and 2) a Queenslander? I guess it just sums up everything that's wrong with RL in Australia. This is suppsoed to be one of flagships of Australian RL coverage" "Cooper Cronk may never play again" - oh dear, one of their very best. And I hasten to add - Cherry's actually one of my favourites.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Jason, Thanks mate, you sound like a good bloke. I agree that he has something to offer, but I honestly am not sure what it is but his ego would never let him be an "assistant" anything. He certainly was one of the best halfbacks I have ever seen and his tactical kicking game was the best in his era. I challenge the comment "knows the game inside out". he simply makes too many fundamental errors with establishing a good team structure, good defence and he makes some horrible selection decsions which are just plan wrong. I could make a massive list over the years. He did not add instant value to the Eels. They went downhill and collected the spoon. The new coach has improved them out of sight, although I noted Ricky has taken credit. Dont worry he wont be lost to the game while ever Kent Head Hunting Pty Ltd is alive and well. He has earnt $10m from coaching and a bow to him and call that real genius.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
Gday Scott - good read and hard to argue with the stats and sentiment. In defence of Ricky, no doubt he knows the game inside out - could play and organise on field. Regardless of the circumstances, he did coach the Roosters to a title and did a good job for NSW against a cracking Maroon's line-up. In the majority of cases, he has added instant value with each new role, seems to go down hill over time - perhaps his intensity and personality grind away relationships. As a footy fan, I'd hate to see him lost to the game. May be he needs to cool his heals in an assistant position, smell the roses and re-assess his approach. Cheers, Jason
River Lad
Guest
Will do so. Will then observe you in person big-noting and name-dropping to your heart's content. And, no, I'm not Ricky. After playing for Australia in Ashes and World Cup wins, playing for Canberra in premiership wins, playing for NSW in Origin wins, coaching NSW to its last Origin win, coaching the Roosters to 3 grand finals including a premiership, and coaching Australia to 10 out of 11 wins, you're kidding yourself thinking he'd bother to explain himself to a Neville like you.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
EJ Dugan is super with bombs and having him on the right will give NSW good options with Tupou on the left.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Judge It seems Dugan will be the new centre, if so I am giving Loz a rap for not being defensive.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
River (or are u really Ricky) I have breaky at the SFS every morning...feel free to introduce yourself and I will enlighten you.
River Lad
Guest
Scotty, before the first Origin game, you wrote: "Here is the facts: the current NSW list are not good enough in a fair dinkum contest. It is a very defensive mindset by the coach and that is not how you beat QLD."
Andrew
Guest
Gus, said something to the effect! I hope Inglis and Slater will be in the 2nd SOS side, as it will be disappointing because he want the best players in Qld side. What about the Morris twins, Gus? Gus is a moron! He is the CEO of Penrith Panthers, but, Penrith has best comp in the junior level, better than the Broncos...maybe even stevens. Everytime I listen the ranking comments of Gus, I get a mild seizure. I usually drink beer, but if Gus is commentating, I drink Jack Daniels ha ha.
curaeus
Guest
That would work. As for the head coach there are a few the Dragons could look at such as Nathan Brown their former but now vastly more experienced coach, Matty Parish who almost got the Tigers gig ahead of Potter or maybe Kevvie Walters who was also in the running for the Tigers job
curaeus
Guest
As Mick Potter keeps saying, Brooks and our other young tyros like Moses are still works in progress but I think you might be on the money sometime over the next year or two. I like Potter. A real quiet achiever. Understand the club is working on a new deal for him as we speak. Hope he gets a decent pay rise as he was reputedly the lowest paid mentor in the NRL