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One Week steps tentatively onto the shaky ground occupied by coaches Jason Taylor and Andrew McFadden, and speculates on who will be the first to face the axe in 2016.
It takes a special kind of human being to coach rugby league. Sure you get paid like an investment banker, but the role can be just as stressful and demanding. Your job security is so limited that the public can actually place bets on how soon you or one of your colleagues will get the sack.
Just imagine if this kind of behaviour was acceptable at your workplace. Picture your workmates sitting down for lunch to scrutinise your job performance, before deciding to place a cheeky $10 bet on Mick from sales to get the flick. The very thought of such an unethical undertaking would make any HR officer drop their activated almonds in horror.
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But the normal regulations and conventions of corporate Australia simply do not apply to the NRL coaching fraternity.
Imagine an email pinging in Wayne Bennett’s inbox, inviting him to a meeting with the Broncos’ Human Resources department. The crotchety old war-horse reluctantly trudges down the hall, and is greeted by fresh-faced blonde with less life experience than a home-schooled teenager.
She hands the coach a cup of chamomile tea, and proceeds to inform him that his performance has not been up to scratch. She feels Wayne would benefit from performance management, and has arranged for Mr Bellamy from the Melbourne office to oversee operations for a few months.
Unfortunately, the reality for Bennett and is his colleagues is far bleaker. The perky blonde and her three-step self-improvement plan is replaced by rabid fans who demand your resignation at the slightest hint of failure.
Despite the rigours of the job, like a planet slowly orbiting a distant star, the coaching merry-go-round never stops. Without fail, every year produces a fresh batch of rookies and returns a collection of weathered veterans.
And every year, there are a small group of men ‘on the hot seat’. This season, the seats of Tigers coach Jason Taylor and Warriors coach Andrew McFadden are toastier than most.
In fact, the parallels between the Tigers and the Warriors are difficult to ignore. Both clubs are being piloted by young, inexperienced coaches with limited first grade experience.
Both of these men are former rugby league players, each having excelled in the halves during their careers.
Both clubs boast a plethora of attacking weapons capable of posting huge scores, but who are also prone to simple errors. Both clubs are known for their defensive frailties. And most importantly, both clubs are losing more games than they are winning. So which coach will be the first to go?
Jason Taylor
Jason Taylor has been criticised for forcing a heavily structured system on a playing group which excels at ad lib football.
The pressure has been mounting on the coach to remove the shackles, take off the training wheels, and allow his boys to play some footy. So he did, and the Tigers responded with back to back wins over Manly and the Warriors to start the season, averaging 35 points per game.
The fans hungrily devoured the resulting hype like they hadn’t eaten in years, and the media were frothing to discuss the dawn of a new Tigers dynasty. But what was lost in the euphoric orgy of praise was that the Tigers also averaged a staggering 27 missed tackles, a sloppy 8.5 errors and conceded an average of 24 points across those two victories.
This high risk and high reward style of play looks amazing when everything clicks, but is unsustainable in the long-term, and Taylor knows it.
When the no look passes find their mark and the attacking chips are recovered by a flying Tedesco, the Tigers are scintillating to watch and impossible to contain. However when these same passes go to ground and the kicks are off-target, the Tigers heap pressure back on their porous defence.
Fast forward to the end of Round 7, and the Tigers are reeling from five consecutive defeats, the latest courtesy of a golden point heartbreaker against an anaemic Storm attack which asked less questions than an amputee mime.
The Tigers average points scored per game has plummeted to 21.1, while their error count has actually risen to 10.4 per game. With a defence as suspect as Wests, you simply cannot afford to hand possession back to the opposition on such a regular basis. The Tigers field a very young side, and Taylor has thus far been unable to focus their enthusiasm and ensure his players maintain concentration for the full 80 minutes.
Andrew McFadden
Across the Tasman, the Warriors have provided Andrew McFadden with all the tools to succeed. The New Zealand team boasts more talent than Taylor Swift’s Girl Squad, headlined by superstars at the game’s most important positions.
They are blessed with a massive junior base, and Jim Doyle provides much-needed stability in the boardroom. Yet even with such abundant resources, the Warriors coaching gig has a similar turnover rate to the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
Like many coaches before him, McFadden has been unable to translate these resources into performance on the field.
The Warriors are traditionally slow starters to the season, and 2016 has been no exception. Despite importing Kiwi internationals Issac Luke and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, the team has lacked cohesion and balance.
Returning from a broken ankle, Shaun Johnson’s lack of confidence proliferated throughout the squad faster than a runny nose at a childcare centre. Tuivasa-Sheck has been conspicuous in his inability to impose himself on the contest in the same manner fans have become accustomed to from his time at the Roosters.
The Warriors recorded an impressive victory over the Bulldogs in Round 7, but it was only their third of season 2016, which most will agree is well below expectations. While appearing disjointed and clunky, their attack has actually been quite effective so far this season, with McFadden’s men averaging an impressive 23.4 points per game.
But attack has never been their problem. McFadden failed to reinforce a suspect defence, and as a result the Warriors have leaked an average of 25.7 points per game, good for second worst in the league.
Possibly the most alarming trend the Warriors have exhibited under McFadden’s watch has been their tendency to only engage in the contest once the result seems out of reach. Once the pressure of actually winning the game is no longer a factor, only then do the Warriors start playing to their potential. This is a problem with attitude, and something McFadden must address.
The verdict
So with this in mind, who is the first coach to get the arse? In my opinion, Jason Taylor wins the race to his local Centrelink office. The Tigers have a weaker roster than the Warriors, Aaron Woods is predicted to be out for 4-6 weeks through injury, and they are on the cusp of losing their remaining star players to another draining Origin campaign.
While the Warriors have room for improvement, the Tigers seem like they have already peaked. So remove Taylor, and get it over with quickly. In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, do it like a Band-Aid: Right off!
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