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Daley can do a 'Lazarus'

16th July, 2017
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NSW need a complete overhaul, and they have nothing to lose. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Roar Guru
16th July, 2017
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2232 Reads

Origin coaches are fundamentally different to NRL coaches.

I chuckle when I watch Fox Sports and Channel Nine and read the many media stories on who should be the next coach of the NSW Blues.

It’s clipboards at ten paces, and it seems everyone who played Origin and is employed by Fox or Nine will do a better job. Current coach Laurie Daley has certainly discovered who his real mates are; tough times tend to do that.

History dictates that a successful NRL coach does not automatically translate into Origin.

The two greatest modern day coaches are Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy and their amazing skill will not be remembered on an Origin field.

Bennett is only 12 of 22 Origins (55%) and Bellamy two from nine (22%).

Some of the most successful Origin coaches were failures at club level, or would never be seriously considered.

To underline this point, Tommy Raudonikis coached the Blues to win the 1997 series, while posting a 34 per cent win record with the Western Suburbs Magpies. Failed NRL coach Wayne Pearce had a 56 per cent win record with the Blues but only 36 per cent at club level.

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Ricky Stuart, a former national coach, only won 44 per cent of his games as Origin coach.

How can Bellamy and Stuart be under 50 per cent and Pearce and Raudonikis be over?

How can Paul Vautin walk out of the Footy Show to coach the Maroons to a series win with no experience, and the most successful Origin coach is Mal Meninga who he was a failure at NRL level.

It does not make sense!

mal-meninga-rugby-league-nrl-2016

(AAP Image/Paul Miller)

What does compute is that Origin players, especially of the ilk like Cam Smith and Johnathan Thurston do not need to be coached at that level, they just need to stay happy and healthy.

The 2017 NSW Blues, if you believe the players, were very happy and thrived on their preparation to ambush the Maroons in Brisbane 28–4 scoring five tries to one. They backed up at Homebush to be leading 16-6 after 53 minutes in the decider, Game 2.

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The Origin was seemingly won, but with skipper Boyd Cordner moving to the right side, it exposed three of the most experienced players – Jarryd Hayne, Wade Graham and James Maloney –
who must have been thinking more about post match celebrations than respect for the opposition.

Discipline went out the window despite it being drummed in by the coach prior to the match. In 25 minutes the Maroons had drawn level and it took the living legend himself, Johnathan Thurston to kick the winning goal from the sideline with a busted shoulder that would end his season and incredible Origin career.

Thurston-Origin

( AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

The coach cannot pass the ball to Brett Morris with the line open, and he cannot stop a forward from running out of his line, and he does not concede dumb penalties to give the Maroons a sniff when it seemed all was lost.

Glenn Lazarus is the only player in history to win grand finals with three separate clubs (Canberra Raiders, Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm) and he said on the Sunday Footy Show that “NSW do not have a coaching problem, they have an on-field leadership problem.”

The ‘brick with eyes’ was hesitant to point the finger at anyone, but he did vent his disappointment at big forward leader Aaron Woods for turning his back in hit ups and his slow play the balls.

The majority of the Blues are either club captains or in the leadership group, but when it really counted, when they needed to stay focused for just 25 minutes more, they didn’t.

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The NSW Blues loss had nothing to do with preparation and everything to do with selecting the best 17 players who you would want to go to war with.

If it was about coaching then Bennett would be still leading the Maroons and Bellamy the Blues.

The brick with eyes knows what it takes, and he says Laurie Daley should stay; he can do a Lazarus.

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