What’s more important to a football team – a great coach or great players? A team of great players can be successful with a mediocre coach, but a great coach won’t be successful with a team of mediocre players.
In fact, I would argue that the importance of the head coach in the NRL is diminishing. The coach is held accountable for the overall performance of the football team, but the reality is that it’s the players that determine the outcome of a game.
The Gold Coast Titans are a perfect example of this fact. The Titans have been a sub-standard football team this season because the players have performed poorly, not because their coach wasn’t good enough. Adding Jack Gibson into the coach’s box wouldn’t have helped the Gold Coast qualify for the finals, but adding Cameron Smith into the line-up might have.
To their credit, the Titans have recognised this. Despite the fact that he carries more baggage than a Dreamliner, the Titans board opted to side with Jarryd Hayne over Neil Henry. They accepted that although his form and fitness have been well off the pace, it’s harder to replace a marquee player like Hayne than a mediocre coach like Henry.
You only need to take a look at the teams currently in finals contention to see that great players are a much more valuable commodity than great coaches. Paul McGregor, Trent Barrett and Anthony Griffin are not considered upper echelon NRL coaches, yet their sides are all likely to feature in September. Why? Because their teams are packed with quality players.
Some would argue that Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy are exceptions to the rule. But it’s hard to separate their success as coaches from the talent on their teams. Were their premierships due to their masterful mentoring or the prolific players at their disposal?
Bellamy’s tenure in Melbourne has been blessed by a trio of future Immortals and some more than handy complementary pieces. Credit should certainly be afforded to Bellamy for helping his players reach their potential, but his resume wouldn’t sparkle quite so brightly if it hadn’t been for the Big Three.
(AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Likewise, Wayne Bennett’s early years in Brisbane were made much more manageable by a stable of rare talent that would have given Godolphin a run for its money. Any team boasting the likes of Langer, Lockyer, Walter, Tallis, Renouf, Webcke, Thorn and Civoniceva (just to name a few!) are going to win more games than they lose, regardless of whether they are coached by Wayne Bennett or Wayne Beavis.
But with Bellamy and Bennett unlikely to leave their posts anytime soon, the Titans should instead focus their energies on recruiting and retaining great players. And the best way to achieve this is to bring in someone capable signing said talent – a general manager of football.
Two names immediately spring to mind – Tim Sheens and Brian Smith. While both may have ended their NRL careers in less than ideal circumstances, there can be no doubting their coaching credentials and their ability to build a successful football team.
Between the two greybeard guides they boast almost 1400 first grade coaching caps across 13 rugby league clubs. Their sides have made nine grand final appearances, and they’ve won four premierships. And that’s without mentioning the 31 games in which Sheens presided over the Australian side, including a World Cup victory in 2013.
In a similar model to the Gould-Griffin partnership at Penrith or the Fulton-Barrett marriage at Manly, either Smith or Sheens could be paired with an inexperienced and inexpensive assistant coach such as Craig Fitzgibbon, Adam O’Brien or Dean Pay. And as they do at Manly and Penrith, the coach would focus on the day-to-day player preparation and team tactics, while the general manager would be responsible for roster management.
(AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Both Sheens and Smith are extremely well connected throughout the rugby league community, with Sheens’ recent stint as Australian coach earning him the respect and admiration of some of the game’s top talent. Either man would be an excellent choice to help rebuild and replenish the roster at the Gold Coast Titans.
Can I see this model working on the Gold Coast? Absolutely. Do I see the board adopting it? Absolutely not. Instead, I expect the Titans to go in one of two ways.
Option 1: if the club is still owned by the NRL, they will pinch pennies and sign a cheap rookie coach. Option 2: if the team has transferred into private ownership, they will make a splashy move to appease the fans and throw money at a big name (Des Hasler perhaps).
Either way, it won’t work. And I expect us to be back here in three years’ time, ready to discuss this issue all over again.
Fifth tackle option
Here are five quick thoughts on the action from Round 25.
1. Call me cynical, but I still don’t fully trust NRL clubs when it comes to HIA testing. During the Parramatta versus Brisbane clash on Thursday evening the Eels must have had five players, all forwards, taken from the field for assessment.
On each occasion, Parramatta was given a free interchange. Some of those decisions were entirely legitimate, with both Frank Pritchard and Tepai Moeroa failing their respective SCAT tests and not returning to the field. But the ‘accidental’ boot to the face suffered by Kenny Edwards didn’t seem like to sort of knock that would require entry into the concussion protocol.
Then again, Edwards is one of the few NRL players to be awarded honorary membership to NIDA.
2. Did Des just buy himself another year?
3. The Canberra Raiders have finally been put out of their misery. After months of threatening to make the finals, they have now been officially eliminated from contention. And it’s a good thing too. Despite their attacking prowess, the Raiders are not a good football team. Their performance against Newcastle wasn’t September-worthy.
Despite the game being a high-scoring affair, it was pock-marked with 37 combined penalties and handling errors across the 80 minutes. That’s a stoppage in play every 2.2 minutes! Worse still, the Raiders missed 23 tackles, allowed four clean line breaks and enabled a Lambless Newcastle to pile on 28 points. Ricky has a lot of work to do over the summer.
4. Josh Dugan is not a good person to have on your football team. He was a toxic presence in Canberra, a disruptive presence in NSW Origin camp, and an unreliable member of the St George Illawarra Dragons. Missing the team bus with your season on the line smacks of a man who just doesn’t care. He’s all yours, Cronulla.
5. With Laurie Daley’s tenure as coach of the New South Wales Origin side now officially over, the frenzied search for his replacement can begin. Or should it be replacements? If I had a seat at the recruitment table, I would encourage the Blues to take an entirely different approach to the one which has failed to yield results over the last dozen years.
Instead of appointing a single man to run the side, why not consider a coaching committee? Imagine the combined Origin nous of a coaching panel comprised Brad Fittler, Andrew Johns, Craig Fitzgibbon and Danny Buderus! Each could be given specific roles within the side, and they could share the onerous media and corporate commitments. Worth a thought.
Taree Raider
Guest
Tom, interesting thought's. Neil Henry can coach, when he was at the Raiders he did really well with them, why the Raiders released him early to go to the Cow's was & is beyond me. David Furner replaced him and couldn't build on what Henry started. We all know David will be an assistant forevermore. Henry was head hunted to join the Cowboys & did alright, apparently JT didn't like him so he was later shafted. Last year the Gold Coast went really well, until Hayne showed up. Picked to win the wooden spoon but made the semi's. The NRL is trying to sell the Titans, better off with only 400K owned to Henry next year than 3 times that for Hayne. If Neil Henry had swapped roles with Craig Bellamy 10 years ago, I'm sure that Henry would have been the super coach & Bellamy would be the also ran. Bellamy has proved that he can't coach without Smith, look at his State of Origin efforts. However the Storm's 40 to nil loss to Manly in the grand final when Smith was suspended for a Bellamy sanctioned 'chicken wing' confirms this point. If Bellamy carried on like he obviously does in any other workplace, he would be regarded a Bully. He coaches like a 1950's headmaster. With fear of a big stick. I personally find it offensive the way that he treats his staff and players. I don't hate young Craig but I don't think much of him. I think his legacy will be that he continually tried to push the rules further than everyone else to gain an advantage. Wrestling & the salary cap spring to mind. Cheating the rules, calling it what it really is. He is coaching the best three players combined probably ever, you have to wonder why they ever get beaten. Lastly, Craig, you were stripped of those two grand finals because you and everyone else at Melbourne cheated. To publicly state that you still believe you won them is delusional. That is likely to be because you were never officially taken to task over your involvement in theSalary Cap rotting, not by the NRL or the media. Perhaps if you had to go down that road & be open & honest about it you would have then been able to accept that it was wrong & the win on those grand final days with an unequal playing roster was in fact cheating. I feel much better now that I've got that off my chest. Yes, Ricky Stuart has got to do better. I'll leave that for another time.
Rob
Guest
A Good coach assembles the best players he can, he will have a plan to carry out a style of football that he believes can win football games. He will endeavour to have the players play their roles for the good of the team. A Great coach will encourage a style of football based on identifying the strengths and weakness of the playing group. He gets the best out of his playing group because the players understand what works best for them is best for the team. Neil Henry is a good coach. He built a team full of players around his vision of how he wanted to play. Many players were able to buy into his vision. It's effective, methodical but also restrictive and in my opinion not easy for unstructured player to buy into. Jarred Hayne like Jimmy the Jet is that type of player. Simply Jarred Hayne and Henry were never a good match. Neil Henry is a good coach but he isn't a great coach.
Mark in Leeds
Guest
Bin the Titans and give Perth a crack at the NRL. Gold Coast has been a failed initiative since day 1 ...
Agent11
Guest
Good point, i forgot Seymour started under Bennett. But yes a great coach knows what personalities work well together and which personalities will be a distraction.
Oingo Boingo
Guest
Coaches coach , Players play , but what would they play without a plan on game day . We see it so often a team getting beaten , but after a halftime spray the opposition get eaten . An empty room can't offer motivation, but an astute opinion, may be a source for salvation. Players can play , there's no need for a coach, a directionless rabble is a novel approach. A coach with no team is only a man , he needs a group of men willing to enact his plan. One needs the other , they're like strawberries and cream, neither is more important, not the coach, not the team.
Andrew
Guest
Experienced operator yes. But good? No. He was not a good Op's manager in the NRL. He brought you the video referee, and how did that work out...? He sat right up the back as the Minister for Sport, contributing nothing, not a single improvement to sport and rec in NSW and in fact sat there as Victoria walked past NSW as the leading state in the country for sport and events. And in fact when he resigned from Parliament, the resulting Bi-election in his seat delivered a 25% swing to Labor. He had lost a safe seat for the Liberal Party. He says himself, he doesn't like politics and isn't good at it. You need to be good at politics to manage a Board and the world that surrounds a sporting club. The club has gone nowhere since he joined and he failed to manage infighting under his watch and he should be held accountable for it.
AGordon
Guest
exactly, and coming up with game plans that will win games based on available talent. The one thing an SoS coach should not have to worry about is desire or will to win.
AGordon
Guest
Morning Tom, where is the responsibility and accountability of you have a committee of coaches? If a side does badly under that format, all you get is lots of people finger pointing and saying "it wasn't me, it was him". I completely agree with having input from various sources when it comes to managing a side but there MUST be one plan, one direction, etc. That can't come from consensus by committee, it can only come by channelling lots of good ideas through one person. I agree NSW needs a f/t coach and Meninga is a perfect example of my point. I don't think, by himself, he's a great coach, but with input he was able to come up with wining teams - and when they lost, he took responsibility.
Bakkies
Guest
Edit function is not working. Funny enough Brian Smith was one of the outside voices that Jake White brought in regularly to freshen things up at training. He also had Danny Buderus, Dean Pay, George Gregan and Eddie Jones down to training sessions.
Bunney
Roar Rookie
I disagree completely. It is easier to have success with a gun side, but the coach is the one who comes up with the strategy that suits his team, that finds the chinks in the oppositions armour and informs his players how to exploit it. Des Hasler in 2012 takes a middle of the road Bulldogs team, with very ordinary halves to the minor premiership and the GF - they wouldn't have come close without Hasler's gameplan. Griffin did nothing at the Broncos - they finished 3rd in his first year, and then 8th was their next best under him. Bennett returns, makes a few tweaks and they're contenders again. You've used Bellamy as an example to support your argument, but I think he supports my argument better. Look at Cheyse Blair. Hopeless in a blue and yellow jersey. Pulls on purple and does everything the coach wants. Most of the time coaches are copying each other, but there are a few that show their extreme worth.
Bakkies
Guest
'A team of great players can be successful with a mediocre coach, but a great coach won’t be successful with a team of mediocre players.' Disagree. A great coach can develop so called mediocre players in to rep standard if he is given the mandate and time to do so. The Brumbies had a clean out in 2011, hired Springbok World Cup winning coach Jake White with experienced coach Laurie Fisher who knew the local Rugby scene as his assistant. Brought in a raft of new players. Majority had no to little Super Rugby experience. Finished just outside the Finals in his first season and made the Final the following year after winning a semi in South Africa. A number of those players who brought in, gave them an opportunity and worked on their development ended up in the test squad.
Nat
Roar Guru
Interesting read Tom. I'm divided on your premise between the coach and players. I give every NRL player their due in that they made it to the top grade. Put them in any lower grade team and they stand out, hence the promotion. The same rule applies with coaches. They got a gig based on previous success in some manner. Admittedly Stuart may have been given a golden entry with the Roosters, however, the majority are the next best available. And therein lay the conundrum. A very good game plan which highlights the players strengths will see success. Whereas a poor attitude by superstar players wont be fixed by a mediocre coach. Hayne is a great case in point. Henry is the latest victim but Hayne has seen off many good coaches without team success. Any team with Hayne, Hindmarsh, Burt, Sandow, Tonga, Maitua, Mannah, MoiMoi should see some success but they rarely made an impact on the 8. No one can deny the quality of talent the Warriors have yet look at their season this year. Contrast that to St George pre Wayne Bennett, a very good team that struggled to make the 8. 09, Minor Premiers and 2010 Premiers. So, while I agree a Hayne 09-esk flash of brilliance can carry a team a long way more success has been granted to those who have 17 hard workers with a good game plan.
matth
Guest
I think NSW need a hard head as coach, someone who has bled for the state, so he can look them in the eye and demand the commitment and effort required, on and off the field. Someone with universal respect, again both on and off the field. It has to be someone who will not have an agenda with the media mates or ex-player mates or current players. This rules out Fittler, Johns and even Gould. I am thinking Geoff Toovey, with an experienced head as assistant, such as Brian Smith or Tim Sheens.
Tom Rock
Expert
I think Andrew McCullough once helped an old lady cross the road, but that could just be a rumour.
matth
Guest
Come on! Take out Josh Maguire, Adam Blair, Sam Thaiday, Ben Hunt, Darius .... oh wait.
Tom Rock
Expert
While the board's handling of this process has been almost Tiger-like in its ineptitude, I wouldn't throw them under the bus just yet. From all reports, Rebecca Frizelle is a good operator and Graham Annesley is a very experienced rugby league administrator. I will reserve judgment until after they complete the process of hiring a new coach.
matth
Guest
Meninga?
spruce moose
Guest
The issue with Fittler and Johns in coaching roles is that it makes it highly likely Mitchell Pearce gets picked again. They will say they do it to "protect Nathan Cleary". The Channel 9 commentary team on Saturday was just a chorus line for the endless abilities of Pearce.
Tom Rock
Expert
Con, I like this type of thinking. A team of d...heads can certainly be successful. Just look at the Broncos. Whoops, probably shouldn't have said that.
spruce moose
Guest
Honestly, his injuries don't justify his price tag. Great player, but coaches really must cross their fingers and toes every time he runs out to play.