A new hope: Four NRL teams starting over in 2018

There’s something special about a new coach. Like a freshly painted room or the upholstery of a new car, they have the intoxicating aroma of change.

For a struggling side and their suffering supporters, a new coach is more than just a name at the bottom of the team sheet. A new coach represents hope for the future.

Part 3 of this season preview series takes a look at four NRL teams entering the season with a new coach and fresh hope.

Part 1: Four NRL coaches in the line of fire in 2018
Part 2: Four teams just making up the numbers in 2018

Canterbury Bulldogs

Key additions: Aaron Woods, Kieran Foran, Fa’amanu Brown
Key subtractions: Josh Reynolds, James Graham, Sam Kasiano, Brad Abbey, Brenko Lee

Reflections on 2017
What a mess. What a horrible, hot steaming mess last year was for the Canterbury Bulldogs. Coming off the back of five consecutive finals appearances, two of which included grand finals defeats, Des Hasler should’ve been safer than a rib-eye at a vegan café.

Yet almost from the opening round until his eventual termination, Hasler was under immense pressure to keep his job.

The Bulldogs played like a side feeling their coach’s strain. While their defence remained a strength (18.5ppg – fourth in NRL), their attack was historically poor. Canterbury ranked last in points scored (360 – 15ppg), last in tries scored (65) and last in line breaks (85). So inept was their offence that the Bulldogs barely eclipsed Hazem El Masri’s single season point scoring record of 342 points.

It would be easy to blame the halves for Canterbury’s attacking woes. Moses Mbye (8), Matt Frawley (5) and Josh Reynolds (2) combined for an anaemic 15 try assists all season, a figure that was bested by 16 individual players. But it wasn’t entirely their fault. Hasler’s attacking structures were dated and his game plans rarely made the most of the strengths of the individuals on his roster.

While Canterbury’s attacking woes weren’t entirely surprising, what I found unbelievable was Hasler’s complete and utter unwillingness to change his tactics when things weren’t working. Like a captain going down with his ship, Des held firm to his beliefs until the bitter end. And boy was it bitter.

(AAP Image/Paul Miller)

Outlook for 2018: Change can be a painful process, and the bloodbath at Belmore over the summer was no exception. In scenes more suited to King Lear than Kingsgrove, the family club took a chainsaw to their family tree and completely overhauled their football operation.

In the space of a single off-season the Bulldogs installed a new coach, a new board, a new CEO, a new captain, a new halfback, and a new fullback. All of which makes them the hardest team in the competition to evaluate.

Of the current crop of new coaches, Dean Pay undoubtedly has the toughest assignment. There’s just so much unknown. Is he getting the Kieran Foran who helped Manly win the Premiership in 2011, or the train wreck who walked out on Parramatta? Will Moses Mbye be a revelation at fullback, or just the same bloke with a number one on his back? And what on Earth can we expect from Michael Lichaa?

Even with all the changes, the Bulldogs still have a finals-calibre squad. Their forward pack is littered with representative stars while the backline boasts a rare combination of seasoned veterans, prodigiously talented youngsters and guys looking to resurrect their careers. All the ingredients are there, Canterbury just needs the right person stirring the pot.

It’s obviously too early to tell whether that person is Dean Pay, but the early reports are promising. If the new coach can get his players to buy into his system and play his brand of footy, the Bulldogs are a top-eight side. However if his team struggles to gel and their attack doesn’t improve on last season, the Bulldogs will be in the bottom four.

Predicted finish: 10th

(AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Wests Tigers

Key additions: Ben Matulino, Chris McQueen, Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer, Robbie Rochow, Benji Marshall
Key subtractions: James Tedesco, Aaron Woods, Mitchell Moses

2017 in review
Let’s not sugar-coat it – last season was a complete and utter balls-up. Justin Pascoe and his butterfingered board dropped the ball with Burgess-like regularity en route to a 14th-placed finish.

A tumultuous opening few rounds saw the club shed coaches, captains, supporters and superstars, ending their season faster than you could say big four. But don’t just take my word for it. Consider the following:

• Round 1 – Coach Jason Taylor is rumoured to have only six weeks to save his job.
• Round 2 – Tim Simona is deregistered by the NRL for betting on rugby league, defrauding a charity, and telling porkies to the integrity unit.
• Round 3 – Did we say six weeks? Sorry JT, we meant three
• Round 6 – Ivan Cleary is announced as the new coach.
• Round 9 – Club captain Aaron Woods signs with the Canterbury Bulldogs.
• Round 10 – Superstar fullback James Tedesco inks a lucrative deal with the Sydney Roosters.
• Round 11 – Mitchell Moses is released in order to complete an immediate transfer to Parramatta.

Short of signing Jarryd Hayne or crossing paths with a German U-Boat, the Tigers couldn’t have torpedoed their season any faster if they’d tried. And that’s without even mentioning their footy, which was pretty terrible. Wests ranked 15th in attack (413 points at 17.2ppg), 13th in defence (571 points at 23.8ppg), and were unable to string together successive wins all season.

The only saving grace was the signing of Ivan Cleary to replace Jason Taylor. The former Panthers and Warriors mentor was the best option available, and credit to the Tigers for not wasting any time in locking him down. The players have already responded to his Keanu Reeves-inspired motivational techniques, with Cleary giving top priority to keeping everyone on the bus. Let’s just hope he can keep it above 50.

Outlook for 2018
The Tigers are a team in transition. In his first full off-season in charge of the club, Ivan Cleary has performed one of the largest roster reconstructions in recent memory. Not only did he remove the incumbent NSW front-rower and fullback, but he also shed depth along the backline, experience in the forwards, and the club’s most promising young halfback.

(AAP Image/Paul Miller)

Was it the right choice to farewell the future of the club out of stubbornness and spite? Only time will tell.

The Tigers were extremely active in the player market to help fill out their squad, but I’m not convinced the new recruits are any better than what they already had. Josh Reynolds, Tui Lolohea, Russell Packer and Ben Matulino are quality first graders, Robbie Rochow and Chris McQueen will provide forward depth, and Benji Marshall will ensure that no one comes last in the beep test. But just remember – all of these players were available for a reason.

In 2018, Ivan Cleary will have his side busting a gut every week, but it won’t be enough. The Tigers just don’t have the personnel to compete with the likes of the Cowboys or the Roosters. Instead, this season will be about establishing a football identity, solidifying their team culture, and building up the Nathan Cleary war chest.

Predicted finish: 15th

South Sydney Rabbitohs

Key additions: Dane Gagai, Greg Inglis (injury)
Key subtractions: Bryson Goodwin, Aaron Gray, David Tyrrell

Reflections on 2017
It’d be easy to blame last season’s disappointing result on Greg Inglis’ dodgy knee. But even if South Sydney hadn’t lost their captain during the first game of the season, they still wouldn’t have made the finals.

The Rabbitohs had grown stale under coach Michael Maguire. Despite diminishing returns, South Sydney persisted with the same smashmouth style of football which was so successful in 2014. And much like his culled Canterbury counterpart, Maguire was unwilling or unable to adapt to this style, resulting in a predictable brand of rugby league which eventually got him fired.

But Madge was only a symptom of a much greater disease. At the heart of the problem was a roster that had been criminally mismanaged for far too long. Russell Crowe’s great at luring marquee signings, but he’s like a walking calicivirus at the negotiating table. As a result, far too much of the Rabbitohs’ salary cap is devoted to players who don’t pull their considerable weight.

(AAP Image/Paul Miller)

And then there are the players themselves. Outside of Sam Burgess and future Rooster Angus Crichton, most of the squad played well below expectation. Adam Reynolds was particularly disappointing after an impressive 2016, Robbie Farah was a non-factor, and Tom and George played more like Baby John Burgess than big brother Sam. A total bludger of a season.

Outlook for 2018: A fresh start was needed at Redfern. And after flirting with the idea of bringing in a veteran coach, the Bunnies elected to promote from within. New coach Anthony Siebold may have served as an assistant under Maguire, but he’s the polar opposite of his predecessor.

Where Madge was painfully intense and prone to volcanic outbursts, Seibold is calm and focussed. Where Maguire drilled his players to the point of exhaustion, Seibold prefers an evidence-based approach to training and recovery. And where Maguire was an inanimate iron rod when it came to his coaching philosophy, Seibold remains putty ripe for the moulding.

But it’ll take more than a Zen garden and a Bachelor of Education to make South Sydney competitive in 2018. The inclusion of Greg Inglis and Dane Gagai will undoubtedly lead to more points, but it’s the depth and quality of the forward pack that is of greatest concern.

Outside of Sam Burgess, the Rabbitohs are dangerously thin up front. They’ll once again rely on the Burgess twins rediscovering form they haven’t displayed in over two seasons, while hoping to squeeze another year out of the desiccated careers of Robbie Farah and John Sutton. This approach didn’t work last season, and without any significant changes in personnel, I can’t imagine it yielding any better results in 2018.

Predicted finish: 14th

(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Gold Coast Titans

Key additions: Jai Arrow, Brendan Elliot, Mitch Rein, Bryce Cartwright, Michael Gordon
Key subtractions: Chris McQueen, Tyrone Roberts, Nathaniel Peteru, Jarryd Hayne

Reflections on 2017
In a season where many experts expected them to push for a top-four spot, the Titans never really stood a chance. Rarely does a club face that degree of adversity and remain competitive.

Injury was the biggest contributor to the Titans’ 15th-place finish in 2017. Not since Robocop have I witnessed a body count to rival the losses sustained by the Gold Coast last year. In all the Titans used 34 players across the course of the season, a figure which included ten NRL debutants, 17 club debutants and even Dale Copely.

It wasn’t just fringe first graders who were bitten by the injury bug. Key players like Nathan Peats, Jarryd Hayne, Kane Elgey and Kevin Proctor all missed significant time, which robbed the Titans of any chance to develop cohesion and fluency in attack or defence. All too often the Gold Coast looked like a side without a plan, as players just waited for someone else to make a play.

In between tearing tendons and straining shoulders, the Titans earned the coveted crown of controversy kings. Whether it was the circus surrounding Proctor’s drug bust, talk of the club going bust, player mutiny, coaching carousels or just the weekly instalment of Hayne’s World, it’s amazing that the players found any time to focus on football.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Outlook for 2018
Management at the Gold Coast Titans has copped plenty of criticism since the end of last season, but they’ve done an outstanding job rebuilding the club after the departures of Hayne and Neil Henry.

The first step was finding the right coach, which wasn’t an easy proposition due to the club’s uncertain future. But Garth Brennan was a smart choice. The former copper has over 15 years of coaching experience and is renowned as a player’s coach. Brennan brings with him a very clear vision for success, which is something the Titans have lacked in recent seasons.

The club also recruited very astutely. In Jai Arrow and Mitch Rein, they’ve nabbed two talented forwards desperate for playing time. Brendan Elliot arrives with a similar mindset, having failed to lock down a permanent position during his time at Newcastle.

And while most men of Michael Gordon’s age move to the Gold Coast to retire, there’s still plenty of life left in this former Rooster. Gordon’s experience, leadership and goal kicking will be invaluable in 2018.

But the cherry on top is Bryce Cartwright. The former Panther was set for superstardom after a breakthrough 2016 season, but off-field events conspired to stunt his development. Still only 23 years of age, Cartwright remains one of the more talented ball-playing back rowers to enter the NRL over the past decade, and could form a lethal combination with Elgey and Ash Taylor.

If Brennan can keep his side focused on football and away from Cavill Avenue, the Titans are smokies to sneak into the top eight

Predicted finish: 11th

Look out next Monday for part four of my season preview series, where we’ll look at the four top sides destined to battle it out for the 2018 Premiership.