With the salary cap the way it is these days, the window for most teams to win a premiership is limited.
Generally, you have three to four years.
Yet a few clubs like Melbourne and Sydney have bucked this trend and have been able to compete for premierships most years. Now many will say the Roosters simply get out the cheque book and try their best to buy their way to a grand final win.
That’s certainly true, but it also overlooks another important factor. The Roosters have adopted the NFL method of having specialist coaches across the board. In NFL pretty much every team has a head coach, offensive and defensive coordinator, a special teams coach, offensive and defensive line coaches, linebacker, running back and quarterbacks coach, plus a few others.
Now if you take a team like the Roosters they are following down that same path. They had Anthony Minichiello coaching James Tedesco, Andrew Johns working with the halves (although why you need Joey when you have Cooper Cronk, I’m not sure), a speed coach as well as a mindset coach amongst the standard strength and rehab guys that most clubs have on the payroll.
Brisbane has used the assistant coach method for years with great success. You hear far fewer players saying Wayne Bennett is a tactical genius than you do saying he is a great man manager. A big part of this apart from great talent is that he trusts his assistants, delegates them the roles he’s not great in and focuses on the players, what’s going on with them outside of footy and what type of headspace they are in and the results speak for themselves.
The days of clubs have a head coach, a trainer, physio/strapper and maybe an assistant coach are gone and more and more clubs and coaches are putting greater value and emphasis on support staff. It’s a big reason why Michael McGuire knocked back a gig with Manly.
He wanted to big a crew of support staff with him and when the club said no, he passed up the offer.
To give you an example of the how many support staff some clubs have, use the Rooters as an example. They have a head coach, at least two assistant coaches, a fullbacks coach, a recruitment officer, a psychologist, a mindset coach, a wrestling coach, four physios, a skills coach for wingers, a strength and power coach, a speed and agility coach, a sprinting coach, a head performance person and someone who specialises in GPS.
Compare them to some clubs who enter seasons with a CEO or recruitment officer and it’s not hard to see why some clubs are miles ahead of other. In the coming years, I predict that what will separate the best teams in the NRL isn’t just the salary cap but the quality of the specialist coaches they hire.
Take Melbourne, for example. Plenty of fans are keen to bemoan their so-called grubby wrestling tactics but like it or not they work and have done so for years.
(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
Non-Storm fans like to say that while their club/players do wrestle they don’t do so nearly as much or as bad as Melbourne do. This is naive thinking. There are very few clubs and coaches who wouldn’t hire the Storm’s wrestling coach if they could.
Not because they like to play that brand of football but because it works and like it or not, clubs will exploit every loophole and push the rules to the limit in order to get an advantage over other clubs if they think it will help them win.
Now hopefully we don’t end up with a game that is as so scripted and rehearsed that we lose sight of the importance of the need for flair, individual brilliance and off the cuff play, but if playing the percentages wins games, that means more sponsorship and revenue for clubs, and then that’s what will ultimately drive the style of football teams play.
Fans would rather win ugly than lose pretty.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Yeah, he was the one that brought allot of the NFL ideas into RL, that was in the 70's and allot of aussies especially from the AFL and RL went over to the states to play NFL, one of the players that played NFL (as a kicker) was "Oscar" Mark Harris that Jack coached at easts, Jack was one of a kind kinda guy, the bloke was a legend, he virtually revolutionised RL in the period that he was coaching.
Lewl
Guest
It's a nitpick, so sorry in advance, but: The Browns have a huge amount of $$ to spend (one of the richer owners in the league + a rabid fanbase pouring money in despite consistent losing) - they've just been historically inefficient at spending it. The Packers, meanwhile, are an amazing success story despite struggling in the financial stakes (relatively speaking, of course - no NFL team is close to being in trouble) as they are a community-owned club in an area that free agents often don't particularly want to move to (despite the success). That basically just boils down to the luck (with a degree of skill in scouting, of course) of having back-to-back hall of fame QBs across the last 26-odd seasons (and that's likely to stretch quite a bit further now), QB in the NFL being a position to which results are much more sensitive than any position in the NRL. And there isn't a place-kick holder coach, special teams usually have between 2-3 staff for the unit, so it doesn't get quite that specialized (though the essence of your point there is valid).
Ben Lewis
Roar Pro
If the NRL really wishes to level the playing field and clean up the game; there needs to be a zero tolerance crackdown on wrestling.
Moth
Roar Rookie
Totally agree. I don't see how this helps the game. My view is we should be doing all we can to advance the game not put a handbrake on it. By cutting back on the availability and quality of support systems and staff available to the players , how are we Improving the game ? It's almost as if the Nrl want every team to be at the same level, instead of pushing the lesser teams to try and emulate the better ones. As long as the money for support staff, rehab etc isn't been used as a salary cap dodge then I don't see the problem.
Superspud
Roar Rookie
If you start restricting how much clubs can spend on support staff you can be assured it will come out of the junior development budget not from the elite level.
RandyM
Guest
good players help but I think it is overstated how important it is to have "talent". People just assume there is this massive gulf in talent between the top few teams and bottom teams but i don't believe that to be true at all. You just have to look at the cowboys this year compared to the year they won the premiership. They practically had the same squad, so what happened? There's lots of factors that affect whether a team is successful or not such as how much they take advantage of the current rule interpretations, something the Storm are masters at. What the culture is like at the club, do they set high standards at training? how much do players look after their physical and mental health? is there a no dickheads policy? etc... people who think its all about talent and that teams like the storm and roosters only win cause they have talent is naive.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Yep ! Still the key determiner for a team's success !
Matt H
Roar Guru
I know that was a bit tongue in cheek, but it's actually true. A specialist third party agreements manager should be essential for every club.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
I was discussing this with my wife recently - the AFL has been moving down this path - it's ironic how long it takes media or fans to get their head around it. At Geelong they had a major internal review in the mid 2000s and under pressure coach Mark Thompson, instead of being sacked, was re-inforced as head coach however structures set up to delegate more tasks more broadly. Now his personal story has been less than glorious of late - however - his coaching journey from about 2007-2011 was very glorious. In more recent times at Richmond and Collingwood similar reviews have been undertaken. And similarly - the coaches (Hardwick and Buckley respectively) have been retained (to the angst of some keyboard warrior supporters and even some very agitating supporter groups - at Richmond in particular). The result - more delegation - greater sense of 'head coach' over seeing a coaching department along with a 'football manager'. And in the public domain - both coaches appear far more relaxed and philosophical. The natural comparison to US sports or to an (Sir) Alex Ferguson style character in the EPL - was the head coach/manager role often filled by a very senior person. As it is Wayne Bennett is still going in the NRL. In the AFL in recent years Kevin Sheedy and Mick Malthouse were the 'elder statesmen' however there still seems a degree of 'AGEISM'. This is what I'm most interested in the broader sense of this. It's very, very easy to 'over complicate' simple sports. For fans though - it's easy to lay all the blame at the head coach; for the fans to lack patience and not be able to understand just what is 'building' and what the internal impediments have been. Sacking coaches is sometimes a demonstration of the 'board' being proactive however, it's often so counter productive unless the head coach truly has 'lost' the player-group. This 'head coach' model actually calls more for stability in the key roles. Are the fans mature enough for it??
BA Sports
Roar Guru
Whether the NRL is or not I am not sure. Some clubs maybe, but not all. Take the Eels for example. They just created a "Football Manager" role - responsible for overall football strategy, performance management, salary reviews, and staff contracting as well as recruitment, management of Junior Rep Programs and the High Performance Unit etc.. That they didn't already have this role is shocking. That they then went and appointed Mark O'Neil who essentially has no experience in any of the above - because the job he had that came closest to this role he lost pretty quickly for behaviour unbecoming toward women - is staggering. Actually now that you mention it, considering Mark O'Neil's workplace behaviour toward women, and clubs like the Redskins and Panthers and their issues, maybe the NRL is becoming more like the NFL...
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
The football department spending to be gradually introduced by the NRL is a sensible approach. The richer clubs have the added been if of securing more specialist people in that area, whereas the lesser lights have to battle with what they can muster up in finances. I do know quite a few NRL clubs football dept personnel attend NFL clubs, to glean up to date info on coaching and specialist treatment of players. By getting the cap down to a sensible level for all NRL clubs, this will help create a more even "playing" field.
Jim
Guest
The author is pointing out that the NRL is following the NFL model in terms of it's coaching staff and setup. How popular the sport is worldwide isn't part of the discussion. Having said that, a discussion around how popular RL is worldwide would be worth having. In Australian terms, Melbourne's recent success has broken the 2 state scenario, to a point. SA and WA however are not on the radar.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
Rattling off a bunch of nations that may have once dragged a motley group of expats, a couple of bemused locals and perhaps a Union player or 4 together for a comp and called it a national team ….. okay, that's not always the case - but, please review some of them. I know that Denmark has massively faltered, the website is down, Jylland and Copenhagen are the 2 'clubs' but have been remarkably quite. The 'national team' played Norway last year....
bletch
The great Jack Gibson was once asked in an interview What makes a good coach and he's reply was Good players
peeeko
Roar Guru
Adam , you are a brilliant person. thank you for you contribution ,
Mitcher
Guest
Why does it mean so much to you to point this out? Not a league fan, just intrigued by what motivates the seemingly empty world of code warriors.
Adam Elliott
Roar Rookie
5 out of 20? Holy cow i take back everything that ive said.. Why do they bother? seriously
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
All of those teams could have supplied domestic players but there are factors that hamper that-competitive aspirations of a few countries, finance, a poor governing body, not wanting to risk amateur players against professionals. Take the emerging nations cup on at the moment- a few teams have mostly domestic teams but most have heritage players because the finance is simply not there to bring out players. Greece to their credit have brought out 5 domestic players. Who cares what level rugby league is around the world as long as the sport is allowed to develop and the right to exist which is the underlying crux of your sarcasm. Don't like it, don't follow it, how easy is that to understand?
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
That is incorrect Tom.The local rugby leagues in the vast majority of those countries mentioned ,are locals not expats playing in local competitions.Check the recent European results and country results .Eg Vanuatu recently. It's pretty obvious little research,( which is available )has been effected.
Adam Elliott
Roar Rookie
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