Is your NRL coach set for the sack?

James I doubt Brian Smith will be enticed to Paramatta as he is the Warriors boss and they seem to place a high value on him. Tim Sheens? Well that's a different story I suppose, considering he is a current coach in England. In other words the game hasn't passed him by but does he still command the respect he had when he was coaching in the NRL? If the Sharks coaching job is between Morris & Ciraldo, wouldn't it be wise to give the job to Morris considering the time he has already spent at the club? That is unless Ciraldo has a superior presentation to show the Shark's management team. Somehow I suspect Morris already has the job but the Sharks are just pretending to do look further. I've been known to be well of the money so I could have it completely wrong. For me, the coach who has the most to worry about is Brad Arthur. The top 8 & into the 2nd week of the finals, or goodbye for him.

I’d be very surprised if a coach doesn’t fall before that stage of the season, the Titans, Warriors and Eels will need a big start to save their coach. But yes Mary needs a top 4 finish to save his job. Sneaking into the 8 with this current roster isn’t good enough

With a large portion of the squad off contract I would expect Arthur only has about 10 rounds before parra make a call on him. With Johnson leaving Kearney may well get some leniency. Could Brian Smith and Tim sheens be set for a comeback.

Brown took over a disaster of a roster though, and has them moving up the ladder. Surely they have to make finals (or very narrowly miss), but otherwise I don't think they can expect the team to be jumping straight into Top 4.

I never understand why Arthur is so highly rated. He's coached Parra for 5 seasons and made the top 8 once, and didn't win a game in the finals, being knocked out by the team that finished 8th.

Agree Albo - Ricky Stuart in particular should be under the spotlight given the roster he has been able to assemble. To fall from 2nd in 2016 to 10th two seasons in a row would be unacceptable at a club like the Broncos of the Roosters but I'm not sure the Raiders board have the stones to sack him. He would have to walk. Can't say I'm happy about this as a supporter. Lets hope the two Poms can lift them into the finals. Sezer and Willams will need to do more than they have. Will be interesting to see how they go without Austin complicating things plus Hodgson will be available from round 1. I've been very impressed and frankly surprised at the squad that Newcastle have put together for this season so Brown should be under the pump. The Dragons have had their chances over the past two seasons and I get the feeling they may slide this season so Mary may be the one under the greatest pressure.

Demetriou surely is a first grade coach in waiting, the problem is he may just have to wait for Bennett to go. The was I see it, the clubs who's coaches are at most risk, Parra with BA, Warriors with Kearney, Saints with Mary, Dogs with Pay...... I doubt they will be looking at replacing with another "rookie" coach and going back to rebuilding again as you have said Pedro. Same probably with Kevvie and Ciraldo. Those guys deserve their shot, but who knows where it will actually come from.

Bring back mr sheen

Could do. They did it once before with radradra. The only reason eels did so well that year. Not sure fergo has the same impact.

Was Sticky ever a first grade coach? He's only won 1 premiership in what nearly 20 years of "coaching" and that one premiership was ready made for him after years of groundwork at the roosters by Gould and Graham Murray. Gould really did have a 10 year plan once upon a time.

Better than twent

You would definitely think that Paul McGgregor would be under a fair bit of pressure. There were rumours that he only kept his job in 2015 or 2016 (I don't remember the year) because the club could not afford to pay out his salary for the remaining contract and pay the salary of Ivan Cleary or another coach. I think Ricky Stuart is on a big dollar contract at the Raiders and given that contract runs out at end of 2019 he will need to deliver a consistent season and show a team that potential otherwise there is not really that much to lose by getting another coach particularly since Laurie Daley is on the market. The $64,000 question with Parramatta is who is to blame for their issues, is the source of their problems on field or off field? If their off fields woes are driving on field under performance there is potentially little value in cutting Arthur since they may struggle to get a a strong coach to replace him. TBH initially I scoffed at Nathan Brown being at risk since he has helped reconstruct their team and there has been improvement. However, given they have Ponga, Pearce plus a decent pack they need to deliver in their premiership window and with a decent squad they would be attractive to a good coach. Mind you I have to agree with BA Sports and say that there are not necessarily that many clear front runners out there to replace them. Neil Henry, Laurie Daley spring to mind as options but neither come with a recent winning record.

Mary needs to manage the mental health of the team and stop looking only at the GPS run loads of the players. If he can have fit and healthy team come finals he certainly has shown as a coach that he can get them fired up. I agree he has had enough time to sort out the formula for success. Jason D probably deserves a crack at 1st grade somewhere - but if it is Saints then I think we go back into the "building phase".

I don't think Des makes that much of a difference , but another years experience for their key players DCE , Turbo, Jurbo, & Tapau, and a better run of injuries for Koroisau, Sironen, Gosiewski & Walker sees them as a pretty likely unit in 2019.

The lack of a suitable replacement to the sacked coaches will be clearer as the season goes on. Adrian Lam, if he goes well with Wigan will be a choice for a club and depending on the NRL's decision to punish Shane Flannigan or not will also have some clubs taking notice. If he has a suspension for the 2019 season only he will be a candidate for all the clubs wanting a coach. Especially the Eels where he played in his career.

Yeah, fair point. Kev would throw his hat in the ring you would think. Brisbane seems a no go zone for now and you would think the Titans improve this year which keeps Brennan safe. So he would have to move which I guess he has done before moving O/S, so why not NSW. Maybe he stays in QLD and monitors how things transpire this year to see if there is any chance in the foreseeable future. But, that is an interesting one.

What about Kevvie, BA? Do you think a NSW team could lure him south of the border to coach? I don't think he's much chop given his current record, but in fairness, he hasn't coached an NRL side. Just throwing it out there as QLD might be looking for a replacement when they lose this years SOO!

If he wins the spoon and stays, you'd have to think he has the mail on someone within Parra with influence over coaching decisions. Ditto with Stuart.

On paper yes and Dogs losing Klemmer doesn't help their cause. Does Des make a significant difference to a team that finished behind the Dogs last season?

The man is a myth