Rugby league has a rich history of coaches who have one or two premierships to their name but longevity in the game is a trait that only the very best can boast.
Debate often rages as to how we rate the greatness of players and coaches and the one variable that most agree on is that you cannot compare different eras.
Who is to say that today’s fully professional players are better than those of yesteryear that could not put all of their efforts into their sport of choice due to work?
Before the game had the riches Super League War bought with it, most players had a job to go to each day before going to training at night. The same can be said for coaches.
The modern mentor has a support team larger than the amount of people breaking a COVID-19 beach curfew. They are also not burdened with driving the delivery truck which pays the wage that puts food on the table.
While having no set criteria for this list, success and longevity are two stand out features that all enjoyed. This is not a definitive list but a conversation starter.
Craig Bellamy and Trent Robinson are at the top of their game at the moment but do not make the cut. Robinson hasn’t been around long enough and Bellamy has only two premierships to his name.
TIM SHEENS
4 Premierships – 669 games, 340 wins, 11 draws, 318 losses – 50.62 per cent
A mentor at four NRL clubs as well two in the UK Super league, Sheens was also a successful coach of the Kangaroos.
Highly spoken of by his former players, Sheens changed the clubs he coached at and made less talented players perform above their station.
JACK GIBSON
5 Premierships – 394 games, 245 wins, ten draws, 139 losses – 62.18 per cent
No list of greatest ever coaches is complete without the name Jack Gibson. A pioneer that many others try to emulate but could never better, Gibson only lasted a few years at each club before he moved on. Maybe that was his secret.
Famous for the fur coat during the Parramatta era, Jack Gibson was a personality coach who’s turn of phrase in the commentary box was legendary.
Wayne Bennett and former ‘super’ coach Jack Gibson at the book launch of Brisbane Rugby League Coach Wayne Bennett’s autobiography at the Australian Museum. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
JACK RAYNER
Five Premierships – 216 games, 121 wins, four draws, 91 losses – 56.02 per cent
A South Sydney legend, Jack Rayner steered the Rabbitohs to great success in the early to mid 1950s. Taking a team that after the war was regarded as Souths’ worst ever, he transformed them into a side that won five titles. Unfortunately that success came to an end when the might Dragons of the era started to come to prominence.
KEN KEARNEY
5 Premierships – 284 games, 168 wins, five draws, 111 losses – 59.15 per cent
A duel international with seven Wallaby Tests to his name Ken Kearney came from the great St George premiership factory of the 50s and 60s.
Kearney introduced the Dragons to a ruthless professionalism that was the trademark of their success of their halcyon days.
NORM PROVAN
Four Premierships – 181 games, 124 wins, eight draws, 49 losses – 68.51 per cent
Sticks was one player who should have become an Immortal years before it actually happened. A champion with the legendary St George sides of the 60s, he has been cast in bronze on past and the current NRL premiership trophies with his Wests opponent Arthur Summons.
A gentleman both on and off the field, Norm Proven stands tall in the world of rugby league and still the only coach to win four premierships in the first four years he was in charge.
Norm Provan (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
ARTHUR HOLLOWAY
8 Premierships – 286 games, 178 wins, 17 draws, 91 losses – 62.24 per cent
Arthur who? Not widely know but Arthur Holloway came from the captain/coach era just after the Great War. He coached at five clubs with his greatest success coming with the Newtown club, Holloway also holds the record for most consecutive wins by a coach at 35.
WAYNE BENNETT
7 Premierships – 838 games, 520 wins, 14 draws, 304 losses – 62.06 per cent
Rightfully ranked the greatest rugby league coach of them all, Wayne Bennett is a student and historian of the game who appreciates the attributes of those who have come before him.
His players love him as a mentor in life more so than rugby league, his record of seven premierships while only losing one is an achievement not to be ignored.
TKami
Guest
Bennett should also be given credit for the young Broncos he took to the Grand final against the Cowboys that lost on the last second of the match and then being knocked out one short of the Grand final by the cowboys again the following year. He happened to be up against a Cowboys team at their prime and still got a young broncos outfit to perform beyond expectations. The same group that coaches after him could not motivate.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Would have loved to see Cronk finish his career at the Storm. I think that 2017 spine was the best Storm spine ever Slater, Munster, Cronk and Smith..might be the best NRL spine ever. Considering that was Munsters first year playing 6 and the Storm had one of the most dominant seasons I've ever seen in the NRL era I think they would have been even better in 2018 if Cronk had stayed.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Munster...no contract, rejected by the Dogs. Koroibete...let go by Tigers couldn't find a Sydney contract.
Dan Smith
Guest
Bennet finished up with the Broncos in 2018, beginning with Souths in 2019
dan smith
Guest
1. Mick Potter 2. Steve Price 3. Ivan Henjak
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
This is why we have state of origin. In the 60's St-George lured Queenslanders Elton Rasmussen, Kevin Ryan as well as English international Dick Huddart and a passel of players from Illawarra. They also got John Raper, a Canterbury junior, from Newtown. Churchill helped St-George win the 1956 grand final according to Bob Bugden the Saints halfback.
matth
Roar Guru
What did you say to me?
matth
Roar Guru
And as a coach if your team has the same relative strength as other teams, then it's your skills as coach that get them over the line, same as in the premier competition. Maybe even more so if the money isn;t there to entice the best players to a winning club, e.g. Provan and St George.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
He coached Saints in 1971 and they made the Grand Final with a team of no names built around Graeme Langlands and Billy Smith. They had a very good defence thanks to Gibson and were down 10-11 in the second half before conceding the winning try with ~10 minutes to go. George Piggins won it for Souths with his fast raking in the play the balls taking the ball from Saints in good attacking positions.
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
In the words of the 12th Man. Pearce off Jack Gibs on
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
The mere fact that we keep records say Provan, Holloway & Gibson.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Ironically it was Haslers team winning in 2008 . 40 to 0 ......... Sheens perfectly illustrates what happens when a coach leaves a stellar roster behind just like Bennett did and just about all the others. Sheens would have been considered the perfect fit to turn the Cows around but it's a game played by players not coaches and his strike rate with very ordinary rosters shouldn't have surprised anyone.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Warren Ryan's win in 1985 was because of Kevin Roberts allowing Canterbury to take out St-George's two main attackers without even giving a penalty. Peter Kelly hit Graeme Wynn from behind knocking him out as he was relaxed and not expecting a coward's punch and Roberts gave Canterbury the penalty. Also in the first half Andrew Farrer elbowed Michael O'Conner in the head knocking him senseless and again the officials ignored it. That was a tainted premiership if ever there was one.
Nico
Roar Rookie
Hi Mark, no question that Sydney was the pre-eminent comp but I'd find it hard to agree that that should automatically rule out anyone who didn't coach there. It would essentially be like saying Johan Cruyff shouldn't be considered among the top football managers just because he never had a crack in England. Sure the BRL wasn't as strong as Sydney but it wasn't a Mickey Mouse competition either. If you look at my '85 example you've got amongst a couple of already star-studded sides two of the game's immortals in their prime going toe to toe in a grand final, something which has only happened on a handful of occasions in the history of the game
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Brian Smith might have won in 1993 if his big young prop Jason Stevens did not suffer a terrible hand injury early in the match. They had beaten Brisbane in the last round so they had to be a chance but without Stevens they looked ordinary like they didn’t belong there. Some Bronco fans thought it was because Brisbane had decided to not show their brilliance in the final round loss rather than admit they lost with Stevens playing. Bad luck for Brian Smith while the Wayne Bennett legend grows.
Mark Scarfe
Roar Guru
I appreciate your comments. John Monie was close to getting on my list but for his achievements with Parramatta taking over from the great Jack Gibson. The Queensland examples you give are fine but the Sydney competition was considered the premier domestic rugby league competition.
1.5 metres please
Guest
Ryan changed the game . Perhaps he was a one trick pony , but defensively I’d have to think his approach is still a element of the way the best coaches still coach today.
Rob
Guest
I believe Maloney said Bellamy was the coach that taught him what it takes to be a good NRL player. Also like Nat said you don’t win at 68% over 15 years without being very good at coaching in the modern NRL. In 16 seasons he has won 7 minor Premiership and 2x 2nd placed finishes, 7 GF winning 4 with 2 taken off. If Robinson and Politis hadn’t poached Bellamy’s halfback then he possibly wins another GF.
Glenn
Guest
Very well said Souvalis! thanks They said before that 2010 GF that the Dragons were up against " probably the best attacking side in the competition" and "might stuggle". Dragons 32 def. Eastern Suburbs 8! Some struggle! Hornby, Soward, Gasnier, Cooper, Nightingale, B Morris, Boyd Young, Weyman,Costigan, Scott,Creagh and Smith I wish we had even a handful of those heroes playing at Kogarah now!
Rob
Guest
Maybe the players today should be in lockdown on the Cruise ships and play on the weekend. I hear the cruise ship are very low cost accommodation for around 2500 people that can live on board at circular key. That’s about 150 people from each club with 50 officials and 46 media trapped in on common location.