The coaching merry go round continued this week with senior assistant coaches Dean Young and John Cartwright becoming available for 2021.
Cartwright, an assistant at Manly, has been shown the door as part of a shakeup on the Northern Beaches. Young and Cartwright join former Canterbury assistant Steve Georgallis, former Dragons assistants James Shepherd and Shane Flanagan plus Warriors head coach Stephen Kearney on the job market for assistant roles in 2021.
In the modern game, having the right assistants to support the head coach has never been more critical. You only need to look at the Penrith Panthers’ 2020 season. In 2019 Penrith finished tenth with 11 wins and 13 losses with largely the same team that’s dominating the 2020 season.
The improvement, particularly in attack, has been largely attributed to attacking specialist Trent Barrett, who rejoined the Panthers as an assistant coach for the 2020 season. The massive turnaround in results helped Barrett pick up the head coach role at the Canterbury Bulldogs and interestingly the first thing Barrett did was fire the entire support staff at the Bulldogs.
In another interesting and unusual twist, Dean Young chose to stand down from his assistant role at the Dragons. In an employment environment where there typically isn’t a lot of job security, it’s unusual for a coach to voluntarily quit.
This follows on from Young missing out on the head coaching role at the Dragons to Anthony Griffin. Even though Griffin made it clear that Young was welcome to stay on as an assistant, Young still decided to quit and end his 17-year association with the Dragons. At the end of the day, Dean Young is a premiership winner and an undisputed club legend.
Young kissing the jersey after he scored a try in the grand final and the tearful embrace with his father Craig during the celebrations. As a fan, you can’t ask any more from a player.
Young wanted the head coaching job so much because he never wanted to leave the club he loves so much, much like Nathan Brown. Sure, Brown couldn’t get the Dragons across the line in 2005 or 2006 but no one could ever deny his love for the Dragons.
So when you consider Young’s emotional attachment to the Dragons it’s easy to understand his disappointment in missing out on the top job and therefore his decision to move on for a fresh start.
I think the Dragons have made the correct decision in appointing Anthony Griffin after all the wasted Paul McGregor years. The club needs an outsider to come in and dispassionately make hard decisions.
Full credit to Dragons CEO Ryan Webb and Anthony Griffin in showing respect to Young and giving him the decision to stay or go. I believe all his years of loyal service deserves proper respect.
(Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
It was only a year ago when Gus Gould unceremoniously sacked former premiership-winning captain Ben Hornby. Ben was shown the door with no respect whatsoever and replaced by Shane Flanagan. How did that work out Gus? Fortunately, Hornby picked up an assistant role at Souths under Wayne Bennett.
I wish Young all the best in his journey and I’m sure he’ll find success wherever he ends up, but I must admit I am a romantic and I’d love to see him back at the Dragons one day.
It promises to be a hot stove off-season in the assistant coaching space, full support staffs are required at least two clubs in the Bulldogs and Dragons, plus Brisbane will probably follow once the head coach is announced. With new incoming coaches in New Zealand and North Queensland plus the shake-up at Manly, there could be up to 20 positions available come November.
Certainly never in my 45-year history of following rugby league have I ever seen such a turnover of personnel, it’s almost like a game of musical chairs.
Opposed Session
Roar Rookie
Dean Young moving on will be great for his long term coaching. Adam O’Brien is a great example, he could have just stay and waited for Craig to call time and take over the Storm head coach. That’s what he was getting groomed for. He went away and served under Robbo, won a premiership and now has done a great job with the Knights in his first year. Interested to watch the musical chairs play out with football staff’s at multiple clubs needing filling. Be very interesting to see what names are recycled and/or if they inject fresh faces. Head coaches and assistants just seem to rotate between clubs in the last 5-10 years. History tells us very few champion players become champion coaches for their club without a stint in another organisation in between.
Andrew
Roar Pro
Thank you for your kind feedback
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Clubs live up to their means and don't have an original thought. Give them $10 million and they'll spend it. Give them $50 million and they will spend it. And if one club has an assistant coach, every other team while hire one so they aren't at a "competitive disadvantage". If Penrith come out and say they hired a person to monitor the biorhythms of their players most clubs will do the same thing by the time next season starts
Heyou
Roar Rookie
Thank you for your very interesting article. I would like to comment on the young Dean Young’s future as a first grade head coach in the nrl. Dean Young is much admired by the Dragons faithful, as a great former rugby league player for the Dragons and as a man who lives for his club. His loyalty and faithfulness is not in question, nor in doubt. I’m sure he was very disappointed to miss out on the head coaching job, but I hope he will benefit greatly by continuing to learn his ‘trade’ under a different coach or two, meanwhile developing his own style of leadership and consolidating his experiences to become an innovative tactician and a seasoned head coach, in his own right. That is the hope of the RED V faithful, who will welcome him back on his terms, if and when the time is right. That is how I interpret the situation as an informed onlooker. He made an admirable decision to step down as assistant coach and will now complete his ‘apprenticeship’ on his own terms. Many salute him and wish him well on his journey. It is certainly hoped that he will come home safely as a confident, proficient, inspirational leader of men.
Tom G
Roar Rookie
Who mentioned stats? Injuries have definitely been a setback this year but other sides have had their share of injuries too and haven’t struggled as badly with their defensive systems. Cartwright adds zero
tom
Guest
expert are you. pretty sure their defence is strong when they have full team no injuries they dont have the depth when star players are out think your stats are out mate
Paul
Roar Guru
I think there's a significant difference between the NFL & NRL though Andrew. In the former, you've effectively got at least 3 teams, offence, defence and special teams. They then break that down even further, but at the end of the day there's not a lot of cross over between the teams. In League obviously you've got one team and even though it's 17 blokes instead of 13, I'd have thought one coach could still carry the workload, using assistants as sounding boards or calling in specialists as needed. The more intermediaries there are between coach and player, the greater the likelihood of a key message not being passed on, being passed on incorrectly or being misinterpreted. Bellamy for example, has assistants but he's very much a hands on coach by all accounts. He seems to manage the workload okay and I'd reckon the Storms results suggest this is the smart way to go.
Andrew
Roar Pro
I agree with you, I was just illustrating Dean wanted the job so badly because he loves the club. That’s why he’s been kicking stones & decided so quickly to leave.
Andrew
Roar Pro
If you take the NFL as a comparison, they have a head coach but many layers of a supporting cast. Offensive Coordinator, Defensive Coordinator, Offensive Line Coach, Defensive Line Coach & Quarter Back Coach I’m sure I’m missing some. The Head Coach is like a General who issued orders to his officers & men. In the case the officers are the coordinators & coaches & the players are the men. You’ve only got to look at Penrith’s huge turnaround in 2020 for the evidence of what the right assistant can do. With Barrett gone after this year Penrith will drop next year.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
Young needed to get wider experience. Learning under Mary would have been limiting and I think you need some separation from your playing career and coaching career for a decent period. He should try and get a gig with Robinson, Bellamy or Green for a few years.
Paul
Roar Guru
If that's the case about Cartwright, it's not a great selling point if he's shopping for a new job.
Paul
Roar Guru
You make some interesting points in this piece Andrew, but none more interesting than your last paragraph. The rise of full time professional rugby league seems to have coincided with an explosion of support staff, which I frankly find quite bewildering. There seem to be coaches or assistant coaches or assistants for the assistant coaches for nearly every part of the game these days. I get the need to call in specialists like Darryl Halligan, if someone needs some help with goal kicking for example, or fitness coaches, but I wonder if having so many coaches for attack defence, etc, can dilute what the actual coach is trying to achieve? I also think it places another unnecessary level of work onto a coach, especially a new one. Using Hook as an example, not only does he have to put together a squad, he then has to come up with a bunch of people to help him that have the skillset he requires, can work with him & can work with the players. In other words, he doesn't have to bed down one squad, he really has to bed down two. Coaches will argue they have tons of demands on their time, but that's not coaching demands, it's a range of other things, eg the media conferences, pressing the flesh with sponsors etc. Surely that could be better managed so the head coach actually does what they're paid to do - coach - and the let the rest take care of itself? If that happened, the need for a team of assistants would disappear.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
new club, learn new things
Tony
Roar Guru
Let's hope Deano isn't making a mistake by moving on. At 36, and with limited coaching experience, he was never going to get the head coaching role at the Dragons. A few more years experience under Griffin may have been the better option.
Tom G
Roar Rookie
Cartwright's contribution at Manly hardly sets him up for demand next year. I believe that he was responsible for their defence. That made him the director over the teams biggest failing
Nat
Roar Rookie
Young is probably right to move on. For all his service the club wasn't interested to see how he could perform under his charge and appointed Griffin straight away. Even their statement about moving away from 'old boys' was a shot to the heart for the aspiring coach. I still think it's weird that everyone is still looking at Barrett for the Panthers success. Who in the last 4-5yrs has throught Penrith have struggled to put points on? They made a fair habit of big come backs in recent times. Who thought that Penrith could could not only beat all comers but hold them to an average of less than 2 converted tries?