Looking back at the past decade there have been some great coaches going through peaks and troughs.
Wayne Bennett is always in the conversion with this topic, winning the minor premiership in 2009 and then the premiership in 2011, but he’s had a drought ever since. Has he lost his aura of greatness? I think so.
Craig Bellamy has been a stalwart at Melbourne since 2003 when he joined them from the Broncos. Since he joined, Melbourne has featured in every finals series except for the fateful year they had their points reduced to zero for salary cap rorting, and they have won the premiership twice in the last decade. That is an incredible record.
Most coaches who play understudy to Bellamy seem to go on to become well-respected head coaches at other clubs, and players who are unwanted by other clubs regularly become stars under his tutelage. But is he the best coach of the last decade?
In 2013 Trent Robinson took the helm at the Sydney Roosters and led them to a premiership in his first year as a head coach. He’s only the second coach in NRL history to be named the competition’s best coach in their first season.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
In the last decade the Roosters have won three premierships under his tutelage and featured in every finals series except for 2016, when they finished second last. Another incredible coaching record, but is he better than Craig Bellamy?
He is, and not because he has one more premiership than Bellamy in the last decade. It’s because of the sheer team management, recruitment and salary cap management Robinson has continued to pull off.
When you look at Bellamy’s record, you also have to take into account he has had Cameron Smith there as his captain since day dot. Now, Cameron Smith may be a product of Bellamy, and that should be considered, but I think Smith himself has a lot to do with it too.
On the other hand Robinson has recruited very well, combining experience with the perfect blooding of his juniors at the right times to manage his roster year on year. They have continuously produced high-quality juniors, like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Victor Radley, Latrell Mitchell, Joseph Manu, Jake Friend and of course Boyd Cordner.
The recruitment of Josh and Brett Morris turned out to be a stroke of genius, though how much of this is attributable to Robinson is unknown. The only player the Roosters have had close to the aura of Smith’s during Robinson’s time is James Tedesco, arriving at the Roosters in 2018 to win two premierships back to back.
I noticed this year and last that Robinson continuously appears to have the utmost care for his players, regularly resting the likes of Sio Siua Taukeiaho and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (much to the dismay of my Supercoach team) and rotating his forwards to keep them fresh. He has a motto that no matter who of his top 30 players he decides to play on the day, that they should all be capable of getting the job done.
With Robinson at the helm the Roosters have become my second team, playing a very entertaining and tough brand of football, fast-paced with the team consistently performing well. The Roosters have a strong chance of winning the premiership for the third time in a row, and I will be watching cheering them on.
Both Robinson and Bellamy have a winning percentage of close to 70 per cent, and as far as I am concerned, both have stood head and shoulders above all other coaches for the last decade.
Who do you think is better and why?
Pickett
Roar Rookie
Great stuff Pomoz. We don't have many U11's players because all our juniors were stolen by Sou ffs. It's in the Book of Fools.
Willie La'ulu
Roar Guru
FYI. Bellamy has never had 60 put on him :happy:
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
Brad Fittler was 24 and Captain of Australia when he joined the Roosters. I don't think they ever claimed he was a junior they developed. He was the finished article by the time the Roosters got him. As a Panther's man, it still hurts that he left.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
I just can't agree that bringing in mid teenagers isn't development. The Panthers and Parramatta dominated junior grades for many years and have hardly won anything between them in the last 30 years. Why? Because the crucial step of turning junior talent into first grade talent was missing. Junior stars never made the step up because the pathways and coaching to achieve that just weren't good enough. Instead of a steady supply of good players, there was a trickle with the odd superstar turning up every so often. Development is about turning players into first graders at any age and giving them their debut. I am not a Roosters fan but they deserve credit for turning promising teenagers into stars. This isn't an easy thing to do. If it was, the Eels, Knights, Dragons/Steelers and Panthers would have a cupboard full of premierships instead of wooden spoons. The Roosters won the last grand final with something like 11 of the players being a junior or somebody whom made their debut with the Roosters. That is remarkable development. Currently, the Panther's best forward is James Fisher Harris. He joined the Panthers from NZ when he was 17. He is a mid teenger that was turned into a rep quality forward because of the development he got at the Panthers. If he had joined the Panthers 20 years earlier, he would probably have sunk without trace. The Panthers junior development was awful for a number of years until Gus came back and changed things. Now promising juniors seem to be actually ready to play when they hit first grade. The final pont to make is that the juniors logic wouldn't work for most inner city teams. There just aren't enough young kids to make up a competitive league. Even if the Roosters only wanted to develop juniors from u11's upward, where are they going to get the volume of youngsters to do it? They are putting plenty back into the game by offering mid teenagers an opportunity to get coaching and experience at a well run club. Whether they played there u11's at Penrith and then joined the Roosters at 16, who cares? They will get more coaching and experience that may give them a chance at the NRL, something that is crucial for keeping the supply line of players to the NRL large enough to maintain the quality. The Roosters deserve praise not opprobrium.
The Mexican
Roar Rookie
Anyone with an unlimited salary cap can win premierships, the Roosters always BUY the best players available, I think Todd Payten is a better coach than Robinson, look what he has done with limited resources. Trent Robinson has the luxury of choosing any player he wants without having to worry about the salary cap.
Tom G
Roar Rookie
The key words here are ‘found to be’
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Yes, both states radar
Rob
Guest
Phat, you do realise Thurston, DCE and Cronk had not started in or played at NRL at the same age as Flanagan? Even the best slightly built 7 don't get a regular NRL until 22-23. It's called physically challenged. Luke Kerry had 9 first grade starts by 24years old. It's like the tossers righting rubbish about the weakness of Dearness and Clifford in my opinion.
Rob
Guest
Boom, I think you might have nailed the blatantly obvious difference IMO.
Joe
Roar Rookie
I remember there being a fuss over Keary's eligibility when he was at Souths and he was definitely on the Origin radar.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
They needed Tedesco when Cronk left because it would have weakened the Chooks and strengthened the Storm. I'll be interested if the Storm can get up in the close finals games. They have done everything right for a long time but are they lacking the one extra player who puts the icing on the cake?
Joe
Roar Rookie
I don't think the Storm needed Tedesco....they just needed Cronk to stay..him going not only weakened the Storm spine but it strengthened the Roosters...plus he knew all the Storm plays.
Tony
Roar Guru
you're on the money
Rob
Guest
Sadly the Clubs with the nursery of talent like NZ, NQ, Western Sydney, South eastern Queensland and North Coast of NSW are coming at the bottom of the ladder whilst the 2 clubs with almost Zero local talent are 1 and 2 year after year? The Rooster import the cream and Melbourne is a boot camp that players thrive away from their childhood and other social distractions. Sometimes a kid will grow up a lot faster away from his mates and family. The Storm have an excellent mentoring system with Bellamy, Smith, Slater and following in the foot steps of Chris Anderson, Lazarus, Nikau.
Adam Bagnall
Roar Guru
If we are talking about the NRL modern era from 1998 onwards Bellamy is clearly the best coach. Robinson has been good, but not for as long as Bellamy. Also look at how well the Storm develop players, the Roosters are well known for forking out big cash to buy already established players
Rob
Guest
Cooper Cronk is and was a personal coach at the Roosters. I’m not sure many people in the Broncos were helping the coach over the last 2 years.
Max power
Guest
Excuse me but Robinson is not in charge or recruitment and salary cap management. That’s the job of uncle nick and a guy that meets people in car parks with brown paper bags The list of players you claim the roosters “produced” are just talented players from other parts of the country that the roosters paid to come to Sydney The ability of Bellamy to get role players into stars far outweighs what Robinson achieves with purchased stars
Rob
Guest
Bennett didn’t consider Smith a better option than Phillip Lee, Priddis, Swain, Berrigan through that period. Bennett’s main focus was on snatching talent like Prince and Seymour from the North to replace Langer.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
:laughing: Mate Roosters are nowhere as near as wealthy as the Broncos. I fact if you look at the balance sheets of both clubs the Bronco club wealth is almost double that of the Roosters. The Roosters can only afford a personal coach for every 4 players :silly:
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Excellent, excellent post there Footy Fan.