The sight of a recently retired NRL star perched proudly in the coaches box as a newly minted assistant coach is a source of disappointment to me.
It is disappointment on several levels.
Disappointment that the player has nowhere else to go.
Disappointment that another job went to the boys.
Disappointment that the club may have found a loophole in the salary cap.
Perhaps the greatest disappointment is the perpetuation of the belief that great players are likely to make great coaches.
Lightning does not often strike twice, and the skills and experience of a great player are not particularly well suited to becoming a great coach.
Let’s look at the experience of your average NRL great.
Life in a bubble since their late teens, limited education and experience, consistent adulation and achievement.
Now consider the skills required to be a successful NRL coach.
The ability to communicate with people from different backgrounds (media, sponsors, players, administrators, the Balinese police force).
Understanding how big businesses work (structure, accountability, how to set up offshore bank accounts).
Innovation and initiative, and the ability to develop the skills of other people.
The experiences of a great NRL player do not readily translate into the skills needed to be a good – let alone great – NRL coach.
They can be learnt. Driven people can achieve more than the rest of us and rugby league is no different.
The likes of Ricky Stuart and Des Hasler demonstrate that it is possible for a great to become a good NRL coach.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
However, when you consider that only three of the current NRL coaches have a win rate above 60 per cent, perhaps something needs to change.
The best changes in rugby league are rules changes. I have one that will help lift the standard of NRL coaches and has the added advantage of not making the game worse to watch.
The NRL and the clubs should treat assistant coaches’ roles like Immortal status. Ex-players can only be considered for such status five years after retiring from playing.
While we are it, let’s broaden this criterion to address the growing number of ex-players who gain immediate, meaningful employment organising the stationery cupboard at their club’s HQ.
Finally, I urge the clubs to respect their organisations as large, modern and complex institutions. Look past jobs for the boys and consider someone from a different background, even just a different sport.
Get some depth in your footy department and challenge yourselves to be better. Look to the clubs that are successful and recognise that they are not old boys’ clubs.
If you still want ex-players in the ranks, then consider the value of the battlers, the scrappers and the journeymen.
People who know the fear of failure and the insecurity of never being a brilliant player.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
Nat, Damien Hardwick did a short course at Harvard at the end of the 2016 season.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
GBS, and the Refs cost him the other half!
sheek
Roar Guru
The Outsider, Perhaps an accompanying article might be" "Great players don't make great commentators". There's a posse of them on Ch9 & FoxSports, & too many of them are just talking heads. The example of Wayne Bennett 's life experiences cannot be applicable to today's coaches. BTW, Bennet played his club & state footy mostly at fullback. And I agree with those that say Bennett's coaching career was fashioned much more by his time in the police force, where I think he was an academy trainer, than from rugby league itself. This is most certainly true. Most importantly, Bennett had life skills forged from mixing with everyday folk & also from from a family medical disability problem. It shaped his thinking. Life is tough & it can be unfair. But you have to take responsibility for your own actions, & not blame others for any misfortune. Today's coaches are often ex-players, all or mostly from the professional era whereby you didn't need a weekday job mixing with everyday people to supplement your income. And while you can learn a lot from a book, or books, you still need to interact what you've learnt with practical experience of life. Nothing prepares you better than the University of Life. Nothing. Education doesn't. The world is full of educated idiots. There is no substitute for practical experience. Education gives you an understanding. But it doesn't automatically qualify you as a guru. So it's going to be interesting to see how guys who have spent their entire lives playing rugby league, then become coaches out of a text book, then have to impart their narrow worldly experience onto equally narrow minded players with limited life skills. Rugby league players often remind me of the typical 14-year-old teenage girl. They suddenly realise they're attractive to the opposite sex, that means they're hot, & they know everything there is to know in their narrow world. But life experiences? For the average 14 year old teenage girl, life experiences is zip. Not much different with young rugby league players, or even older ones. "Hey, I can play rugby league, I know everything." No you don't.
The Bear
Guest
Bennett was in the Qld force when Terry Lewis and others were running it. He would of learnt 'plenty'. Good and bad.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
He didn't get any luck in half of those games
Muzz
Guest
I'm sure Ricky has a good excuse for that ordinary win record.
Honest Max
Roar Rookie
Off the top of my head; Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton, Rassie Erasmus, Leigh Matthews, Malcolm Reilly, Ewen McKenzie, Mal Meninga, Brad Thorn, Scott Robertson, Aaron Mauger, Alistair Clarkson, Damien Hardwick, Adam Simpson, Paul Roos, etc. That’s a lot of exceptions to a rule.
Anna_B
Roar Rookie
:happy: :thumbup: The police force taught him discipline & structure. I'm ex RAAF, but all structured, disciplined jobs give people a foundation.
Anna_B
Roar Rookie
:happy: Good idea. What Sam Burgess adds to Souths cannot be much IMO. Perhaps he's teaching tackling. Has he done any coaching courses? Coaching is a different skill. Many former are not coach material IMO. e.g. Jason Taylor was a dud Jobs for the boys (or girls) is not always for the best
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Tiger loose by more than 3 converted tries today & Tim Sheens will be coaching them next week
mach4
Roar Rookie
Meninga gets all the wraps for his time at QLD but had Michael Hagan as his right hand, a premiership-winning player and coach, who also had a business degree.
Dirk Diggler
Roar Rookie
Its not just NRL that has an issue, in general the more varied the real life experiences that more enriched the person is. I've always believed based on what I've seen here and overseas, the coaches that weren't the most gifted, the ones that had to work incredibly hard to compete have something within that drives success. It is also quite telling that only 3 of the current NRL coaches have a win rate above 60% and if you look at Michael Maguire as one of the 3 he sliding backwards at a rate of knots.
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Students are being taught far more important subjects nowadays: how to determine what gender you are, an understanding of climate change etc., time off from school to join a protest march armed with misspelt signs. It’s all about priorities.
Joey
Guest
Track record say Ricky always leaves a sinking ship. Roosters. Sharks. Parra. He’s always walked away, if it wasn’t to the end of the plank.
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
very valid points but the Dogs are an impatient lot ,they’ve only been waiting 2o years
Wait a minute!
Guest
Trent won’t go. He’s getting virtually a whole new team next season. A lot of the current squad won’t be there. He’ll be getting the likes of Burton, Addo-Carr & whoever else they poach from elsewhere,
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
My revised Next Coached Sacked Market- $1.90 Ricky $5 Trent Madge Kevvie $7 Hook AOB Holgate $10 Todd Brownie $20 Hannay
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
Agree with you on this one, Cooper Cronk was a hero of mine, playing for the Storm (not so when he played for that other mob) and he was a very very smart footballer who displayed it week after week however his game analysis on TV is pretty low grade and he struggles to get his words out sadly. Not the worst for sure but still not quite up to it.
Farkurnell
Guest
My revised Next Coach Sacked Market - Ricky $1.90 Trent,Madge, Holgate,Kevvie$5 Hook ,AOB $7. Brownie,Todd $10 Hannay $20
Onya!
Guest
Des Hasler do a lot between being a very good player & becoming a very good coach? A couple off not great seasons coaching, more due to circumstance. Rather than his ability as a coach. Still a great coach.