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Opinion

A flashback to the year 2000 and a very curious coaching coincidence

Roar Guru
30th April, 2023
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Roar Guru
30th April, 2023
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If you were one of the nearly 14,000 fans who turned up to Marathon Stadium in Newcastle for the Round 17 clash between Newcastle and the Warriors on Saturday May 27, 2000, you were more than likely an avid Knights fan, and you wouldn’t have left disappointed, as the Knights took the points with a dominant 30 to 12 victory.

If you were extra keen and arrived in time to take in both the Jersey Flegg and First Division curtain raisers between Newcastle and Balmain, you would have seen some promising up and coming players, but you would have been blissfully unaware that you were also watching five future top-level coaches playing that day.

In the Jersey Flegg clash, the opposing halves were John Morris (Newcastle) and Andrew Webster (Balmain). John Morris was just 20 at the time and yet to make his first-grade debut, something he did with the Knights the following year.

He went on to play 300 first grade games before hanging up the boots in 2014 and turning his hand to coaching. He coached the Cronulla NYC team to the minor premiership in 2017, an achievement which saw him named NYC Coach of the Year, and then found himself with the Sharks’ first grade clipboard just two years later when Shane Flanagan was punted be the NRL.

Morris took the Sharks to the finals in both 2019 and 2020 but was then unceremoniously dumped in April 2021 following the appointment of Craig Fitzgibbon as coach for the 2022 year and beyond. Now 42, Morris is still a young man, and very well-respected in rugby league circles, and don’t be surprised to see him coaching first grade again sometime in the near future.

John Morris, Cronulla Sharks coach

John Morris (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Andrew Webster didn’t share Morris’ success as a player, spending his time in lower grades at both Balmain and Parramatta, but his career took a turn for the better in 2006 when he became player/coach with Connecticut Wildcats in the American National Rugby League, taking them all the way to the grand-final.

He then spent the next nine long years completing his coaching apprenticeship with Hull Kingston Rovers, Parramatta, Balmain and the Wests Tigers, before landing the role of assistant coach at the Warriors under Andrew McFadden in 2015.

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He then spent time as assistant coach with both the Tigers and the Panthers, and was Ivan Cleary’s assistant during the Panthers’ back-to-back premierships in 2021 and 2022, before ending his long journey when he was appointed head coach of the Warriors this year.

So far so good for Webster, as the Warriors have been competitive once again under his leadership and are winning their fair share of games.

Up in the First Division clash, Webster’s elder brother James, aged 20, was wearing the number 6 jersey for Balmain.

James Webster had played 9 first grade games for Balmain the previous year prior to their merger with Western Suburbs, and had more first grade exposure with Parramatta after joining them in 2002, but his playing career really took off when he joined Hull Kingston Rovers in 2005, eventually retiring as a player in 2010 and immediately taking up coaching.

After serving a brief apprenticeship, he’s held the clipboard for the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Hull Kingston Rovers and Featherstone Rovers since, and in 2021 guided Featherstone to the 2021 Million Pound Game where they lost against Toulouse Olympique. Webster is taking a break from coaching at the moment, but watch this space.

One of the Balmain forwards James Webster was herding around the park that afternoon was none other than front rower Trent Robinson. Robinson never set the world alight as a player, playing just 4 first-grade games in his time with both the Tigers and the Eels, before heading to the south of France to join Toulouse Olympique, eventually taking over as their coach in 2005.

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He then spent time as assistant coach with the Knights and the Roosters, before taking over the head coaching role at the Catalans Dragons from Kevin Walters in 2011. Two years later he was running the show at the Roosters, and the rest is history.

The final piece of the future coaching puzzle was wearing the number 7 jersey for the Knights that afternoon. Justin Holbrook was in his second year with Newcastle and was well and truly stuck behind the Johns brothers, and he soon left to try his luck with Penrith and then the Sydney Roosters.

He played a total of 17 first grade games before retiring in 2002 and taking up coaching. His apprenticeship included time with the Bulldogs, Dragons, Eels and the Roosters, before he landed the head coaching role with St Helens in 2017, where he went on to achieve a remarkable 80 percent win rate across the 2017-2019 seasons, culminating in a Championship victory in 2019.

On the strength of his English coaching form, he was signed by the Titans in 2020, and after achieving an initial bounce off the bottom for the club, he continues to struggle with an apparently unmotivated roster.

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