NRL Coaching Crisis
September 2nd 2006 03:15
It seems that NRL clubs in Australia, have adopted a policy by which any team who doesn’t play fantastic football for the entire season, must remove their coach as a way of lifting the curse. South Sydney, Parramatta, the Roosters, Cronulla and the Knights
Late last year, Australia lost its first rugby league tri-nations series in 27 years. The side lost only one match in that series, unfortunately it was the final due, in a large part, to the exceptional game played by their New Zealand opponents. The ARL decided to conduct a review of coach Wayne Bennets position but players and former greats seemed confident he would retain the top job. Bennet “resigned” shortly after and was replaced by Roosters coach, Ricky Stuart.
Eels coach, Brian Smith, bowed out prematurely after a disastrous start to the year with his club managing only 2 wins from 11 starts. He too “resigned” but you can be sure that the fans and club officials weren’t entirely innocent in the decision making process. Parramatta was due for a coach swap Newcastle. Smith would travel there in 2007 with Hagan moving to Parra to fill the void. Assistant coach, Jason Taylor will lead them to the conclucion of the season.
The Roosters are doing it tough this year in 14th spot, a far cry from their three successive finals appearances in 2002, 2003, 2004. Despite his past efforts in leading the boys through those years, coach Ricky Stuart got the sack. It was rumoured that he may take over the coaching job at Cronulla, where coach, Stuart Raper’s job came under review following Cronulla’s recent 9 match losing streak. After holding a comfortable top eight spot mid-way through the season, they have since plummeted down to 12th. If recent trends are anything to go by, Raper is as good as gone.
Jason Taylor will lose the Eels coaching job at the end of the season after being overlooked by the club. He was bound for the Bunnies as an assistant coach to Shaun McRae. With the Roosters now coachless for next year, and the Eels rocketing toward the finals, rumours began to circulate that Taylor may take the job over there instead. South’s were quick to act, sacking their own coach and promoting Taylor to head coach. How little value we have for our coaches. What happened to loyalty?
It looks like the players don’t have to worry anymore about poor performance. In the past, a coach could experiment with new players, new tactics, and if they had a few losses, it wasn’t the end of the world. Now if the team falters just for a little while it’s, OFF WITH HIS HEAD! If clubs don’t ease the pressure on coaches today, the game will stagnate; clubs that lose will keep losing because coaches aren’t being kept around long enough to get a feel for the team. Souths have gone through so many coaches since their re-instatement into the game, its no wonder they keep losing. Bennet coached the Kangaroos to countless international victories to the point where Australia they were always expected to win. But one mistake and he was gone. The Roosters had a brilliant run with their coach, Ricky Stuart, but let him go after one bad season.
Everyone makes mistakes, you just aren't allowed to when you're a coach.
Late last year, Australia lost its first rugby league tri-nations series in 27 years. The side lost only one match in that series, unfortunately it was the final due, in a large part, to the exceptional game played by their New Zealand opponents. The ARL decided to conduct a review of coach Wayne Bennets position but players and former greats seemed confident he would retain the top job. Bennet “resigned” shortly after and was replaced by Roosters coach, Ricky Stuart.
Eels coach, Brian Smith, bowed out prematurely after a disastrous start to the year with his club managing only 2 wins from 11 starts. He too “resigned” but you can be sure that the fans and club officials weren’t entirely innocent in the decision making process. Parramatta was due for a coach swap Newcastle. Smith would travel there in 2007 with Hagan moving to Parra to fill the void. Assistant coach, Jason Taylor will lead them to the conclucion of the season.
The Roosters are doing it tough this year in 14th spot, a far cry from their three successive finals appearances in 2002, 2003, 2004. Despite his past efforts in leading the boys through those years, coach Ricky Stuart got the sack. It was rumoured that he may take over the coaching job at Cronulla, where coach, Stuart Raper’s job came under review following Cronulla’s recent 9 match losing streak. After holding a comfortable top eight spot mid-way through the season, they have since plummeted down to 12th. If recent trends are anything to go by, Raper is as good as gone.
Jason Taylor will lose the Eels coaching job at the end of the season after being overlooked by the club. He was bound for the Bunnies as an assistant coach to Shaun McRae. With the Roosters now coachless for next year, and the Eels rocketing toward the finals, rumours began to circulate that Taylor may take the job over there instead. South’s were quick to act, sacking their own coach and promoting Taylor to head coach. How little value we have for our coaches. What happened to loyalty?
It looks like the players don’t have to worry anymore about poor performance. In the past, a coach could experiment with new players, new tactics, and if they had a few losses, it wasn’t the end of the world. Now if the team falters just for a little while it’s, OFF WITH HIS HEAD! If clubs don’t ease the pressure on coaches today, the game will stagnate; clubs that lose will keep losing because coaches aren’t being kept around long enough to get a feel for the team. Souths have gone through so many coaches since their re-instatement into the game, its no wonder they keep losing. Bennet coached the Kangaroos to countless international victories to the point where Australia they were always expected to win. But one mistake and he was gone. The Roosters had a brilliant run with their coach, Ricky Stuart, but let him go after one bad season.
Everyone makes mistakes, you just aren't allowed to when you're a coach.
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