NRL 2021: Billy Slater the first choice to coach Maroons
The QRL have made it clear that Billy Slater is their first choice to coach the Maroons in 2022 - but will they get their man?
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The Queensland Rugby League have opened negotiations with Billy Slater as the Storm fullback legend outlined his interest in succeeding Paul Green as Maroons Origin coach.
News Corp can reveal the QRL have officially kicked off talks with Slater and his management in an emphatic sign Queensland bosses have identified the man to lead the Maroons into a new era following last year’s series debacle.
Breaking his silence on Friday night during Channel 9’s coverage of the Melbourne-Manly NRL finals opener, Slater confirmed his interest in coaching Queensland, but made it clear he had to weigh up family and work commitments.
The notion of Slater rejecting the post would leave the Maroons in a state of coaching chaos given the dearth of genuine candidates, but QRL bosses remain confident they will strike a deal with the rookie mentor.
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It is understood the QRL are keen to sign Slater on a three-year deal to drive stability in their Origin program after churning through three coaches - Kevin Walters, Wayne Bennett and Green - in three consecutive campaigns.
A QRL subcommittee nominated Slater as their preferred candidate on Tuesday and Queensland hierarchy has subsequently made a formal approach in recent days to thrash out a deal.
While NSW coach Brad Fittler is on around $350,000, it is understood Green, the former Cowboys premiership coach, was paid less than $200,000 for this year’s series.
Slater has a busy life with media and family commitments and personal business interests and the Queensland Origin job will be another layer of pressure.
The 38-year-old father of two says he has not formally signed with the QRL, but is keen on launching his Origin coaching career.
“There has been an expression of my interest in coaching the Queensland team,” Slater said.
“I want to stress that we haven’t got to an offer-and-acceptance thing just yet.
“Given the care I have for Queensland and how high I hold the role, I am certainly considering it.
“But I have some existing commitments, I have family commitments and I respect the role that much, that I know how much I will put into the role.
“I know how much it will demand and the commitments it will take.
“So it’s not just an easy decision to say, ‘Yes’, but there is certainly some consideration there.”
Asked by Channel 9 colleague and NSW Origin legend Andrew Johns if he would have an issue coaching Queensland stars he recently played with, Slater said: “Not at all, that’s not a worry to me.”
Slater has made cameo appearances at Camp Maroon in the past two years.
In 2019, he helped Walters by providing some mentoring to Maroons fullback Kalyn Ponga. Slater returned to Queensland camp this year before Game Two to help mentor teenage debutant Reece Walsh, who subsequently withdrew on game eve with a hamstring injury.
The QRL accept they cannot keep going back to the well with Wayne Bennett and Mal Meninga and want to develop a new generation of coaches.
Slater, Johnathan Thurston, Justin Hodges, Scott Prince and Corey Parker headline the former Maroons Origin stars who have had coaching roles with Queensland’s senior and junior teams and are highly regarded by the QRL.
Slater, a 31-game Origin icon, said he is mindful of what the Maroons team means to the Queensland people.
“The consideration is around my commitments and the respect I give the position,” he said.
“It’s not just turning up for three games and coaching a footy team, it’s a lot more than that.
“The direction the QRL want to go with, it’s building for the future.
“I care about Queensland, I know how much this team means to the Queensland public, it’s an inspiration to them and I have got to consider everything before I make a decision.”
QRL BID TO BRING MENINGA BACK TO MAROONS
The Queensland Rugby League wants Mal Meninga to form a coaching dream team with Billy Slater.
News Corp understands that the QRL has reached out to ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys to gauge whether the commission would allow Meninga to combine his Kangaroos coaching duties with a Maroons mentoring role, where he would provide a sounding board to Slater and other aspiring coaches.
Meninga is understood to be keen on the role, although he will need to convince V’landys that it will not conflict with his position with the Australian team.
Meninga is the most successful coach in Origin history, having won 67 per cent of his games in charge of the Maroons over a 10-year period when Queensland dominated the interstate arena.
He returned for a cameo last year as part of Wayne Bennett’s coaching team as Queensland scored an unexpected and unlikely series win. However, defeat in this year’s series has prompted change, resulting in the departure of Paul Green and a plan for Queensland to hand the reins to Slater.
The Maroons are cognisant of the need for Slater, as well as their other emerging coaches, to have an experienced figure to bounce ideas off. They have arrived at Meninga, a legend who commands huge respect among Queensland officials and supporters.
Meninga also has a longstanding relationship with Slater – he coached him for both Queensland and Australia.
QRL director Darryl Van de Velde declined to comment on Slater’s prospects of landing the coaching role, but said Queensland hierarchy must have a mentoring program to develop a new wave of Maroons coaches.
“It’s important for State of Origin that we develop the next generation of coaches,” he said.
“It was embarrassing what happened last year, we were well beaten, and we need some mentoring for our coaches from people who understand the culture of Queensland in the Origin arena.
“That knowledge can’t be lost on us because it has kept us in the hunt for a long time against NSW.”
While he has never been a head coach, Slater’s tactical acumen is well respected in Melbourne where he has helped assistant coach Marc Brentnall sharpen their attack.
Melbourne head of football Frank Ponissi insisted Slater was as tactically astute as any coach he had worked with, high praise from a man who has been by Craig Bellamy’s side for more than a decade.
“He is both tactically smart, but he is also football smart,” Ponissi said.
“He knows Origin is more than the tactical side of the game. He gets Origin. Yes, he is tactically outstanding but he also understands what is involved in being an Origin player and playing for Queensland.
“He is unbelievably passionate about Queensland. He has all the right ingredients. That is only going to be a percentage of being an Origin coach – he knows that. I think that is what is going to make I’m a success.
“He is popular but he is also very strong. He was like that as a player and he is like that in his current role.
“He is not scared to give his opinion but he does it in a respectful way. He is honest. He has always been an honest person in terms of he will give you honest feedback. I think he will be the same as a coach.
“He will be respectful with his players.”
While Slater has helped formulate the Storms’s attack, he has been forced to reduce his role to an extent over the past two seasons due to Covid-19.
“He hasn’t been able to do hands-on during last season and this season, but at the beginning of both seasons – 20202 and 2021 – he was heavily involved in hands-on with the players,” Ponissi said.
“Being that we have been relocated on both occasions, he has had to do a lot of work with Marc over the phone and occasionally with players.
“It has been more remote both seasons but the core of his work was done in the pre-season. He did an extraordinary amount in the pre-season.”
GREEN HITS BACK AS MAROONS SPLIT TURNS UGLY
Deposed Maroons coach Paul Green says he didn’t see his demise coming, dismissing suggestions he disrespected the prestigious Origin post by refusing to commit to the Queensland Rugby League for the long haul.
Newly-appointed QRL director Cooper Cronk, speaking on NRL 360 on Wednesday night, confirmed that Green’s inability to commit to Queensland beyond next season was a factor in his termination as Maroons coach.
But Green hit back at a belief he was using the Queensland job as a stepping stone to revive his NRL coaching career and questioned the mixed messages from QRL hierarchy over the prestige of the Origin position.
“I was disappointed by the decision because of the regard in which I hold the Queensland coaching job,” Green said in his first interview since his sudden axing on Tuesday.
“I don’t want people to think I treated the Queensland job as a stepping stone because that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I held that job in high regard and if people think I treated it any differently, that’s incorrect.
“Because I held the job in the regard that I did, I was upfront with my intentions.
“I had every intention of doing the Queensland job next year, but they wanted a guarantee for longer and I couldn’t give them that.
“When I got the job this year, I gave them my word that in 2021 I wouldn’t talk to any (NRL) clubs and that was the case. But the QRL wanted a longer-term commitment going forward and I couldn’t give them that commitment.
“In my dialogue with the QRL, I was honest and said it was my intention to one day coach in the NRL.
“It was never meant to treat the Queensland position with any less respect.”
“As it stands I have not spoken to any NRL club. I don’t have any job to go to.”
Former Maroons halfback Cronk, who started as a QRL director last week, explained the decision to sever ties with Green.
“For me, playing Origin is the second highest level of the game. Australia is No.1. The coaching needs to be at the equivalent,” he said.
“If you are going to play at that level, the coach needs to see it (State of Origin) as one of the highest accolades he can get.
“Coaching Queensland is not a halfway stop to getting back into the NRL and that’s where the Paul Green thing fell over.
“There’s been three coaches in the last three years for the Queensland Origin job, it’s now time to consolidate that position and find the right person who can win next year’s series and set a legacy for the next three or five after that.”
In his rookie stint as Queensland coach, Green endured a tumultuous 2021 campaign. The Maroons lost the series 2-1, were flogged 50-6 in Game One and were rocked by a number of dramas, including the Ronaldo Mulitalo eligibility saga and the Jai Arrow Covid breach.
Green said his recent presentation to the QRL board demonstrated the prestige in which he viewed the Origin job.
“I just find it inconsistent if the QRL as a board say it’s the second most prestigious position coaching wise in the country, but then only offer it as a part-time role,” he said.
“If it’s offered as a part-time role, it’s not consistent with how prestigious the role is said to be.
“The position is very prestigious in my eyes, but it was only offered to me as a part-time position.
“I put forward some ideas around where I felt the program needed to improve and I felt more resources needed to be thrown at the Queensland Origin program.
“It’s a bigger job than a part-time role and to give the position its due, the job needed to be resourced a bit better.
“I hate using the words full-time and part-time, but there is more to the success of Queensland than just the head coach’s position.
“The head coach should have a wider influence than just coaching the series and that would have an impact on the outcome of a series moving forward.
“I’m talking about the emerging programs and pathways and the head coach can have an influence over that.”
Asked if he has had contact with any current NRL clubs, Green said: “I don’t want to speculate on future jobs because I haven’t spoken to anyone at this stage.
“I would like to coach in the NRL again one day. It’s what I have done and it’s what I do. The reason I coach is because I find it rewarding. I enjoy seeing young blokes get better as players and people.
“Of course I would have liked another year with Queensland. I wanted to have another crack because I had some plans around what needed to happen and some areas we needed to improve, but the QRL went in a different direction.”
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