The brave call the Bulldogs must make in search for new coach

The Bulldogs have a groundbreaking NRLW opportunity. There are two obvious candidates for the vacant coaching job if they’re brave enough to make a big decision for the future, writes PAMELA WHALEY.

Canterbury have the chance to something groundbreaking and land the next great NRLW coach.

That she just happens to be a woman is a bonus.

Jillaroos assistants Kate Mullaly and Jess Skinner are two of the rising names in women’s rugby league coaching, although both have been around the game for a long time.

Either would thrive with a full-time NRLW gig if given the chance.

The Bulldogs have the means and opportunity after the sudden departure of their head coach just three months out from the start of the NRLW pre-season.

They should be gunning hard for either of these impressive women.

It’s a win-win on all accounts.

Kate Mullaly is one of the rising names in women’s rugby league coaching. Picture: NRL Imagery

As is fellow Jillaroos assistant Jess Skinner. Picture: NRL Imagery

Most cynically, it’s the perfect public relations move for the Bulldogs to appoint the second female NRLW coach in the game and the third in the competition’s history, after a disastrous start to their inaugural campaign.

The good news is, it’s not tokenism if they deserve it.

Skinner and Mullaly have different strengths, but both are highly respected and on the path to a head coaching position in the future anyway.

Mullaly is assistant to Steve Georgallis at Parramatta and coaches the NSW Under-19s Origin side, while Skinner has previously worked at the Knights and is now head coach of the Indigenous All Stars team.

If not now, when?

There is currently just one NRLW side with a female head coach, Karyn Murphy at the Gold Coast Titans.

Currently, Gold Coast are the only NRLW side with a female head coach in Karyn Murphy, while former NSW Origin coach Kylie Hilder and Queensland’s Tahnee Norris have been waiting in the wings for years for their opportunity.

Murphy is a legend of the game and her appointment at the Titans was inspired.

Before that, former Warriors mentor Luisa Avaiki, who was in the job for two years between 2018 and 2019, is the only other female NRLW coach in the competition’s history.

That’s two in seven years, which is not good enough for a now 12-team competition.

At the very least it highlights the difficulty of making the leap from assistant to head coach for women in the industry.

Plenty of hard work is going on behind the scenes to increase those opportunities, and eventually the current playing group will move into those positions too.

Representative stars Isabelle Kelly, Keeley Davis and Corban Baxter are already moving into coaching roles with the junior representatives.

Change is slow with baby steps.

But the Bulldogs can take a giant leap into the future if they’re brave enough.

Originally published as The brave call the Bulldogs must make in search for new coach