Yvonne Sampson column: NRL heavyweights operate in fear over job security

SUCCESSION plans. Easy to forecast, hard to execute. But rugby league really struggles with implementing proper support structures around change of industry leaders, writes Yvonne Sampson.

Yvonne Sampson says it’s a tough gig for an NRL heavyweight.

SUCCESSION plans. Easy to forecast, hard to execute.

But rugby league really struggles with implementing proper support structures around change of industry leaders.

I’m not talking about Kevin Walters, who has best managed a seismic and sudden shift in personnel.

The Maroons coach knew this day would come when Smith, Slater, Cronk and co were no longer on his Origin roster, and the QRL brains trust were well aware this once-in-a-lifetime collection of future legends and Immortals couldn’t go on forever.

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Yvonne Sampson says it’s a tough gig for an NRL heavyweight.

The transition began years ago, head-hunting and grooming the next generation of creatives like Hunt, Munster and Morgan for the inevitable handover we saw in Origin I.

While it wasn’t immediate success on the scoreboard, the transition has been serviceable.

Today I’m talking about succession plans in the broader rugby league executive structure.

The NRL is a $2 billion dollar industry. Our game is worth billions, and we still can’t properly and appropriately manage a change in leadership positions.

Coaches, CEOs and football managers all exist in a paranoid, cut-throat world where, at any moment, they could be sacked and chased by cameras and reporters through the club car park.

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It’s a dangerous way to make a living where you can be fired, on the spot, without warning regardless of your contract and any legal obligations to pay out the remaining amount.

Don’t get me started on receiving the “full support of the board”.

It’s a ruthless “sack race”, where coaches and executives cling on for dear life, knowing the deeper into September they go, the more chance they will have of keeping their job.

One man who seemed untouchable was Wayne Bennett.

A coaching maestro, the NRL’s most successful man with seven premierships sprinkled over a breathtaking 32 consecutive seasons.

To quote the great man himself: “There’s always room for improvement, it’s the biggest room in the house”.

There’s definitely room for improvement at Broncos HQ in handling who will eventually take over Bennett’s clipboard.

Sunday, the Broncos coach will sit in the coaches box next to Craig Bellamy at AAMI Park.

For two men who worked superbly together in the past for five years that produced two premierships, questions still hover over their coaching futures.

Last week, the pair appeared on stage together at the Toowoomba Turf Club where Bennett declared “categorically and equivocally” he would be coaching the Broncos next year.

“He’s got a contract for 2019 so there you go” was Bellamy’s downcast response.

Craig Bellamy has been quiet about his prospects of taking over in Brisbane.

Those close to Wayne say he’s happy to be consulted on his successor.

The Broncos are big business, and in any other industry a handover of this magnitude would be closely managed, with Bennett spending at least two weeks with the new coach at the Red Hill HQ.

This provides guidance and a proper introduction to the team, board and understanding of the club culture.

An open and approachable transition would demonstrate how progressive the Broncos are and how deeply they regard and respect the greatest coach of all time.

A dignified succession plan from a billion-dollar business.

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