Brent Read: Lebanese connection gives untested NRL coach Michael Cheika leg up for Eels’ vacant head coach job
NRL clubs are generally risk-averse – but could a coach like Michael Cheika, who already has a relationship with Mitch Moses – actually be a good thing for Parramatta?
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Risk-aversion are words normally associated with economics or finance. Over the coming weeks, it’s likely to rear its head in rugby league.
NRL clubs, in their pursuit of coaches, tend to minimise or reduce risk wherever possible. It’s why we see so many coaches getting recycled when a job becomes available.
The tried and tested seems to be preferable on most occasions. At least you know what you are going to get. The less surprises the better.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. History shows no coach is a guarantee.
There’s probably only four sure things in the modern game – Wayne Bennett, Craig Bellamy, Trent Robinson and maybe Ivan Cleary.
Even they have had their lean years. Wouldn’t it be ironic then if the one club that everyone chastises for their aversion to risk – the Parramatta Eels, so often lambasted as being the domain of bankers – took a punt in their search for their next coach.
The Eels are in the midst of finding a replacement of the axed Brad Arthur and a host of names have been thrust forward, both the old and the new.
Call it the tried and untested. The most intriguing is former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, who has made no secret of his desire to have a crack at the NRL.
Cheika is expected to have a red-hot go at the Eels job. He won’t play it out in public, but will likely make his interest known behind closed doors.
It would be no surprise if Cheika was given an interview and once that door opens, it may be enough given his commanding presence.
Cheika is no stranger to rugby league – he was an assistant at the Sydney Roosters to Robinson and then took charge of Lebanon at the World Cup, where he did an outstanding job.
Spend some time in Cheika’s presence – as this columnist did in Manchester two years ago – and you can’t help but walk away impressed.
He is incredibly intelligent, self made and has a genuine presence. He owns a room and the people in it. He has had immense success in rugby union and craves a chance in rugby league.
The Eels would seem the perfect fit given he has connections at the club – at that World Cup two years ago, his star player was Eels halfback Mitchell Moses.
Moses is without doubt the most influential player at Parramatta and Cheika took a side featuring the Eels playmaker, Adam Doueihi and a handful of NSW Cup players all the way to the quarter-finals, where they ran into a rampant Australia.
He did it with an intelligent support cast and buy-in from his playing group, something the Eels would appear to desperately need right now.
The western Sydney powerhouse has gone nearly 40 years without a premiership and their supporters learned long ago not to get their hopes up.
All most of them know is bitter disappointment. Arthur got them close but not close enough. It’s now someone else’s turn to try to break the drought and Cheika should be in the mix.
He is smart enough to know what he doesn’t know. No doubt, he would surround himself with the right people but his strength is the dressing room and the people in it.
He knows how to get the best out of them and the talent at the Eels isn’t in question. They were in a grand final less than two years ago and their window is now open.
With some subtle tinkering, their squad appears in position to challenge for a premiership. Their next coach just needs to knit it all together.
That’s what Cheika does as well as anyone. Yes, it is a risk but it may be a risk worth taking. The Eels made a difficult call this week and they now face an even tougher one as they decide who is the right man to take the club forward.
They have been inundated with resumes and the usual suspects have been thrust upon them. NSW coach Michael Maguire would slide into the role and no doubt do a great job.
So too Melbourne assistant Jason Ryles, interim coach Trent Barrett and Cronulla’s Josh Hannay. Maybe Sam Burgess, Mick Ennis and Blake Green are ready to step up.
There are no shortage of options and the Eels are not necessarily in a rush. They can sit back, take their time and make an educated decision.
They have no need to take any risks. Then again, why not. Surely it’s time someone took a chance on Cheika.
*****
The Queensland and NSW teams will pack their bags on Sunday night and head into camp in their respective states with the hopes of their passionate supporters resting on their shoulders.
The Maroons will pack their board shorts and tank tops for a week on the Gold Coast. The Blues will need gloves, beanies and about five layers as they head to the chilly Blue Mountains.
New era, new venue for the Blues. It’s a cold and calculated gamble by NSW coach Michael Maguire. He wants to take his team away from the comforts of the eastern suburbs of Sydney, where they have been based in recent years, and isolate them so they can focus all their energies into reclaiming the Origin shield.
The team will train at the Blue Mountains Grammar School oval but there are plans afoot to build a training ground at Leura Golf Course for the team to use in future years.
It’s an intriguing decision. One wonders what the Blues players will think when they see images of the Queenslanders strolling around in shorts and thongs, while they are rugged up, attempting to beat the cold.
On Monday and Tuesday, the minimum is forecast to be four degrees celsius. It warms up later in the week – the minimum temperature skyrockets to nine degrees.
It maxes out at about 19 degrees. Maguire would no doubt point out that the players aren’t there for a holiday. They are there to try to win an Origin series and that should be their only concern regardless of the weather.
Rain, hail or shine, the Blues have a point to prove. They have been schooled over the past two years with Queensland controlling the interstate series under Billy Slater.
The Maroons have perfected their preparation and they won’t be changing too much. They don’t need to. They have the recipe for success and it involves equal amounts of sun and sand.
For NSW, a change is as good as a holiday. A winter’s holiday anyway. They will have a handful of new faces and a new base to match.
Maybe Maguire has pulled a masterstroke. Perhaps the Blues Mountain will be the ideal training ground to stop another Queensland dynasty. Maybe, just maybe, the cold weather will produce a hot performance in Origin I.
Still, the beach or the Blue Mountains – I know where I would rather be.
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