Grassroots Grant tries to reinvent himself with a dangerous assumption, writes Paul Kent
JOHN Grant assumes a working class childhood is sufficient training for running rugby league. It’s a dangerous assumption, as we witness near daily.
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JOHN Grant’s problem is he does not know what he does not know.
“Look, my background is absolutely working class,” he tells colleague Phil Rothfield. “I grew up in a family that had very little money and survived on a month-to-month basis. We had to work to buy our footy boots.”
He assumes a working class childhood is sufficient training for rugby league. It’s a dangerous assumption, as we witness near daily.
“I’m your classic grassroots guy,” he says. “I started playing at school and went all the way through.”
At least until he retired, disappeared from the game while he spent much of the next few decades building a highly successful tech company and sipping chardies at the rugby at Ballymore, until the Commission job became available.
Grassroots Grant is trying to reinvent himself as a rugby league man.
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It’s necessary with the clubs in revolt and after the NRL recently embarrassed itself, dressing Dave Smith’s appointment as a “change agent” all along, which would explain his heavy-handed management and lack of rugby league knowledge and give the appearance that much good came of it.
Now we are left with Grassroots Grant, a rugby league guy, running the game.
Yet elsewhere in Friday’s interview Grassroots Grant revealed how far he still has to go.
He refuted there were nine clubs in Sydney, saying: “Well, there’s seven — I don’t consider Newcastle and Wollongong in Sydney.”
Unfortunately, while his geography is spot on, his maths isn’t.
The Sydney clubs are Manly (1), Sydney Roosters (2), South Sydney (3), Cronulla (4), Wests Tigers (5), Parramatta (6), Penrith (7), Canterbury (8) and St George Illawarra (9).
No Newcastle among the nine and if he considers St George Illawarra is not a Sydney team then perhaps he can explain that to Dragons fans.
Not to labour the point but, again with the maths, this season the Dragons played eight home games in Sydney and four in Wollongong.
The big concern is what is happening with the Australian coaching job, though.
One of the primary drivers of the Commission’s formation was to eliminate the appearance of backroom deals and bring transparency and proper process to decisions.
But often the appearance is as damaging as the reality.
The ARL Commission received part of a recently finalised report into the Australian coaching job for the first time on Thursday.
Yet 10 days ago Mal Meninga denied reports he had secret talks with Grant about taking the Australian job. Although he did say he was “interested if it was fulltime”.
While there is no suggestion Grant acted dishonourably, Head of Football Todd Greenberg was sent to interview Meninga shortly after his denial, even though Greenberg has not interviewed other candidates like Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy. It certainly seems odd.
For one, how can Meninga even be interviewed when the ARL Commission has yet to ratify a decision?
Meninga earns $250,000 to coach Queensland and Laurie Daley similar for NSW.
The Australian job is suggested to be $500,000, enough to give up the Origin spotlight given it is about to be declared a fulltime job.
That’s the best part of $1 million to coach 11 games next season (three Origin games each, an Anzac Test and the Four Nations tournament).
At the same time, junior registration numbers are falling and one of the reasons is the prohibitive cost of junior insurance.
As a grassroots man, Grant surely knows this. So where is the money for the kids?
This year Tim Sheens was paid $50,000 as Australian coach and put on the same win bonuses as the players. Before Sheens, coaches were paid just match fees.
Grant has justified the fulltime position and salary by pointing out extra roles the coach will undertake, all of which were already undertaken by Sheens except for coaching the Jillaroos (coached by Steve Folkes) and the Prime Minister’s XIII (usually given to a development coach, like positions are generally filled by development players).
His talk that the Australian coach will get involved in development is naive. Players already receive elite coaching from their clubs and their workload is full. There is no way to squeeze development squads in while the other conversation we have is player burnout.
Little of this makes sense.
Grassroots Grant also pointed out, for instance, it was unsatisfactory Australia had fallen to two in world rankings and had lost its past four games to New Zealand.
Well, the last three times Australia was well down on a full strength backline and got beaten on the edges, where their loss was most acutely felt.
More than that, though, consider the Australian team is funded well below the two Origin teams.
Unlike NSW and Queensland the Kangaroos hire walkie-talkies and borrow iPads and other equipment, running on a shoestring.
Because the NRL won’t give them the money. The justification from headquarters was always that Origin paid its way, Test football does not.
So the problems complained about is the NRL’s creation, nobody else.
Grassroots Grant also believes the new Australian coach, who will be Meninga, “would work with the two Origin coaches”.
Brilliant.
Try telling Daley that Meninga is now going to come into NSW camp to help.
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INTERESTING to see Wallaby captain Stephen Moore nominate Steve Waugh’s leadership as his inspiration in the lead-up to Sunday morning’s (AEST) World Cup final. In the opposition, of course, Richie McCaw is perhaps the greatest leader in world sport today and you get the feeling Waugh and McCaw would agree many times on the way to get the job done. While McCaw is an expert at the subtle foul his uncompromising manner on the field — and off it — make the All Blacks the most successful team in international sport. This will be his last World Cup final and, out of respect, we wish him the best.
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DON’T MISS
THE last time shots were fired a week before the Melbourne Cup, Phar Lap was the short-priced favourite, bookmakers let you on for all you could afford and men wore hats. Still, nothing really changes. All eyes are on Flemington today for the best day of racing on the calendar. Coverage starts on Channel Seven at 11am and features the Melbourne Cup qualifier, the Lexus Stakes (2.25pm), as well as four Group One races the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1.40pm), the Mackinnon Stakes (3.05pm), Victoria Derby (3.50pm) and Myer Classic (4.35pm). It’s all duck or no dinner tonight.
RICHARD FREEDMAN
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Let’s get everyone off to a good start, what wins the first at Flemington today?
I like Mahuta. He can win again.
So we have the money in the bank there, what’s the bet of the day?
Exosphere, but it’s short. I do like Royal Descent (race nine). She has the blinkers on, which they’ve done because she has run so many seconds they just want her concentrating more. Forget her run in the Caulfield Cup.
How much has the carnival changed in your time in racing?
Over the past 15 years, the scale of the Melbourne Cup carnival has grown and grown and grown. It used to be a uniquely Australian cultural event and now it’s still uniquely Australian but the world has embraced it.
Is that good or bad?
It has to be good, I don’t want to turn the clock back. It will only keep getting bigger and as a sport we need these big events. This is like our State of Origin, we need it.
The Melbourne Cup, who wins?
It’s one of the hardest Cups. Any one of 10 or 12 horses can win. Lee’s horse, Our Ivanhowe, is a chance.
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