Paul Kent: Nothing separates Trent Robinson and Craig Bellamy in race for Dally M coaching crown

The Dally M coach of the year race is down to two — but the outcome could cast a shadow on the player thought to be the greatest of his generation. Vote in our poll!

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 27: Roosters coach Trent Robinson watches the game from the side-line during the round 24 NRL match between the Sydney Roosters and the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium on August 27, 2021, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

The Dally M Coach of the Year is an award given to recognise the hard work done over a long hard season that often overlooks the hard work done over a long hard season.

There is a natural bias towards the minor premiership-winning coach, given the award is now voted on entirely by former players familiar with what it takes to finish at the top of the ladder, once the regular season shuts down and all the suspensions and bruises are accounted for.

With the Dally M votes set to be cast this week the competition is down to two, or two-and-a-half, depending on what you make of Manly’s rise from the dead this season.

The smart money says that there are only two in the running, Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy or Roosters coach Trent Robinson.

Both claims are undeniable for vastly different reasons.

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Bellamy’s Storm team equalled a record that is the best in 114 seasons of NRL football, going 19 wins in a row to equal Jack Gibson’s Eastern Suburbs’ 1975 team that survived Arthur Beetson’s golf habit and Russell Fairfax’s social life to square it away.

The Storms’ subtle counter claim is they did their 19 in a row after the retirement of the player many claim to be the best ever, a farewell which was supposed to leave a hole they could never climb out from, leaving a squad that was supposed to be in something of a rebuild.

Roosters head coach Trent Robinson went the entire season mostly with rookies and somehow coached them into fifth.

Let’s remember, the Storm were supposed to be diminished when Cooper Cronk left in 2017, but weren’t. Then they were definitely supposed to drop down the rankings once Billy Slater called time in 2018, but they did not, and now here they are, the reigning premiers.

Once Cameron Smith retired at the end of last season, though, the last of the big four and supposedly the best of them all, the case was closed.

The Storm were in decline.

Yet rather than struggle without Smith they actually improved, which throws up the subplot of whether Smith really was the best ever or simply the chief cog in a magnificent system.

The Storm equalled the record of most consecutive wins this season, which brought them the minor premiership, and did it with nine different spine combinations.

In the salary cap era, which is supposed to level out the talent, it cannot be ignored.

Yet among those nine different combinations, they played 10 games with a spine of Nicho Hynes, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Brandon Smith and a further five with Ryan Papenhuyzen in place of Hynes.

Craig Bellamy oversaw Storm equalling the record of most consecutive wins this season, which brought them the minor premiership.

The Roosters have battled through 12 different spine combinations this season, the most frequent being James Tedesco, Drew Hutchison, Sam Walker, and Sam Verrills, who played together just five times.

They went the entire season mostly with rookies, yet Robinson somehow coached them into fifth, surrendering their top four spot in the last round of the season.

That they did so with Boyd Cordner missing all 24 games, Jake Friend missing 23, Luke Keary missing 21, Lindsay Collins missing 18, and the Morris twins Brett and Josh missing 17 and six respectfully — all rep players — is astounding. Victor Radley also missed 10.

With so many players missing for so long, and again with the salary cap pressing, it is hard to overlook the coaching that has gone into the Roosters.

So Bellamy or Robinson?

Purely on wins and losses, Bellamy is ahead of Robinson.

Yet Penrith coach Ivan Cleary also won as many regular season games as Bellamy this season, finishing equal first but behind on points differential.

This is where Bellamy also makes a case, though. Or does he?

His Storm finished with a points differential of plus-499, the greatest in the history of the game. It beat the record of plus-442 by more than 50 points, a record set by Easts in 1935 when Dave Brown was dominating the game with his polished bald head and a headgear that looked like a Roman thong, scoring 38 tries in just 15 games.

Robinson plucked young men not long out of age-group football and turned them into first graders.

Yet as you scour down the list, past Manly’s 1995 team in third (plus-439), and Parramatta in 2001 fourth (plus-432), there in fifth spot sits Penrith from 2021 on plus-390.

Two in the top five from the same season?

A look at some of the individual stats from this season, like Reuben Garrick’s record for the most points in a season, his 304 points outscoring Hazem El Masri’s record of 288 by 16 points, and it is clear this is a season with a heavy bias towards point scoring.

It is hard to know which is more impressive and, thankfully, it is not us or public opinion but the trusted souls on the voting panel that must decide.

What is clear is how much actual coaching has gone into the performances of both teams.

The Storm shifted from a defence oriented team into the game’s best attacking team, adapting to the new rules and their varied interpretations better than any team.

The Roosters kept plucking young men not long out of age-group football turning them into first graders even as other teams around the league used the same terms as an excuse for their losses.

Is it fair to call it a draw?