Monday Buzz: Shocking numbers behind coaching casualties
YOU would think the Bennett-Seibold swap would finally shut down the NRL coaching craziness for another year. Breaking news: It won’t. This is the next batch of coaches in the firing line if their clubs don’t aim up early in 2019.
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WAYNE Bennett will coach the South Sydney Rabbitohs next season and Anthony Seibold will coach the Brisbane Broncos.
Stand by for the official confirmation from both clubs by the end of the month.
Otherwise, it would be like the boss of Coles being headhunted by Woolworths but sticking around for 12 months. It doesn’t happen in business.
Naturally, you would think the Bennett-Seibold swap would finally shut down the NRL coaching craziness for another year.
Breaking news: It won’t.
BELOW: THE 27 COACHES SACKED IN THE LAST DECADE
The first story about an under-siege coach will be written by round four in March next year.
I guarantee it.
Brad Arthur at the Parramatta Eels, Dean Pay at the Bulldogs or Nathan Brown at the Newcastle Knights will have 10 rounds to prove themselves.
Who knows? Garth Brennan, perennial punching bag Paul McGregor and even Ricky Stuart could find themselves under pressure next year if their teams don’t aim up.
These guys need to form a workers’ union because there is no other occupation in this country with such poor job security and in which employees are treated so shabbily.
Look at the number of casualties in the past 10 years.
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Twenty-seven coaches have been sacked, although in Brad Fittler’s case at the Roosters he insists his contract was up and he didn’t renew it. Twenty-seven coaches.
There are some pretty handy names there too, including premiership winners Tim Sheens, Des Hasler and Michael Maguire.
All of a sudden they became crap coaches.
Geoff Toovey had a win record of nearly 60 per cent at Manly, made two finals series and a grand final but was chopped, too.
This is outrageous.
The moment you lose three or four games on the trot, the whispers start.
He can’t coach. He has lost the dressing room. He’s out of touch with the modern game. He’s never going to win us a premiership. All this stuff.
Look at Anthony Griffin at the Panthers. His team was on target for the top four this year after making the finals in his two previous seasons.
Yet it wasn’t enough and Gus Gould got rid of him.
That was six months after Griffin was considered good enough to earn a two-year contract extension.
Not since John Lang in 2006 has a coach seen out his contract at the Panthers.
Old Bennett got the chop at the Broncos, too, and he has won seven premierships.
What clubs and fans have to understand is that not everyone can coach like the standouts, Craig Bellamy and Trent Robinson.
The same as not every halfback can play like Johnathan Thurston and Andrew Johns.
It’s a fact of life. Some teams have to run 15th or 16th every year.
It doesn’t necessarily mean the coach can’t coach. Maybe his roster was nowhere near as strong as Robinson’s and Bellamy’s outfits. Maybe injuries to key players ruined their season.
Maybe rep commitments or being on the tougher side of the draw contributed.
Or maybe they got dudded once or twice by poor refereeing.
I can think of no other major sport that has such a high rate of change overs.
Understandably Brown, Pay and Arthur need early results next year.
The Knights’ rebuild from the wreckage Bennett left behind was always going to take time.
But Brown has run out of time and needs to make the finals.
Pay also took over a mess at the Bulldogs. Apparently, that doesn’t come into consideration. He will be gone unless there’s a big improvement next year.
At Parramatta, Arthur has lost the brownie points he earned during the salary cap scandal.
The wooden spoon saw to that. He will have 10 weeks to prove his worth.
It’s just the nature of the game. And the fact you have a contract doesn’t mean a thing.
NRL COACH SACKINGS IN THE PAST 10 YEARS
2009: Brad Fittler (Sydney Roosters), Jason Taylor (South Sydney)
2010: Daniel Anderson (Parramatta)
2011: Ivan Henjak (Brisbane), Matt Elliott (Penrith), Kevin Moore (Canterbury), Des Hasler (Manly)
2012: Stephen Kearney (Parramatta), Brian McClennan (Warriors), Brian Smith (Sydney Roosters), Tim Sheens (Wests Tigers)
2013: David Furner (Canberra), Neil Henry (North Queensland), Matt Elliott (Warriors), Steve Price (St George Illawarra), Anthony Griffin (Brisbane)
2014: John Cartwright (Gold Coast), Michael Potter (Wests Tigers)
2015: Rick Stone (Newcastle), Geoff Toovey (Manly), Ivan Cleary (Penrith)
2016: Andrew McFadden (Warriors)
2017: Jason Taylor (Wests Tigers), Neil Henry (Gold Coast), Des Hasler (Canterbury), Michael Maguire (South Sydney)
2018: Anthony Griffin (Penrith)