NRL 2022: Trent Robinson urges NRL to fast-track a coaches’ association

Paul Green’s brother has urged caution in the search for answers into his death, as Trent Robinson says it highlights the need to do better for other coaches.

Trent Robinson has reignited calls for the NRL to fast-track a coaches’ association as Paul Green’s brother appealed for calm in the search for answers following the rugby league figure’s death.

More than 700 people turned out at Kougari Oval in Wynnum on Tuesday for the funeral of Green, who took his life on August 11, aged 49.

Some of the biggest figures in rugby league were in attendance, including Immortals Mal Meninga and Wally Lewis, along with Johnathan Thurston and Brad Fittler.

Current NRL coaches Kevin Walters, Todd Payten, Craig Fitzgibbon and Robinson were among the mourners.

The sudden death of Green – who was not coaching this year – has shocked the code and sparked conversations around mental health and support for coaches.

Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

Roosters coach Trent Robinson attended Paul Green’s funeral in Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

Roosters premiership-winning coach Robinson has been advocating since 2016 for the introduction of an association to provide support for current and former coaches, including those between jobs.

Robinson, who hired Green as an assistant for the Sydney club’s 2013 premiership campaign, said it was time for an association to be formed given the pressure coaches face and volatility of the industry.

“It’s a wonderful job and we take with it the good and bad, we understand the role and that’s what makes it so wonderful,” he said.

“We’ve got to understand sometimes that comes to an end. It doesn’t always continue for 16 (NRL) coaches, there are ones that go in and out.

“The support around – how does it look – we’re not sure how to do that. This has highlighted it. When it finishes we think that their team didn’t win enough or their time was up. We don’t know how to support when it’s done. We have to be better at that.

“Greeny wasn’t coaching this year but he was a coach. That’s what he was. We know that and understood that. Knowing how to treat coaches that aren’t coaching at the moment needs to improve.

Trent Robinson and former Cowboys coach Paul Green. Picture: Zak Simmonds

“We’ve been trying for a few years. Greeny and I spoke a lot about it over the years, about how we improve this, with many people. But it’s not in place at the moment, it’s not set up to do that.

“Talking to Amanda (Green’s wife), that was part of making sure that there is more support and we understand there’s more than just 16 coaches.

“We’ve been putting together an association to support coaches and wellbeing. It hasn’t quite come to fruition yet because of finances and differences of opinion around what the structure of that should be. It needs to be there in some form very quickly.

“It’s hard to support when you’re rivals, there has to be someone independent of the clubs that supports the coaches equally and is there for us. That’s our future.”

After a stellar playing career, Green succeeded as a coach, leading Wynnum-Manly to back-to-back Queensland Cup premierships in 2011-12 before assisting Robinson during the Roosters’ 2013 NRL triumph.

He secured North Queensland’s top job in 2014 and coached the Cowboys to the club’s maiden NRL title in 2015 before taking them to another grand final in 2017.

Paul Green was farewelled in a service at Kougari Oval in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dan Peled

Green parted ways with the Cowboys in 2020 and coached Queensland in the 2021 State of Origin series, before shifting his focus to securing another job in the NRL.

At the time of his death he was in talks with the Dolphins to assist Wayne Bennett next year in the club’s NRL foundation season.

Rick Green said the conversation around mental health and his younger brother’s death had to be deep and considered, rather than jumping to conclusions.

“A lot of people have tried to put some simple words around that conversation,” he said.

“I think it’s a lot more complex than that and I’ve been very reluctant to buy into those sorts of discussions.

“Obviously there is a need for that discussion afterwards. It’s going to be a long conversation that requires a fair bit of thought for people to contribute meaningfully to it.”

Originally published as NRL 2022: Trent Robinson urges NRL to fast-track a coaches’ association