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| Fast-tracked or made for the big-time? Trent Barrett has moved quickly from player to coach. |
A new era of
NRL coaches has arrived with the appointment of Trent Barrett at Manly for
2016, and the instalment of Danny Buderus at Newcastle as interim coach for the
rest of this season. Whilst Buderus’ tenure might be temporary, it signals a
changing of the guard at the top-flight of Rugby League coaches’ and a transfer
of priority and preference from experience, to a younger leader that can more
easily relate to today’s player. But with coaches now coming from those who
played in the 1990-2000’s, are they entering the role too early and without
enough experience?
In recent
seasons, coaches that had played the game but did not fulfil their destiny as a
player, have excelled and had unprecedented success. Both Trent Robinson and
Michael Maguire were respected players in the game, but barely made any
in-roads in their first-grade careers. Seeking paths in the game, they turned
to coaching and have both travelled far and wide in their committed pursuit to
coach at the highest level. They didn’t have a big-name reputation as a player
to rely on to earn their spot, but on the contrary, they didn’t have the
experiences a big-name player may have had in a long playing career. The debate
of if a great player can make a great coach reigns free.
No doubt
whatever path a coach takes to the top level, they will be experienced.
Robinson and Maguire worked hard as assistants, technical coaches and did
whatever they had to, to build their knowledge. Maguire was known to have regularly
mowed the grass of the Wigan training fields when he was their coach. Can you
imagine Des Hasler cruising across Belmore Oval on a hot summer’s day? Robinson
even become a fluent French speaker during his time at the Catalan Dragons in
order to be able to liaise with his players, staff and the French community
better.
What’s
interesting is how players with limited experience as professional have become
so successful as coaches. Like the Rabbitohs and Roosters pair, Wayne Bennett
was one to have not had a decorated playing career. He, as it turns out, is the
most successful coach of all-time. Craig Bellamy played 148 games for the Canberra
Raiders during a decade-long career, but he was never the star of the team. He
played off the bench in their 1990 premiership win over the Penrith Panthers.
What Bellamy did best after his playing career, was go and undertake a long
apprenticeship, and he had to as he didn’t have that big name.
The
transition from player to coach can be a dangerous path. Some have gone in immediately
following their playing career and have struggled. Others have bided their
time, gone away from the game, experienced more and come back with great
success. Brad Fittler was one who went in too early. After only a few years out
of the game he was thrust into the full-time position of Head Coach with the
Sydney Roosters. Whilst he has Phil Gould and others to lean on, Fittler hadn’t
properly learnt the ropes as a coach. A wonderful player and on-fielder leader,
but coaching as it seems, is a different gig all together. Some of the best
players will just not make great coaches, it’s simple.
It could be
said that Ricky Stuart jumped in too early, and it is only now that Stuart is
finding his potential as a coach after working himself out over a number of
years, at a number of clubs. Or maybe Stuart has always been the same coach and
it’s simply clicking for him out of the Sydney spotlight at his old club.
Nathan Brown went in too early, but he has gone to the Super League and had
tremendous success, no doubt transforming himself as a coach. The roles that
Fittler and Barrett have occupied as Country and City coaches seem like ideal
positions for a person seeking a head coaching role to test themselves. Or are
these positions more suitable for people like Fittler who enjoy chiming in and
out of the sport while holding positions in the media.
What’s clear
is next year Trent Barrett will be the Head Coach of a club currently
undergoing a transition, and for him it will either be rocks or diamonds. Manly
will need to give him time to build a successful first grade team, but they are
a club that expects success and in the game today patience is limited, from
fans and the power-holders. Danny Buderus, the ultimate clubman, looks like he
will one day make a magnificent coach with an unquestionable level of integrity
and fierce leadership. But to jump into the Newcastle Knights at a time when
the whole club is being questioned, would be a disaster. For his sake,
hopefully he sticks to his guns and stays as an assistant for the time being.
A trend
appears to be evolving in the game and almost sport in general, that the best
coaches are those who have had varied life experiences and had to learn things
from the ground up. Des Hasler had a fantastic playing career at Manly, but
after it he went and become a high school maths teacher. Wayne Bennet was in
the Queensland Police Force, Maguire a physical education teacher before a
coach, Craig Bellamy an electrician. Across the globe, Football’s best coach of
today, Jose Mourinho, played in only the Portuguese lower leagues. He has held
more assistant positions than probably any other coach in the world game, yet
now, he is one of the most successful of all time.
Obviously
there is more than just the coach, their personality, skills and philosophy involved
in order to achieve success. A club has to be pulling in the same direction
from top to bottom, resources have to be there and to use a Rugby League
saying, you’ve got to have the cattle. But there is no doubting, and no missing
the evolution of the successful coaches, they do their time, somewhere,
somehow.