Why are coaches always the scapegoats? - By Mary

There is no doubt about it - I would not want to be a coach in the NRL.

The inspiration for this post was the news yesterday that the contract of former Premiereship winning coach, Steve Folkes, will not have his assistant coaching contract renewed by the St. George Illawarra Dragons at the end of the year. More details can be found here.

The role of a coach in modern day NRL is certainly not an easy job. Coaches are not only responsible for team tactics and ensuring that the players understand their roles on the field, but they are also people managers and must work hard to maintain the harmony within their team. This all coupled with recruitment and management decisions is a heavy load for one individual to carry.

The reason that I feel sorry for coaches is because I feel that they are often used as a convenient scape goat when a team is not performing and are often forgotten when a team is playing well, unless they are dubbed a 'supercoach' like Des Hasler, Wayne Bennett or Craig Bellamy.

Take the Dragons for example - it is alleged that the Dragons are looking to completely revamp their coaching structure next year in the wake of a season which may see the Dragons miss the finals 2 years in a row. This is the first time this has happened since the club merger in 1999. The Dragons have re-signed their current coach, Steve Price, for another year.

The question then becomes, how much of St George Illawarra's form can be attributed to the coach? While the coach certainly needs to be accountable, so do all the other people who are involved in the NRL side including management and the players. The coach is only able to do so much - in the end, it is the players on the field who must work hard to carry out the coaches instructions and must do the basic things required of an NRL team like catching the ball, playing with discipline and making tackles.

Parramatta is certainly a club which has also used coaches as scapegoats in the past.

Since 2009, Parramatta have had 3 changes in coaching staff. Daniel Anderson was removed mid-way through 2010, despite him taking the Eels to a Grand Final in 2009 and Stephen Kearney
was removed last year following the Eels woeful form under him for 2 years.

I must say, as an Eels fan, I felt tremendously sorry for both these men.

I was a big fan of Daniel Anderson. In 2009, the ad lib style football Parramatta played was exciting. It had me salivating and wanting more each and every week. The run to the Grand Final was absolutely magic and Daniel Anderson utilised the attacking prowess we had in that team and we saw the results in 2009. However, 2010 was a disaster for the Eels and Daniel Anderson was removed mid-way through the season. I found this incredible at the time, particularly because we had made the Grand Final the year before.

The years under Stephen Kearney were also interesting. The Eels results in these 2 years were woeful. However, I often do a bit of a compare of the 2011 and 2012 seasons and while win/loss stats don't tell you too much, as a Parramatta fan I can say that the seasons were dramatically different.

In 2011, the way Parramatta lost most of its games was heartbreaking. We would lead until the 70th minute and then in the last 10 minutes of the game would find some soul shattering way to lose. While we lost repeatedly, the team showed a new sense of courage, determination and togetherness which I had not seen in many years. Despite the losses, I was pleased with the way the team was travelling. I then compare this to 2012 which was just a disaster and a completely different team. I saw none of the grit or determination of 2011 and Parramatta instead slumped to disappointing loss after disappointing loss. I struggled to understand this because we had largely the same squad.

How much of this was the coaches fault? Also, now that Parramatta have set a dangerous precedent for sacking unsuccessful coaches, how much time does Ricky Stuart get?

Another coaching situation which I found remarkable at the time was the switch by Des Hasler from the Manly Sea Eagles to the Canterbury Bulldogs from 2012 just five days before steering the club to a second premiereship.

The final point I would like to make is that while some coaches are blamed and used as scapegoats for the poor performances of their teams, there are other coaches who appear to be untouchable.

A good example of this is Wayne Bennett, whose position at the Knights has largely gone unquestioned despite their form. The Knights missed the finals last year and have been extremely inconsistent this year. All while Bennett remains one of the highest paid coaches in the competition.

So when is it time for a coach to START becoming accountable?   

Your thoughts, as always, are welcome.

Love,

@LadiesWhoLeague