Read this one today; an excellent article in light of what has occurred at Penrith....
As the man said, who’d be a coach?
The moment the ink is dry on your contract signature, the countdown to your sacking begins. And being pretty good — even very good — at your job will not be enough to fend off unemployment.
An academic at Deakin University worked out a couple of years ago that only 17 per cent of AFL coaches and 19 per cent of NRL coaches manage to keep their jobs for four years or longer.
Anthony Griffin, relieved of his whistle and clipboard by Penrith Panthers yesterday, is certainly not among that 19 per cent in the NRL.
Griffin had his team sitting relatively comfortably in equal fourth place on the NRL ladder, just four points behind the first-placed South Sydney. Penrith had won their past two games, albeit in tight contests, and are virtually guaranteed to play finals. In fact, he has made the final every season since he arrived at Penrith in 2016 — as he did every year he was in charge at Brisbane.
Griffin’s overall winning percentage is 55.5 per cent and at the Panthers it is 58.3 per cent.
Top put that in perspective, supercoach Wayne Bennett has a career winning percentage of 62 per cent. His percentage at the Broncos is 63 per cent and in his three years at St George Illawarra, which included a premiership in 2010, it was 65 per cent.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy is on 68 per cent and Souths boss Anthony Seibold, in a remarkable first year in charge, is sitting on 75 per cent.
But elsewhere, Griffin’s record compares pretty well. Ivan Cleary, the man rumoured to be at the top of Phil Gould’s wish list to take over at the Panthers, has a winning percentage of 48 per cent. That figure is dragged up by the 50 per cent he had between 2006 and 2001 as Warriors coach. His win rate in his first stint at Penrith was 47 per cent and at the Tigers in the past year he has won just 42 per cent of games.
Trent Robinson at the high-flying Roosters has won 61 per cent. Over at the Dragons, who share fourth place on the ladder with Penrith, Paul McGregor is on 50 per cent.
But none of that is enough to convince the powerbrokers at Penrith that Griffin is not doing a bad job. Let alone that he might have a good deal better success rate if his team hadn’t been distracted by the constant speculation about the coach’s future.
Just as he was moved on from the Broncos to make way for Bennett’s return, it now appears he has been sacked by Penrith in order to make way for a coach with a worse record.
Gould has been muttering excuses about Griffin having lost the dressing room — but who said football coaching was a popularity contest?
You have to think that Griffin’s face just didn’t fit at Penrith and his coaching record was not even taken into account.
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Griffin could be watching from his couch as Penrith win the grand final two months after he was show the door. Who’d be a coach?
Replies
Shows just how normal we are when it comes to sacking coaches as ive said for a long time.
Also shows that BA is well over his used by date and as a club we are always reactive not pro-active.
Brad should be gone but theres nobody at our club with the courage or smarts to do it.
Another year wasted.
yes - i took this as interesting in terms of Griffin getting teams in good order i.e. like he did after Henjak got sent and then Bennett came back.....Cleary's record?
There are two types of coaches. Those that have been sacked and those who will be sacked.
Think it is about 46-7 % all up
Whats it this year mitchy?
i would say it is 25%! Just at work too.....
Thanks mate
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