Eels Blogs

From an article in Foxsport, as discussed on the NRL 360 panel.

Foxsport believe the Eels have narrowed the canditated to a six-man shortlist: Michael Maguire, Jason Ryles, Josh Hannay, Trent Barrett, Michael Cheika, and the "sixth man", Brian McDermott.

Foxsport believe, at this stage, Ryles and Hannay are the front runners for the position, with Barrett at an advantage given he has the opportunity to turn the club’s 2024 fortunes around as interim coach.

The Daily Telegraph’s Brent Read reports that the Eels will begin interviews as early as this week to find the man to lead the club from 2025 after Parramatta sacked Brad Arthur a fortnight ago.

Speaking on NRL360, Read revealed there is another shock candidate who is in the running for the Eels gig.

“And the last one, there’s a sixth name. We believe it’s Brian McDermott, the assistant coach at Newcastle. We haven’t quite confirmed it but it’s a name that has been bandied about,” Read said.

“I had a text while we’re on air as I asked someone in the know about Brian McDermott and I’m told he’s keen. Parra are aware he’s keen. They like him, they’ve heard glowing reports about him,” journalist Phil Rothfield added.

Read noted that McDermott coached Eels General Manager of Football Mark O’Neill in the Super League.

“He’s an assistant at Newcastle, he’s coached in England for a long time, he coached Mark O’Neill in England when Mark was still playing. You talk to people at Newcastle and they’ve got a very, very high opinion of him,” Read said.

NRL great Gorden Tallis then queried the reports of Cheika being in the running for the job, which led to a debate between the panel over Cheika’s credentials in rugby league.

Cheika is more known for his deeds in rugby union, having coached the Wallabies from 2014-2019 but has worked at the Roosters as an assistant and coached Lebanon in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.

Tallis: Are Parramatta going to play rugby union?

Read: Cheika has coached rugby league Gordie. He’s been an assistant and a coach for Lebanon.

Tallis: What, for six games? C’mon, let’s be serious.

Rothfield: He worked for Trent Robinson for a year.

Read: Gordie, they’re not saying he’s got the job they’re just saying they’ve offered him the chance to interview and I applaud them for it. I mean, Michael Cheika has a great reputation in rugby. He’s coached some rugby league. He’s an extremely smart man.

Tallis: He’s coached less than ten games.

Rothfield: Have you had a one-on-one conversation with him?

Tallis: Yes, I’ve met him. Hey, I’m not judging his character but he’s a rugby union coach. Surely we’ve got enough rugby league coaches.

Rothfield: “You know the easy thing for Paramatta to do would be to go Trent Barrett or go Madge. Ready wrote a good column the other day about the risk aversion in rugby league. No one will take a risk.

Tallis: We’ve had the Walker boys throw their hands up a few times. We have a lot of guys in rugby league

Anasta: Cheika is a very impressive human being... There’s a huge question mark. I don’t know if he can go from rugby to rugby league and what that will look like or feel like but he’s an option.

Talk then turned to who the front runners for the job are, with Read saying Ryles and Hannay are the top two contenders at this stage.

Ryles reportedly has his nose in front of Hannay, and Read, Rothfield and NRL360 host Braith Anasta all believe he’s due a chance to coach his own side.

“The whisper is that Ryles is the favourite for the job. He’s served a great apprenticeship, obviously being at Melbourne, he’s worked alongside Eddie Jones, he’s been at the Roosters. He’s been at all the big clubs,” Read said.

“I like the way he was patient. He had the St. George job, all he had to do was sign the contract but he knocked it back because he wasn’t sure he was ready to do the rebuild that Shane Flanagan is doing quite well now. So I like that,” Rothfield added.

“If he thinks he’s ready for Parra, I’d nearly back him.”

Anasta drew comparisons with Ryles to Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon, who was a first time head coach in the NRL when he joined Cronulla in 2021.

“Rylesey reminds me of Fitzy (Craig Fitzgibbon) a lot and I played with and against both of them and I think Rylesey is very similar to Fitzy and I think he’ll do a good job,” Anasta said.

Quick Snapshots

There is no clear-cut undisputed slam dunk. 

It should noted no-one knows for sure what the Eels' board is thinking or up to. It's largely a "closed shop" to a large degree. Cast your mind back to the mysterious leaks on May 2nd about the Eels "passing on Bennett" and "backing Arthur" that sent fans into a meltdown. Actually, the opposite was true. It was the day the Eels were actively starting talking and meeting Bennett in secret and had already decided to sack Arthur a day earlier, two days after Souths sacked JD. Once bitten, twice shy.

The Rookies - Ryles, Hanny, Cheika

All three rookie rugby league or NRL head coaches - Ryles, Hannay, and the "impressive human being" Cheika - have limited head coaching experience which would be a huge punt for the Eels; an ageing and relatively slow roster in an ever-increasing.

On Cheika's side is likely to be Mitchell Moses who might give Cheika a huge endorsement ( Lebanon ).

Jason Ryles has an extensive assistant coaching career but has head coached one NRL game (Roosters 2022, a win) and no super league games.

He's here with attacking assistant Justin Holbrook, apparantley not on the short-list, who has been doing wonders with the Roosters attack ion 2024 (like he did with the Titans) helping to transform them from third-last last year to the best this year (19.7pg versus 29.9pg).

Jason Ryles is adored by the media and even caught the attention of the Royals whilst dabbling as an assistant in English RU. Perhaps, too much? He appears to be one of the game's nice guys. Why are they gushing so much?

Even Eddie Jones, then England coach, believes Jason Ryles is ready to head coach in the NRL. 

Like Ryles, Josh Hannay (middle above) is also an experienced and respected assistant across clubs such as the Cowboys, Sharks and QLD Origin head coach, Billy Slater.

But unlike Ryles, he has had more head coaching work experience as an interim head coach.

He has a 37% win rate over 30 games or so over two years or so (Cronulla and Cowboys).

That's not much better than Trent Barrett's 32%.

And the teams he took over as interim (Cowboys 2020 and Cronulla 2021) regressed under him to third-last and never reached the ladder ranking heights of the sacked coaches in both those years (Morris and Green).

Michael Maguire

Madge Maguire is a hyper-intense, hard-nosed coach, who will almost go to any lengths to win. 

Highlights

The most experienced NRL head coach from all available left over candidates, with 10 years under his belt.

Won 2014 NRL Title with Souths, broke their 43-year drought

Won 2010 and 2011 Challenge Cups with Wigan

Won 2023 Pacific Championships final with an astonishing 30-0 win over Australia as NZ head coach

Head Coaching Career

48.9% - overall NRL career (four good years 2012-15, six bad ones 2016-22)

76% - Wigan head coach 2-years (2010-11, W53/70)

67% - NZ head coach over 5-years (2018-23) 67% (W12/18)

Current NSW Origin head coach

Finals records

56% - NRL (5/9) over four years (better than Arthur’s 33%, 4/12)

57% - Super League finals record at 57% (4/7)

Lowlights

Had good first four years as an NRL head coach (Souths 2012-15) at 64%  but a poor last six years at 37% (2016-22, Souths and Tigers)

No finals since 2015, in almost ten years

Both NRL tenures have seen dramatic dips after an initial high

Atrocious 36% three-years at the Tigers (2019- R12,22 sacking)

Sacked by Souths and Tigers

Sacked by NZ (arguably unfairly)

Allegations of f-bomb torchair throwing and baseball bats smashing tables, violent baseball bats molesting furniture to shock the team (worked for one game)

Madge coached New Zealand to humiliate Australia 30-0 in the Pacific Championships final in Hamilton. It was also made sweeter by bouncing back from the previous week’s  36-18 loss against Australia in Melbourne. He also employed the assistant Steve Price, a luck charm with many coaches, who also was there for some NRL title wins such as the 2010 Dragons with Bennett and currently with Fitzy at the Sharks making a difference.

In his six years at Souths he had his only four good years in head coaching. For the next six years he has failed to make the finals.

Madge's record at Souths (2012-17)

Most of his 2014 grand final winning squad (13/17) were not recruited by him. The likes of Greg Inglis, Sam Burgess, George Burgess, John Sutton, Chris McQueen Dave Tyrrell, Jason Clark, were already playing at Souths before McGuire’s arrival.

Still, credit must be given to Madge for debuting and developing their talented juniors such as Luke Keary, Dylan Walker,  Apisai Koroisau, Adam Reynolds, Alex Johnson, and Cameron McInnes. Souths were also fortuitous to lose Sandow before Maguire arrived.

Madge brought in four handy players to the 2014 grand final squad. Lote Tuquiri (2014, from the Tigers), Thomas Burgess (2013 from Bradford), Kirisome Auva'a (2014) and Ben Te’o (2013 who left right after 2014).

Also, credit must be given to Madge for getting Souths into the finals for the first time since 2007. He improved on John Lang’s (55.5% over 15 years) poor tenure before him.

So, perhaps there is an argument the title was both good coaching and good timing with the talent Souths had that he helped develop and nurture?

Madge's record at the Tigers (2019-22)

And that was proven by the disaster of a basket case that is the Tigers - 36% over almost four years.

The Tigers went from potential finalists to bad to worse to putrid - no matter what Madge tried.

Unlike his tenure at Souths, there weren’t many juniors who debuted - Tommy Talau, Zac Cini (who left for the Eels after 4 games for the Tigers in 2021). Tukimihia Simpkins (a middle who played 5 games off the bench in 2021, then disappeared into the reserves world and now is with Norths.

He did try his best to recruit talent. Stefano Utoikamanu (from 2021 - now) from the Eels. Doueihi (2020-now, returned from Souths after Latrell signed). Shawn Blore (2020-23) from the Panthers system. Joey 'BJ' Leilua (from the Raiders), Ryan Matterson (2019- for a year). Thomas, Mikaele (2019-22) now with the Cowboys. Ken Maumalo (2021-23 from the Warriors). Most left the club quickly.

Nothing worked long-term.

Allegedly, there are stories of Madge’s f-bomb littered chair-throwing and baseball bats on a hapless table.

Apparantly, it fired up and shocked a few - including Maumalo and veteran captain Tamou - and helped spark a few upset wins (including the R7, 2022 upset one-point win over the Rabbits at Commbank).

Interestingly, before Madge arrived Ivan Cleary was able to achieve a 9th ladder rank (before he wisely resigned) and a 6th ranked defence in 2018 despite their best players gone (Tedesco was playing for the Roosters in 2018 and Moses was playing for the Eels).

That’s the equal best defensive ranking in the Tiger's NRL history (equal with their fourth-ranked 2011 team 5th attack, 6th in defence). At the time, most would have passed Cleary off an a middle-of-the-road coach. Perhaps not.  

Despite Madge being known as a hard-nosed defensive coach he never got close to that.

Contrary to Cleary, Madge had more success in the Tigers' attack than defence.

Some claim he is the most similar to Arthur, in being an old-school middle-centric disciplinarian. 

In both cases, at Souths and Tigers, his intense approach brought about results initially, but wilted away.

Does his intense style work against him after the initial honeymoon period?

Post 2015: Record Not Much Better than Barrett; Worse than Hannay

Madge last six years after 2015 (last time in finals) at Souths (good teams) &Tigers (basketcase) is concerning. In comparison, it's not much better than Barrett's record and arguably worse than Hannay's:

• Madge 37% over last and latest 6yrs (defence 10th-15th)
• Barrett 32% over 5 yrs (defence 11th-16th)
• Hannay 37% over 2 yrs (defence 8th-10th)

Madge is endorsed by many players such as Adam Reynolds who called him a "club builder". Tim Mannah also described him as having similar qualities - being able to unite a club.

Could Madge one day be a Footy GM or CEO as a club builder of culture once he sows all his coaching seeds?

Brian McDermott

Brian McDermott is the successful Super League coach in their history winning four Super League titles, two Challenge Cups, a League Leaders’ Shield and a World Club Challenge with Leeds.

He is a former British Royal Marine who served in the Gulf War among other combat regions. This helped shape an unshakable confidence and fearlessness, as a force of nature, that confronts challenges head on.

Then, he had a short career as a pro-boxer knockout specialist, for a short time, before embarking on a successful 248-game rugby league premiership-winning career with Bradford (includes being coached by Brian Smith) which saw him win a handful of test caps with Great Britain and England. 

Highlights

15 year head coaching career

Won Four Super League Titles - 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 with Leeds

Won Two Challenge Cup Titles (2014,15 Leeds)

What's impressive about some of his title wins with the strong Leeds club is generally were not the best team during the season but he managed to lift them come finals time.

Head Coaching Career

58% - overall Super-League over 15 years

Finals Records

81% - finals record Super League finals (13/16)

100% - grand final conversion (won 4/4 grand finals Leeds were in)

Lowlights 

40% USA head coach (W2/5, 2015, 2017)

37% - His first four years in head coaching with the basketcase Harlequins (2007-10). Goes to show what happens when you start at a weak club in your first rodeo.

Sacked by Leeds after a winless start to 2017. Since he left they have never won a title and lost their only grand final appearance.

 McDermott found his groove at Leeds winning six titles: Four Super League titles and Two Challenge Cups.

McDermott had a short spell with the ill-fated Toronto Wolfpacks (2018-19) winning 28 from 29 games (97%) in 2018. Here he is with Sonny Bill Williams.

Although, as a marine you'd expect a Macguire baseball bat crazed intensity, there is far more to McDermott. More layers. As he expressed in his Coaching the Coaches series, he firmly believes that players are demotivated by boring monotonous drills (though it works for a rare few in Bennett) which seemed to be an often highlight under Arthur's reign. Hebelieves in the power of playing games - what teachers call "gamifying". At the end of the day, it seems to be working.

McDermott doesn't like to talk much about this combat days in the marines that shaped who is he and gives him almost unshakable confidence to survive anything. He admits he used to be an "arrogant prick" that learned the hard way and had a few run ins with Tony Smith. He also learned about the grand canyon-sized difference between being an assistant and a head coach. That's more akin to back-seat driving. A lesson there for the rookies. McDermott explains the transition to KnightsHQ Podcast. 

I was at Leeds Rhinos as an assistant coach (under Tony Smith, Brian Smith's brother) first and then I became head coach at London Broncos for four-and-a-half to five years and cut my teeth as a head coach down there.

I probably made every error known to man but it goes under the radar because they’re outside the hub of where all the press and media is.

You get to find out what coaching is about though.

Everyone has an idea as an assistant of how you should play, pick a team and manage press and all that stuff but you become a head coach and I describe it as putting on different glasses.

It just gives you a clarity of what you’re seeing, more so than an assistant. When you put these glasses on and all eyes are on you, it just gives you a real poignant focus on how you pick a team or when you’re addressing your players.

When I did that at London it was a shock to me in regards to how much it mattered what you said.

What I wanted to say is very different to what the players needed to hear.

Brian McDermott

 

 

Hungry for more, McDermott wanted to get out of his comfort zone and into the NRL where he has been the defensive assistant to Adam O'Brien since last year.

It has resulted in some pleasing improvements to their defence, even missing their best player in Ponga for large stretches.

 The Knights defensive ranks 2023-R12, 2024 (Note after the R13 loss they have slipped to 6th).

The Knights defensive ranks 2023-R12, 2024 as a percentage of all teams (number of teams have varied in the NRL over time).

There is a fair argument that McDermott's arrival has seen the Knights record their best defensive performance in their NRL history, hitherto.

Considering how atrocious the Eels defence has been including being the second-worst this year, it could be what the club needs.

A quick comparison of most recent NRL head coaching records, since 2016, shows McDermott demonstrates the most evidence of defence and resilience to add to his record number of SL titles and 100% grand final conversion rate in Super League:

• Hannay at 37% over two years (Cowboys and Cronulla) with a defence of 8th-10th (mid-range)
• Maguire at 37% over last 6-years (Souths 2016-17 & Tigers 2019-22) with a defence of 10th-15th (second-worst defence)
• Barrett at 32% over 5 years in total with a defence of 11th-16th (worst)
• Ryles & Cheika are unknowns
• In terms of the latest evidence since 2016, Hannay works out better than Madge and Barrett, defensively, and also ranks up the ladder.

The biggest issue with McDermott will be his accent and needing hard-core NRL assistants with all the differences between the English game and NRL.

However, as Malcom O’Reilly Mal Reilly, OBE, Hall of Famer, showed it’s possible winning the 1997 Title with the Knights of all places. Reilly had a 52.7% overall Super League record (worse than McDermott's). They're both Knights bonded. And Reilly looks a bit like McDermott too.