With the appointment of Andrew Johns, the Eels now have a specialist spine coach whose only job is to improve that small group of players.
It's a system other NRL clubs have begun employing in the past two decades, but something that has not been widely implemented across the competition.
Each club has a variation of head coach, assistant coach, attack coach, defence coach and wrestling/tackling coach. Some clubs then opt for the occasional specialist, but this is often done on an adhoc basis.
I believe that over this next decade we will see a rise in specialist coaches, with NRL teams adopting halves coaches, outside backs coaches, second-row coaches and prop coaches.
This already occurs in the NFL with coaches for each specialist position.
It also occurs in the EPL with teams adopting a range of coaches. These types of appointments are integral to the improvement of a team overall and the players individually. It's also a way teams can separate themselves from the pack.
Liverpool FC, last season, employed a throw-in coach. Some pundits and supporters laughed at them. Liverpool held the best throw-in retention record in the league that season.
Professional sport is all about improving by small increments. You're not going to improve by a large percentage overnight.
Specialist coaches allow head coaches to focus on the overall performance of their team, without having to spend too much of their time personally overseeing improvement in specific positions.
It wouldn't surprise me to see outside back coaches become a regular feature. Your centres, wingers and fullbacks are now more integral to your game than they have been in history.
They provide both go forward at the start of sets and the ability to finish slick backline moves as well as being incredibly important in defending against set plays.
You take a player like Maika Sivo whose rugby league knowledge is limited and pair him with a former player like Luke Burt who was a fantastic reader of the game and you'd likely see an even greater improvement in Sivo's game.
Hopefully Parramatta aren't stopping at Johns when it comes to specialist coaches.
Replies
Yes, but the majority of Assistant type roles would be part time, Joey's role with our spine is only two days a week. Even now, the typical salary for a full time assistant is still only about 150k - 200k.
I foresee an NRL clubs typical coaching staff is going to look something like this ...
Head Coach
Associate Head Coach / Lead Assistant Coach
Associate Coach - Spine --- Assistant Coach - Halves
--- Assistant Coach - Hookers
--- Assistant Coach - Fullbacks
--- Specialist Coach - General Kicking
--- Specialist Coach - Set Pieces
Associate Coach - Middle Forwards
Associate Coach - Edges --- Assistant Coach - Edge Forwards
--- Assistant Coach - Centres
--- Assistant Coach - Wingers
Specialist Coach - Goal Kicking
Specialist Coach - Wrestling
Specialist Coach - Leadership
Specialist Coach - Strength & Conditioning
Specialist Coach - Mental Skills
Specialist Coach - Speed & Explosion
There's probably a few more that you could add as well.
17 coaches, Brett?
So, a coach per player?
As you say Super, ‘over the past two decades’.
Why did it take so bloody long to put on a specialist coach?
It’s great Joey is on board, I suggested J Thurston last season, but this is hardly ground breaking stuff and long overdue.
Someone posted several months ago that the Melbourne Storm coaching staff has 31 coaches. The vast majority are part time roles, but yes, that is the way pro sports is heading.
I remember back when Leigh Matthews was coach of the Brisbane Lions he wrote an article in the Courier-Mail about the subject, and he said that ideally you would have at least one coach per player on your roster. In those days AFL rosters had 40 players on them. Even still, they had about 15 coaches.
NFL coaching staffs are huge, so are NBA staffs, MLB, NHL etc, they all have massive coaching staffs.
And this is just the coaching staff, we're not even getting into the other parts of the football department like scouting, recruitment, data analysis, medical, psychotherapy, physio, team management, player development, video, etc.
Too many cooks is a term you're not familiar with
That only applies if everyone has their own agenda. It works, and the only way it works, is everyone understands that the Head Coach is the boss and everyone else is delivering his plan and his agenda. That is why Head Coaches always appoint their own assistants, not because they don't want supposedly "better" coaches on their staff, but because they want staff that will execute his plan the way he wants he it done.
Assistants have to buy into the Head Coaches plan every bit as much as the players do.
I've really got to start wearing my glasses I've had for 4 years but forget to wear.
Lately, I've clicked on some avatars to see what they actually are and let's just say that some couldn't be further from what I originally thought they were.
I thought Colin Hussey's was some space creature, turns out it's a grey cap! LOL
Holy shit, I noticed the same thing today about Colin’s hat!!! Hahahahahaha
LOL see...?
I love aspects of my old job, and one of them was working on Steam Locomotives as a fireman, the item is a black enginman's cap, that were part of our kit, stopped cinders and stuff getting in the hair, the originals of that type of cap had elastic at the rear to hold them on the head on fast trains, the one I have has the stupid plastic clips in the back rather than the strong elastic.
Some things of the past when they form part of your working life for near on 30 years are nice to have as momento's, so if the cap fits its ok.
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