Allegedly, there is chatter the Eels are looking for a head coach who will quasi-guarantee an assistant team and some quality recruits to "seal the deal".
If true, it's concerning. Yet, it would partially explain the protracted delays waiting for the sweetest sales pitch.
I suppose there is a bit of the Wayne Bennett Dream: wherever he goes, everyone wants to follow him like a moth to a flame.
The problem is: There's only one Bennett and we lost him. It didn't help we waited until 24 hours (on May 1) after Souths declared their intentions to get Bennett after sacking Jason Demetriou (April 30), sacking Arthur in secret. Bennett was the man we wanted from the get-go and McElduff admitted it (May 21). The Leicester Tigers, a 144-year-old English club in a far larger pool than the NRL of European Rugby Union took five days, after sacking their head coach to sign Mike Cheika.
When you know exactly what you want, it's amazing how quickly things happen.
If we're waiting on the sweetest sales pitch or sweetest deal, that's concerning. A horse-before-the-cart approach. Hopefully, not. I would have thought you'd choose the best head coach, first and foremost. The assistants and wannabe coach pool is a lot larger than the head coach pool. It's a bit of a skin-deep ideology. What happens if said assistants or the handful of players as part of the "seal the deal" leave or don't work out?
The next most successful and competent after Bennett was Brian McDermott. But, unless there is a last-minute U-Turn, it is highly unlikely he will be the next Eels' head coach. Assistant maybe. All that in itself is puzzling considering some of the issues facing the Eels who are currently in last place and a declining force since 2022.
But, if we took an "NRL Reputation First" Ideology it starts to make sense why they won't go for him, despite being the biggest winner. Bentley Bennett, the greatest NRL coach in history, was the first choice. His reputation precedes him. Then, there are the highly reputable, highly-touted Rookies. Everyone in the NRL world gushes over them as The Next Big Thing. A popular modern trend with the likes of Ciraldo, Payton, Benji, and Webster and something we've done before (Kearney, BA). Perhaps even the Title-winning, Origin-NZ-Big-Winning Madge is somewhat of an ideological fit. That despite an atrocious last six years when both his title-winning Souths teams and Tigers imploded and deteriorated every year. McDermott would be too left-field a shock. Many in the NRL world would struggle to know much about him. Thus, he is a riskier proposition. Then, we could always offer other excuses such as being a Pommie with an accent, even though he speaks with depth and poise fitting of a man with his deep life experiences. Or he won't offer the sweetest NRL deal on assistant coaches, perhaps?
Sure, this modern-day infatuation with assistants is an inevitable, essential, practical reality. If our sport gets bigger, it will only increase. If you're after the best assistant - one even arguably more successful lucky charm than Ryles or Hannay - Steve Price (above) is probably it. He assisted Bennett to the Saints' 2010 title. Assisted Flanagan to Sharks' 2016 title. Assisted Madge to the Kiwis 30-0 whitewash last year. Currently assisting Fitzy at the Sharks.
Unfortunately, Price's head coaching career in his early 30s suffered The Bennett Assistant Curse. He suffered a challenging 38% as Dragons head coach 2011-12 when Bennett left after the 2010 Title. It's comparable to Madge's torturous last six years (37% with Souths and Tigers), Hannay's two-year interim coaching tenure (37%) and Barrett's five years in Dante's Inferno (32%). It also might make one pause and think thrice over Dean Young, Bennett's next recommended head coach in waiting.
In any case, under covert operations and time there's wriggle room to explore anything - do U-Turns and 3-point-turns with pencil and erasers - without prying eyes. Clever. In any case, we're waiting for Hannay who admitted live on 2GB he would be giving his big-sales pitch presentation after Game Two. It should come soon after last night's Sharks' golden point 16-15 loss to the Dogs.
The thing is: Assistants do what head coaches sign off on. They assist. Support. Hands on. Head coaches are more like mini-CEO leaders who win championships or build champion structures. Assistants even have assistants these days too. It's head coaches who take responsibility when things go pear-shaped.
Last but not least, without the support and wise decision-making from the supreme leaders of a club, head coaches face troubled waters. That's why hopefully, we're not letting the cart come before the horse with the sweetest seal-the-deal package or allowing optical reputations to preside over proven competence and success. Hopefully, we're going for proven head coach winners and leaders like McDermott. In time, all will be revealed.
Replies
Hi Hoe, (I love opening with that), the wait is excrutiating. We consider the people in charge of deciding are not as experienced as they could be. If so, lets hope somebody tips them that "we" would be ecstatic if they were to take another look at Brian McDermott. Were they to settle on this guy boy wouldn't we be jubilant and the board would finally be considered expert by all at the club.
Thanks, Richard Jackson. You're a real gentleman, I've noticed. An asset to our community. The club are well aware of McDermott and the issues we face & agree with our key concerns. Our site has tried its best, short of campsite pitchforks & banners (which I'd consider if I still lived in Sydney) lol. Who knows, maybe we'll get a shock.
Thanks character assessment Hoe, it could be debatable but not by me. Hehe. You've planted a picture n my mind of our group frollicing around a bonfire adjacent to Pricey's Statue. Carrying Banners and dressed in our colours or ( KKK garb for the blow-ins) while armed with pitchforks loaded with Directors heads or marshmellows, according to preference as the sound of sirens in the distance grow louder.
Great blog HOE! Did you put Matt pett on the list?
Was mentioned last week.
Darren, thanks a lot, mate. That's Matt Peet, the English SL coach? Is he in the mix now, oh really? Interesting, if so. If only there were a Tinder-like app for head coaches. There are a few good SL coaches out there - Wane and McNamara among them. I'm still a McDermott man, though lol.
Too me, coaches like Peet i would be cautious over. I do not like the idea of English coaches coming to NRL after only being in the SL.
The Bennett Assistant Curse
And therein is the key. It's a known fact that Bennett pretty much lets the assistants do all the heavy lifting, and involves himself when needed. When the assistant is promoted to head coach, not much changes in terms of training, strength and conditioning etc. But the man management of Bennett is gone and the teams quickly unravel. We saw that at Souths with JD not being able to manage some of the bigger personalities at the club in Latrell and Cody effectively. Keeping them happy and under control, whilst not pissing off the rest of the team. We've already seen Bennett pulling the strings for Souths remotely, and look how they've turned around. Is he involved in the day to day training? No. But I'm sure he's has some conversations with some of the players. Latrell is probably one case right there.
I really hope the club recognises this. You can impress with glossy Powerpoint presentations during the interview process. But if the successful candidate is lacking those disciplinary and man management attributes, we are looking forward to another failed experiment.
Respect comes with runs on the board and the only real choice we had was Bennett which should have been lined up and sealed in 2023. We have a front office that do not know anything about elite sports team management or how the NRL version of it is so different to other sports professions. Ultimately they do not know what they dont know so how can they have any expertise in recruitment. WE have poor decision makers in system development and recruitment (Mark O'Neil) and the BA Moneyball approach with a bias to a local area team (Rhinos) was always going to be hit and miss and is. Is any Rouse Hill Rhino NRL quality I would say no.
I have been following the site closely and I agree the only person we should be targeting is Brian Mcdermott. I just dont see a rookie copping with Parramatta as we stand. The Dogs have Gould and that is why Ciraldo is working for them ....we have no one of that calibre anywhere near the club. We let the best go ....whether it was because BA felt threatened or another reason .....I can't say an assitant we have had that has gone on to do ANYTHING in the NRL.
We need a defensive coach who can get us to keep teams under 16 points
until we do that we will continue to be losers