Coach wanted: Must have proven record
Matthew Elliott is something of a laughing stock in these parts; just another failed New Zealand Warriors coach who came, underwhelmed and then couldn’t get another job thereafter.
At least that’s the myth that’s morphed into fact as time’s gone on. In reality, Elliott was about the most astute coaching signing the club ever made. The Australian came to the club with a sizeable body of work and a career NRL winning percentage in the 40s. His record at the Warriors – 13 wins from 29 games – was consistent with that and yet he was sent packing just five rounds into his second season.
It’s hard to see how someone’s position becomes untenable when they simply perform as well as they’ve always done. Players lose games, but players aren’t to blame for the lamentable record and reputation the Warriors have fashioned over the years.
It’s coaching that’s almost always let the club down and for that it’s administrators who have been responsible.
Just run through the names: John Monie, Frank Endacott, Mark Graham, Daniel Anderson, Tony Kemp, Ivan Cleary, Brian Mcclennan, Elliott, Tony Iro, Andrew Mcfadden and now Stephen Kearney.
A few, such as Monie, Mcclennan and Elliott, at least had useful a track record as head coaches. For others, the Warriors were their first – and last – go at it.
The club have developed and recruited talented players since their 1995 inception and six seasons of playoffs and no titles is scant reward for that.
We’ll never know if proven coaching performers such as Wayne Bennett, Craig Bellamy, Warren Ryan, Brian Smith, Tim Sheens, Des Hasler, Chris Anderson, Steve Folkes and Graham Murray might’ve made a difference during that span, because the club always ended up punting on cut-price alternatives.
They got lucky with Daniel Anderson, who came from nowhere to guide them to three consecutive playoff campaigns including a grand final. Cleary’s success (three years of playoffs, one grand final) was a similar fluke, really, after Anderson and Kemp were shown the door.
But at a club such as the Warriors, where an absence of culture, work ethic and tenacity are continual issues, appointing novices isn’t likely to build anything lasting. You need a man with established playing and training standards and a method of winning football matches.
It doesn’t matter that Kearney has worked for Bennett and Bellamy. It’s them who’ve won the games and built the frameworks for success; it’s them who know what they’re talking about and who inspire absolute confidence in their charges.
A record of achievement lends weight to words and the Warriors – with the exception of Monie – have never hired a coach who’d won anything in the NRL.
Kearney hinted at a cleanout of playing personnel, following Saturday’s 26-10 loss to last-placed Newcastle. Not enough people tried, he said. It was certainly one way of shifting the blame for a fifth loss in succession.
In the end one starting player – Issac Luke – was demoted to the bench. Big deal.
Kearney won 10 games in 41 starts as Parramatta coach and is now 7-20 at the Warriors.
The club have needed a proper, proven, impressive coach from day one and still need one now.