Rugby League

It is easy to feel sorry for the poor old racehorse. Years of fine service to their trainers and jockeys, countless wins, and yet one small trip or a hoof getting caught in the soft ground on a rainy day at York and a vet comes along, declares them lame, then it’s off to the great glue factory in the sky.

We tend though not to remember their demise. Instead, it is their record of wins and success which is held fondly in the hearts of all those who’ve won a bit on the back of their success. The same cannot be said of Superleague coaches.

In the past couple of seasons, three coaches who had given long service to their clubs and developed them from wannabes into possible contenders during their time in charge have been shown the door. In all three cases, Jon Sharpe at Huddersfield, Paul Cullen at Warrington, and Karl Harrison at Salford, their time was probably up at their clubs. Yet that period of difficulty at the end of tenures which otherwise saw genuine progress is all that seems to be remembered.

Things are different in Australia. There, if a coach struggles after a long spell and is replaced, he’ll usually find another club in pretty short time. It’s his career that is taken into account, not his last few games in charge. Its time that emphasis was placed as much on the fate of English coaches in Superleague as English players. One difference between Australia and England is that the Aussies don’t just write their guys off.

It is still far from the beginning of the season, but some fans are already placing bets on the first Superleague coach to be shown the door next season. One bookmaker, Totesport, has the six English coaches in its top seven favourites to get the chop. Under our current system, this would be disastrous for most of these (perhaps apart from Brian Noble and John Kear, who has proven he is a survivor and the exception to this otherwise grim rule about the fate of English coaches). Like an old nag, their careers in the sport would be over. What future is there for an English ex-Superleague coach? maybe a regular stint on Skysports? an advisory role at another club?- or worse, a defection to the dark-side as a defensive coach?

With the new license model, clubs shouldn’t get into the sort of panic we have seen with promotion and relegation in the past. A short run of poor form shouldn’t be the deciding factor in a coach's fate. After all, if Manchester United had taken that view a few years back, then Alex Ferguson wouldn’t own quite the number of racehorses he does today.