Great clubs know what works. The rest keep tearing down the walls
Clicks have mugged journalism
The media has surrendered its purpose. It once pursued what was in the public interest; now it pumps out whatever interests the public, with truth and due diligence too often flattened beneath the chase for clicks.
I’m grizzled and naturally biased, but the shift is undeniable. We were told that putting “crisis” or “scandal” in a headline would send traffic mad, even when readers clicked, realised the story was rubbish and disappeared after the first paragraph. The visit still counted. The tail began wagging the dog.
Social media then blew apart the old counterbalance. Mainstream publishers can be sued for defamation, which forces discipline, but anonymous commenters spray factual rubbish knowing the victim must hire a lawyer, identify them, drag them into court and then hope they have enough money to cover the damage. Most could not buy a ham sandwich.
Freedom of speech never meant freedom from responsibility. The platforms have confused the two and created the Wild West.
Cleary belongs with the coaching giants
Ivan Cleary is a great coach.
The dynasty separates him. Phil Gould deserves considerable credit for establishing the pathways blueprint, yet Cleary oversaw the build that turned it into premierships, with Penrith producing most of their talent internally while losing plenty of players along the way.
That junior territory is an advantage, but it is not a magic pudding. Every club can attend the schoolboy carnivals, scout those players and offer them more money. Penrith still have to identify the right kids, complete the deals, bring them into the system and coach them properly.
Most importantly, the players genuinely love the place. Problems and punishments have been handled respectfully, which creates loyalty no salary-cap spreadsheet can manufacture.
Bennett survives because he sees the knife coming
Wayne Bennett is the master of coaching’s dark arts because he understands that tactics are only half the job. Power, politics, information and timing decide whether a coach survives long enough to use them.
At 76, with 1,000 games coming next year, Bennett has outlasted generations of coaches by constantly reinventing himself. When Brisbane became stale and the players had heard the same messages, he moved three assistants on, damaged friendships and refreshed the operation. Harsh. Necessary. The relationships were later repaired.
His public contempt for the media is also misunderstood by imitators who think mumbling through press conferences makes them Bennett. It doesn’t. He communicates with the media more than any coach, stays across everything and therefore cannot be ambushed.
His decision to take on Wally Lewis proved it early. Brisbane backed Bennett and Lewis was gone by 1990, but I reckon Bennett moved only after securing support and knowing the battle was won. That caused enormous backlash. It also showed how far ahead he was.
Long contracts guarantee nothing
Coaching longevity is not created by contracts. It is earned through reinvention, judgement and knowing when your message has expired.
Jack Gibson coached Parramatta for three seasons and won three premierships, then walked away while Brett Kenny and Peter Sterling were still approaching their peak. Gibson believed a coach could effectively command one club for only about three years, and his blazer story explained why: after the first title Parramatta gave the team blazers, after the second it added another pocket, and after the third it offered to have them dry-cleaned. Success had become routine.
Warren Ryan, possibly the greatest coach ever, rarely stayed beyond about four years, yet his ideas endured. His Western Suburbs sides repeatedly outthought Bennett’s stronger Brisbane teams until Bennett learned Ryan’s split-defence system through a pool-table demonstration and adapted it.
That is coaching. Learn or perish. Michael Maguire has next year remaining and his club is conducting a review, which is dangerous because its previous review ended with a coach being sacked. Paper security is still only paper.
Bellamy built Melbourne’s fortune
Craig Bellamy deserves a share of Melbourne’s sale because the club’s enormous valuation was built on his 25 years of sustained success.
News reports say a Swedish hedge fund paid $80 million for a majority share, with the club supposedly valued at $150 million. Without Bellamy, Melbourne would not be worth that, and you could argue it would be worth half as much. His success has survived generations of players, changing tactics and relentless roster turnover.
The new owners are buying the finished cathedral. Bellamy laid the bricks.
He has confirmed he will coach next year, extending a tenure nobody has previously matched at one club. The real examination begins after he leaves. Melbourne have a strong template and would be mad to appoint somebody who immediately starts changing it, but Bellamy carries magic dust that cannot simply be written into a succession plan.
Melbourne will miss the finals this year, their first miss under Bellamy apart from the 2010 salary-cap season. One bad year will not hurt the business. Three or four will. The timing of this sale is genius.
Gould must stop renovating Canterbury
Canterbury must confront the possibility that Phil Gould’s Penrith pattern is repeating itself: build the pathways, repair the roster, get the club humming and then keep renovating until the square pegs no longer fit the square holes.
Gould has done very good things. Canterbury were last when he arrived, led the competition last year and ultimately finished in the top four. He has contacts, intelligence and the ability to generate results beyond football, as he showed when Penrith was almost broke and he secured cash through a deal with James Packer.
But five years into Gould’s Canterbury tenure, with Cameron Ciraldo approaching the end of his fourth season, the halves and roster problems keep shifting. Lachlan Galvin does not fit at five-eighth in this team, yet Ciraldo is being asked to force it because that is the player delivered from above. It is not working.
Gould and Ciraldo are contracted through 2030, but that cannot silence scrutiny. I think Ciraldo is a very good coach; he proved it when the right players occupied the right positions. Canterbury should let him coach rather than continually handing him another architectural problem to solve.
