I've answered this question already. But here you go again.
Who I think our next NRL coach should be.
What I would do if and when BA fails to win us a Premiership at the end of this season is go and try and convince Tim Sheens to be our next coach for two seasons. Hand him the keys to this Ferrari and tell him we are all in with whatever he needs. But I would also ask him if he would take Cameron Ciraldo as his understudy just like Wayne Bennett had Jason Demetriou at Souths.
I think that Ciraldo would go for it knowing that he would be guaranteed the NRL job at the end of it and the opportunity to be mentored by someone else that is also a great premiership coach that knows more about the game then almost anyone else at present and that it would round off his coaching apprenticeship just perfectly before he stepped into the big shoes.
Then also after the two seasons that Sheens has been coach I would tell Sheens that we have a Director of Junior Football job waiting for him that he can step right into. He is brilliant at setting up a club at all the lower levels and junior development and identification, but without all the fan fair and nonsense that Gus offers with it. I would offer him a 3 year contract with a 2 year club option. Also he and Mark O'Neill are old mates and I believe would probably work well together. I think that if we did it right we would have a good chance to get both and have a very strong coaching brains trust that could take us to the next level.
Also I think we should recommend to both Sheens and Ciraldo that if they like and agreed we take Trent Barrett on board when the Bulldogs spear him as our Attack coach, then we would have the 2 guys that helped Penrith get to play the way they do now. That would be a pretty formidable 3 pronged coaching team wouldn't it? Also if we kept consultants like Michael Ennis and brought others of similar quality on, we would be surrounding the squad with more knowledge and success then this club has had in its coaching ranks for quite a while.
If we couldn't convince Sheens to leave the Tigers(it would be very disappointing if we we couldn't) then I would offer Ciraldo the head coaching job straight away and and ask him if he wants Barrett when he is available. But for our current team I feel Sheens would give us a slightly better chance of nailing a premiership due to his formidable knowledge and experience. Not saying Ciraldo couldn't get us there though, just that Sheens has that experience and won't make any rookie mistakes that no matter how good a young coach is will invariably they make because of that lack of NRL experience. It takes a few seasons for all coaches to get it bedded down more or less.
Anyway that is what I would do and I think if anything like that were to happen we would be in brilliant hands for the next 5-10 years and be a very attractive club to come to. However this is all pie in the sky stuff and I can't see our club having this kind of forward thinking. I think they will ride out BA's contract and then react and hope there is someone of quality to appoint, but by then I think Ciraldo will be at the Dogs and they wouldn't dream of Sheens being part of this club, even though in my opinion he is probably the best coach that isn't coaching at present, with more experience then almost anyone in the game and knows how to win premierships and a great judge of footballers.
He is a man manager and knows what footballers want and need to get them playing to the best of their abilities. All he needs is the cattle and boy do we have the cattle for him right now. They just need someone of his quality and experience to get them to the finished product before it is to late.
