He is still hated by many in the Illawarra thanks to his actions as a quisling in the Super League War, secretly stealing players. I doubt he will be much mourned by Steelers fans, who still attribute a portion of the blame to him for helping kill their club at the top level.
Still, it is sad to hear of his death. Undeniably talented coach, and fans of other clubs he has been at praise him highly.
I wasn't aware of his role in the SL war whilst at Illawarra...
I do know he - along with pretty much everyone linked to the Mariners - were loathed in the Hunter region during his time as coach there (the Mariners were always viewed as the bastard child in the eyes of 90%+ Novacastrians. The Mariners popularity reminds me so much of what most people in Western Sydney currently think of the GWS AFL side) along with some former Knights ppl such as Michael Hagan, Mark Sargent and Robert Finch who also defected to the Mariners, but seems like all was forgiven in the area when Murray got a job at the Knights not so long ago (later on, Hagan became Knights coach and Sargent became a Knights director).
Nevertheless, Murray achieved a hell of a lot at a flailing Cowboys side who under his tenure finished agonisingly short of a GF appearance in their first finals campaign in 2004 before getting them to the GF the following year. Also, the Cowboys started getting Ch9 matches are after nearly a decade in oblivion. As a non-Cowboys fan, I will never forget that amazing upset vs Bulldogs in week 1 of the finals courtesy of a Matt Sing hat-trick (the match winning try, followed by the image of a happy Graham Murray walking down the tunnel as the cameras panned to him and the Cowboys supporters chanting his name, is one of the moments of the last decade I will never forget. So hard to believe that was nearly 9 years ago), and were extremely unlucky not to win the PF against the Roosters. Things may've turned out different that day had a few things gone their way. Man, I miss Sunday afternoon finals matches.
Sad his coaching career, like Chris Anderson's, died in a sea of red ink on a fateful Saturday night against Manly. I always thought he was very unlucky to get sacked after his 2nd year at the Roosters after getting them to the GF the year before. Heard a rumour at the time that he being able to do something Gussy boy wasn't able to - get the Roosters to a GF - didn't go down well.
All in all: one of the best coaches to never win an NRL premiership
