http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,10784246%5E10389,00.html
Murray, the everywhere man, finds home
Mike Colman, columnist
17sep04
I'VE been everywhere man, I've been everywhere man, I've crossed the desert bare man, I've breathed the mountain air man, Of travel I've had my share man, I've been everywhere . . .
Anyone old enough to remember Graham Murray making his debut at halfback for Parramatta can probably remember Lucky Starr singing those words on Bandstand.
North Queensland Cowboys fans should be singing them too. Since Murray arrived in Townsville three years ago he has proved to be the Cowboys' lucky star but it took him a long and winding road to get there.
No one should be too surprised that Murray has proved a success with the Cowboys. He has had success with every team he has coached.
Where he hasn't been quite as successful is in playing the political game at which some of his counterparts excel.
How else can you explain a bloke who has now taken two sides to their first-ever finals appearance, won a Challenge Cup in Britain and got the Roosters to their first grand final in 22 years ending up at more clubs than Ernie Sigley?
Ask the majority of the players Murray has coached over the years and they will tell you he's a great bloke and even better coach.
Ask some of the people who have shown him the door over the same period and you'll get a different answer.
Why? Because he's a players' coach. A person who treats others the way he expects to be treated.
And if that means backing his players and his instincts over political expediency, so be it. To his cost.
Take 1995, for instance. Murray ended up the only coach who lost his job because of Super League.
How? By not hiding in the shadows. By inviting John Ribot to talk to his Illawarra players and then going to his employers to tell them what was happening.
When the axe came it wasn't anyone from the club who told him, it was a reporter.
Murray faced the board and thanked them for giving him the chance to coach. They didn't thank him for taking the club to within a match of the grand final. He also invited them downstairs for a drink. He waited, but no one showed up.
His next job was as coach of the Hunter Mariners. He was telling a lunchtime audience how great the season was going to be when he looked up the back of the room and John Ribot was shaking his head. The court had just bundled them into touch.
He took the only job going coaching Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.
When Super League finally kicked off Murray had the toughest job, coaching the Mariners in the town where the Knights were gods and the people were judge and jury.
How did he go? About as well as he did when voted coach of the year in 1996. The Mariners beat every team above them on the ladder and faced up to Brisbane in the final of the World Club Challenge.
A few months later peace broke out and the Mariners ran aground again.
Given the chance of heading back to Tennant Creek or coaching in England, Murray headed for Leeds. He took it to the final of the Super League competition and won the Challenge Cup at Wembley.
He was back on top and received the call he'd dreamed about, an offer to coach North Sydney in the NRL.
The official press release spoke of a "merger" between Norths and Manly. In fact it was a takeover, and despite his impeccable credentials Murray got short shrift as Manly appointed its man, Peter Sharp, as coach. He didn't even get to meet the players.
It was then on to the Roosters who had made more promises than Mark Latham over the years and delivered precisely zero.
Phil Gould's tenure had ended with a distinct lack of silverware and Murray was handed the keys to the transit lounge.
Within a season he had taken them to the grand final and within another he was out and Gould and Ricky Stuart were in.
It's the sort of job history which makes you rich in payouts but has you wondering if you broke a mirror, walked under a ladder and ran over a black cat, all on the same day.
So when the Cowboys offered Murray a lifeline three years ago you could say he grabbed it like a drowning man.
You could also say the club and the coach were made for each other. Laid-back battlers with no shortage of talent but, for one reason or another, an unfulfilled past.
Until now. Looking at his face at fulltime last weekend, listening to his voice on radio, it is obvious that the travelling man has settled down.
Nine years on, Graham Murray has finally come home.
Murray, the everywhere man, finds home
Mike Colman, columnist
17sep04
I'VE been everywhere man, I've been everywhere man, I've crossed the desert bare man, I've breathed the mountain air man, Of travel I've had my share man, I've been everywhere . . .
Anyone old enough to remember Graham Murray making his debut at halfback for Parramatta can probably remember Lucky Starr singing those words on Bandstand.
North Queensland Cowboys fans should be singing them too. Since Murray arrived in Townsville three years ago he has proved to be the Cowboys' lucky star but it took him a long and winding road to get there.
No one should be too surprised that Murray has proved a success with the Cowboys. He has had success with every team he has coached.
Where he hasn't been quite as successful is in playing the political game at which some of his counterparts excel.
How else can you explain a bloke who has now taken two sides to their first-ever finals appearance, won a Challenge Cup in Britain and got the Roosters to their first grand final in 22 years ending up at more clubs than Ernie Sigley?
Ask the majority of the players Murray has coached over the years and they will tell you he's a great bloke and even better coach.
Ask some of the people who have shown him the door over the same period and you'll get a different answer.
Why? Because he's a players' coach. A person who treats others the way he expects to be treated.
And if that means backing his players and his instincts over political expediency, so be it. To his cost.
Take 1995, for instance. Murray ended up the only coach who lost his job because of Super League.
How? By not hiding in the shadows. By inviting John Ribot to talk to his Illawarra players and then going to his employers to tell them what was happening.
When the axe came it wasn't anyone from the club who told him, it was a reporter.
Murray faced the board and thanked them for giving him the chance to coach. They didn't thank him for taking the club to within a match of the grand final. He also invited them downstairs for a drink. He waited, but no one showed up.
His next job was as coach of the Hunter Mariners. He was telling a lunchtime audience how great the season was going to be when he looked up the back of the room and John Ribot was shaking his head. The court had just bundled them into touch.
He took the only job going coaching Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.
When Super League finally kicked off Murray had the toughest job, coaching the Mariners in the town where the Knights were gods and the people were judge and jury.
How did he go? About as well as he did when voted coach of the year in 1996. The Mariners beat every team above them on the ladder and faced up to Brisbane in the final of the World Club Challenge.
A few months later peace broke out and the Mariners ran aground again.
Given the chance of heading back to Tennant Creek or coaching in England, Murray headed for Leeds. He took it to the final of the Super League competition and won the Challenge Cup at Wembley.
He was back on top and received the call he'd dreamed about, an offer to coach North Sydney in the NRL.
The official press release spoke of a "merger" between Norths and Manly. In fact it was a takeover, and despite his impeccable credentials Murray got short shrift as Manly appointed its man, Peter Sharp, as coach. He didn't even get to meet the players.
It was then on to the Roosters who had made more promises than Mark Latham over the years and delivered precisely zero.
Phil Gould's tenure had ended with a distinct lack of silverware and Murray was handed the keys to the transit lounge.
Within a season he had taken them to the grand final and within another he was out and Gould and Ricky Stuart were in.
It's the sort of job history which makes you rich in payouts but has you wondering if you broke a mirror, walked under a ladder and ran over a black cat, all on the same day.
So when the Cowboys offered Murray a lifeline three years ago you could say he grabbed it like a drowning man.
You could also say the club and the coach were made for each other. Laid-back battlers with no shortage of talent but, for one reason or another, an unfulfilled past.
Until now. Looking at his face at fulltime last weekend, listening to his voice on radio, it is obvious that the travelling man has settled down.
Nine years on, Graham Murray has finally come home.
8) 
