Penrith's greatest ever coaches

[Buzzard Breath]

Lang on League: Penrith’s greatest ever coaches
By
Peter Lang
-
May 13, 2020, 9:51


With only two weeks to go before the 2020 rugby league season kicks off again, I thought it might be interesting to list my Top 5 Panthers coaches of all-time.

How did I rank these coaches? Let’s go through each selection with a short explanation.

1. Phil Gould (1990-94). Selecting Gus at number one is a no-brainer, he won Penrith its first premiership in 1991 and he also coached the team to a Grand Final appearance in 1990. It’s well documented that Gould’s following three seasons weren’t that successful but he did enough in those first two years to warrant top spot.

2. John Lang (2002-2006). Lang guided the Panthers to a second premiership in 2003 a year after the team finished 12th, that in itself is no mean feat. The following season he got the Panthers to within one game of another Grand Final appearance and although things fell away after that, he deserves the number two spot.

3. Tim Sheens (1984-87). The Dally M Coach of the Year in 1984, Sheens guided the Panthers to their first ever semi-final appearance in 1985. He promoted youngsters like Greg Alexander and Mark Geyer into first grade while Royce Simmons flourished under his coaching. He also bought a professionalism to the football club never before seen.

4. Anthony Griffin (2016-18). Love him or hate him, Anthony Griffin came in and the side made the Finals three years in a row under his guidance. Hook was perhaps a little more hard-nosed and old school than past coaches but he got results. We’ll never know how far he could have taken the team in 2018 as he was sacked just a few weeks out from the Finals in controversial circumstances.

5. Ron Willey (1988-89). While Willey’s stint with Penrith was short, it was certainly memorable. He bought a toughness to the team and a steely resolve which resulted in a Finals appearance in 1988 despite the side losing many of its star players at the wrong time of the season.

Honourable mentions:

Ivan Cleary (2012-2015, 2019-). Cleary has already guided the Panthers to within one game of a Grand Final in 2014 and with a plethora of exciting young talent coming through, he has the potential to one day top the list of coaches listed above him.

Royce Simmons (1994-2001). Under difficult circumstances, which included taking over from Gus late in 1994 and the Super League War, Roycie was still able to guide the team to a semi-final appearance in 1997 (Super League competition) and later in a unified competition in 2000. Still our longest serving coach.

https://westernweekender.com.au/2020/05/lang-on-league-penriths-greatest-ever-coaches/

 

[CCJohnC]

Well said cannot fault selections.

 

[The yak]

Who is Peter Lang?

 

[Fangs]

@martielang how did Hook not score the number one spot? Near unprecedented success for our club during his time at the Panthers.

 

[Whino]

Who is Peter Lang?

Western Weekender journalist. Been around awhile.

 

[Whino]

Hard to argue really. We have had a lot of rubbish over the years. Matthew Elliott for one.
In my time following the club, he would be the worst Panthers coach.

 

[martielang]

@martielang how did Hook not score the number one spot? Near unprecedented success for our club during his time at the Panthers.

Cos Gussy cut his legs from under him cos he couldn’t handle being the beta dog of the club with Sir Hook calling the shots.

We’d be goin for our hatty of premierships if not for Gussy.

 

[TheFrog]

Phil Gould will tell you himself that he took over a side ready to win a premiership. But I'd still agree with his place. The only change I'd make to be honest would be to put Hook ahead of Tim Sheens, who was learning the trade and would go onto much bigger things, but a single finals appearance in four years with the best cattle the club had ever had, doesn't put him above Griffin.

The other honourable mention I'd have is Len Stacker. 1980-82 I believe. He took over a club at its absolute nadir and didn't get them very high, but he paved the way for Tim Sheens. He instilled pride, if not victories into the team, John Peard was in there somewhere too, but he was a disaster. Stacker had a year at Wests and returned as assistant to Royce Simmons, whom he must have impressed during the latter's early career.

Hard to argue really. We have had a lot of rubbish over the years. Matthew Elliott for one.
In my time following the club, he would be the worst Panthers coach.

Peard I reckon. Great player, had a dry sense of humour on the ABC in later years which was welcome, but as a coach missed the finals at Parra with Sterling, Kenny, Grothe, Ella, Cronin, Beetson, O'Reilly, Edge, (need I go on), and couldn't do a thing with what was the genesis of the '91 side.

Ivan Cleary (2012-2015, 2019-). Cleary has already guided the Panthers to within one game of a Grand Final in 2014

Should really have made that GF. I think the team and the coach didn't believe they deserved to make it. We would not have beaten the Rabbitohs but the Bulldogs were quite average.

 

[blue bags]

great thread.

 

[blue bags]

i really love royce as a player , coach

 

[Fangs]

i really love royce as a player , coach

Gonna buy a beer for all of house.

Granted I was 1 year old. But such a great moment. Don't even need to remember it to acknowledge it.

 

[Whino]

Top Penrith coaches by win percentage.
Minimum of 20 games.

Willey 66%
Griffin 58.3%
Gould 55.5%
Lang 51.6%
Cleary 46%
Elliott 44.1%
Sheens 43.9%
Simmons 42.9%
Clare 40.9%
Boland 35.5%
Harris 32.1%
Peard 30.8%
Stacker 24.2%
Trevena 22.7%

 

[TheFrog]

Clare 40.9%

Roy Masters actually. Jack Clare wasn't even a football coach. He was just a talking head. This was an example of what can happen when you've got a committee that is rife with factions and you try to keep them all happy.

From the book "Men in Black"

"At the beginning of 1973, Penrith invited the best players of the (Australian Schoolboys, of whom Masters was coach) tour, to the club one weekend....Royce Ayliffe, Les Boyd, Ian Schubert, Jack Jeffries, David Tassell, Robert Finch, and maybe a couple more" Masters explained. "Finch didn't come- he was already contracted by St George. But the rest did. By then, Penrith officials probably feared a Masters takeover and no offers were extended to three future internationals and two regular first graders at other clubs."

Tom Wilson (under 23s coach) added to the story, recalling the day the Penrith committee met Les Boyd. "Les's father was not a tall man and a committeeman looked at young Les and said 'this kid is never going to grow- not for us.' "

 

[Whino]

Roy Masters actually. Jack Clare wasn't even a football coach. He was just a talking head. This was an example of what can happen when you've got a committee that is rife with factions and you try to keep them all happy.

From the book "Men in Black"

"At the beginning of 1973, Penrith invited the best players of the (Australian Schoolboys, of whom Masters was coach) tour, to the club one weekend....Royce Ayliffe, Les Boyd, Ian Schubert, Jack Jeffries, David Tassell, Robert Finch, and maybe a couple more" Masters explained. "Finch didn't come- he was already contracted by St George. But the rest did. By then, Penrith officials probably feared a Masters takeover and no offers were extended to three future internationals and two regular first graders at other clubs."

Tom Wilson (under 23s coach) added to the story, recalling the day the Penrith committee met Les Boyd. "Les's father was not a tall man and a committeeman looked at young Les and said 'this kid is never going to grow- not for us.' "

Very interesting. I read Bound for Glory many years ago and forgotten Masters had a stint as head coach.
A weird concept. No wonder it failed.

 

[TheFrog]

Very interesting. I read Bound for Glory many years ago and forgotten Masters had a stint as head coach.
A weird concept. No wonder it failed.

I think Men in Black was a reprint and update.

 

[The Silverdale Phantom]

Royce’s teams were the best to watch.

I used to tune in to watch their attack. Very quick and very creative.

Apart from speed, he deployed their power.

Bodies in motion, brutal collisions and dream-like passing.

Too many robots today, across the whole game.

The thing about coaching is that coaches never have an even playing field with the cattle, so you can’t really tell. A good coach, he might be able to lift the performance of players, but they still might lose as a team.

But their are many attributes required.

A bad coach is someone like Mary at SGI, takes good teams and wastes them.

 

[Leigh Howlett]

Ron Willey for mine, he bought toughness to the club signing Peter Kelly, Chris Mortimer etc, this paved the way for the 1991 Premiership.

 

[franklin2323]

73... good to see we still had a great eye for talent

 

[franklin2323]

Royce’s teams were the best to watch.

I used to tune in to watch their attack. Very quick and very creative.

Apart from speed, he deployed their power.

Bodies in motion, brutal collisions and dream-like passing.

Too many robots today, across the whole game.

The thing about coaching is that coaches never have an even playing field with the cattle, so you can’t really tell. A good coach, he might be able to lift the performance of players, but they still might lose as a team.

But their are many attributes required.

A bad coach is someone like Mary at SGI, takes good teams and wastes them.

Early 00’s was the best attacking era. Shame what we get today

 

[TheFrog]

Royce’s teams were the best to watch.

I used to tune in to watch their attack. Very quick and very creative.

Apart from speed, he deployed their power.

Royce's period as Panthers coach coincided almost exactly with an era of increasing tries scored per game, rising from a low point of 5.4 in 1992 (the year before the 10 metre rule came in) to 8.5 in 2002. There was a plateau for a couple of years and then it started to fall again, ever so gradually. Last year it was down to 6.6.

My theory behind this fall is that it's the work of Craig Bellamy, who started to coach first grade at Melbourne in 2003, and his wrestle. Not just him, of course, but he started it, and it was successful so others copied. If they can stop it with the new rule (big if) we might see a few more tries.