Games are won on the field and a coach is only as good as the cattle he has to work with. Injuries to key players can break a team's season. Remember when Easts lost both their props, Hermansson and Lowrie leading into semi finals. They capitulated. One player can be more important than a coach. Remember when Newcastle was one of the best teams in the comp, with Andrew Johns in their team, but when he was out they could hardly win a game. Nth Qld have capitulated when Thurston has been injured in previous seasons. I recall when Melbourne were missing Slater a few years ago, they struggled to win a game. Easts used to struggle to win a game without Fittler. Manly used to be a different team with Brett Stewart out to when he played. Parra were a different team if Price was playing to when he wasn't.
Last year, Nth Qld made the Grand Final, but if we would have won our last game, Nth Qld would not have even made the top 8. That is a very fine line between a successful season and a failure.
I think that if Nathan Brown was coaching Easts or Nth Qld this year, they could still win this year's comp and I believe that if Robinson, Bellamy or Bennett had been coaching Newcastle for the last 2 seasons, with the players they had, they still would have got the spoon.
I think some people are under the impression that if we still had Bennett as our coach, we would have won a comp or 2 in the last 5 years. I believe that having a good spine is the most important thing and way more important than a coach. The Supercoach, Jack Gibson said that if you have got the best halfback, (referring to Peter Sterling) then you are half way there to winning a comp. He also said that the best coach is the best recruiter.
I gauge a coaches performance on what he does with the team that he has at his disposal, not where the team finishes on the ladder. I think Brian Smith coming to us in 1991, when we had not made the semis since 1985 and taking us to grand finals against the star studded Brisbane team full of Origin and Australian players in 92 and 93 was a much better achievement than Bennett coaching Brisbane to win the 2 comps against us. Smith taking Easts to the Grand Final after they won the spoon the year before was a great achievement. I also rate David Waite taking us to the Grand Final in 95 higher than Bennett winning comps coaching Brisbane. I seriously believe that I could have coached Brisbane to win the comps that they won under Bennett. I actually do rate Bennett coming to us and turning us into a premiership force and winning a comp a very good achievement, as I did not think that he had a great team at his disposal, I especially did not rate Hornby or Soward.
