Unfortunately the coaching market is pretty bare at the moment. The two guys who’s names I keep hearing as up and comers are Holbrook and O’Brian. Other than them there’s a whole bunch of washed up coaches out there who failed to perform at NRL level so I’d rather not go after anyone like that because we’d either be getting more of the same or worse.
Of the guys currently coaching at other NRL clubs the following would be upgrades on Brown.
- Bellamy
- Robinson
- Siebold
- McGuire
- Cleary
Aside from the above I can’t see any of the other current nrl coaches getting more out of the playing group than Brown at the moment so I’d rather stick with him unless we somehow managed to land one of those guys (very unlikely) or if we signed a rookie coach with some serious pedigree.
Under-acknowledged historical facts about coaching recruitment:
1) The vast majority of coaches who win premierships do so at their first club.
2) The vast majority of premierships are won by coaches at their first club.
3) "Experienced" coaches who have never won a premiership
almost never win a premiership at their 2nd or 3rd clubs
NRL Premiership winning coaches since 1998
T Robinson - 1st year at 1st club in NRL
C Bellamy - 5th year*, 1st club
S Flannagan - 7th year, 1st club
P Green - 2nd year, 1st club
M Maguire - 2nd year, 1st club
D Hasler - 5th year, 1st club
W Bennett - 5th year at 1st club, 2nd year at 2nd club
T Sheens - 0 at 1st club, 2nd year at 2nd club, 3rd year at 4th club
S Folkes - 7th year, 1st club
J Lang - 0 at 1st club, 2nd year at 2nd club
R Stuart - 1st year, 1st club
M Hagan - 1st year, 1st club
C Anderson - 6th year at 1st club, 2nd year at 2nd club
Of all NRL era premiership coaches, only Sheens and Lang have won their first premiership at a second club.
Only Wayne Bennett and Chris Anderson have won premierships at more than 1 club.
Of 21 premierships, 9 have been won by "new" coaches, ie. coaches at their first club, including 5 in their first or second year.
11 have been won by coaches who have previously won a premiership.
Only 1 NRL era premiership, Penrith 2003 coached by John Lang, has been won by a coach with a previous club and 0 premierships to their name.
Historically speaking,
Nathan Brown is unlikely to win a premiership.
Siebold, Cleary, are unlikely to win Newcastle a premiership.
Justin Holbrook, Jason Demetriou, Adam O'Brien are historically more likely to win Newcastle a premiership than any of the above rejects.
The rebuild has been done. There's a good squad there. If Brown can't get his team even to the finals after 4 years of total control, it's time to look elsewhere.
Rookie coaches coming into a good squad with a fresh outlook can be more successful than experienced failures.
Holbrook has St Helens winning 2 minor premierships in 2 years with a long way down to 2nd place. He could be the next Robinson/Bellamy/Hasler. It won't be Cleary or Brown.