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Changing the guard in NSW Rugby League
By Neddy No-Neck
Crikey's hard-tackling League correspondent
NSW has a new state of origin coach for in Ricky Stuart who will be a counterweight to the influence of News Ltd over rugby league in Australia, as Neddy No-Neck explains.
04 June 2004
Columnists Index
Changing the guard in NSW Rugby League
Lashkar-e-Taiba know Jihad, will travel
UK banking good intentions not enough
The NRL coaching roundabout
Ben Oquist on the 'Magic 38'
NRL officials continue to pass the buck
Dan McNutt: Sin City gone to the dogs
'Rule 303' and the Reserve Bank
The Kooka Bros on Gangland death 25
Just when you thought the National Rugby League had settled down and all those conspiracy theories Neddy has retailed in the past two months have been buried, something happens to make it all true again. The King is dead, long live the king?
The Eastern Suburbs Memorial coaching position at the top of the NSW Rugby League industry, has once again been filled by an Eastern Suburbs personality. Yes, Easts Roosters coach Ricky Stuart has been named to replace Phil Gould, his mentor and coaching director at Easts, as coach of next year's NSW State of Origin side.
Neddy didn't realise that the NSW coach's position was a hereditary position to be handed down from Easts coach to Easts coach. It's more along the lines of his argument in April about the closeness between the NRL, ARL the Packer-backed Easts Roosters and the Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club.
Packer-backed Easts and the NRL footballwise, there are no arguments. Ricky Stuart has proven himself in the NRL by one premiership and one losing grand final. The Roosters currently lead the premiership, but the way Penrith put the Canterbury Bulldogs to the sword in the last 10 minutes last Sunday points to a close tussle between the Panthers and the Roosters come finals time later in the year. Easts play Canterbury in Sydney Friday night.
And there is no objection to Phil Gould. His performance before, during and after the controversial first Origin game has been great. His stand on the difficult issues of players doing silly, stupid things, has been firm - leadership material.
It's no wonder that the listed Packer parent company PBL uses him to try and inspire its senior management at the two love-fests at Crown Casino in 2001 and this year.
A test however awaits Gould and the NSW selectors this Sunday night. Do they select Anthony Minichello the phone owner and Mark Gasnier the phoner in the NSW side for the second game, especially after Gasnier played well for St George last weekend?
Remember the phone fall Gasnier made on Minichello's phone at 3.40 am? On the phone Minichello declared was lost! And remember how Ricky Stuart went public within hours when asked by the media, saying he believed Minichello. And then Minichello's line was exposed as a fraud, leaving his club coach high, dry and looking foolish? Another top Easts and NSW player, Craig Wing broke the unofficial curfew and Easts suspended him for a game.
But it's tough being an NRL coach as Paul Langmack at Souths found this week when flicked, and Daniel Anderson, who left the Auckland Warriors willingly and amicably after a miserable, losing start to the seasonr. At Parramatta, Brian Smith is finding that five inept performances and losses on the trot can bring the axe a little closer.
But coaches should not expect to be hung out to dry and made goose of the week by one of their better players. The problem was poor conduct and judgement by seven players in the Origin squad. So on Thursday the NSW Rugby League appointed a former police officer to help develop a code of conduct for Origin teams.
Come again. What do they really need? More pictures, diagrams and conduct manuals? Are these really dumb people we're talking about here? Shouldn't the Mr Six Per Centers, the managers, be somewhat embarrassed by taking money from people who don't know the difference between right or wrong? The Australian Tax Office will have something to say about this relationship soon.
Crikey would have thought the conduct required of NRL players was quite apparent. Don't do anything that you wouldn't like done to yourself, your family or friends. Don't make a fool of yourself, your club, your code or your friends. Very simple really. It's one word - 'No' - in all its shades of meanings.
The code of conduct came from a report prepared by a man called Bob Millward, a NSW Rugby League Board member and a former club official, and Paul Dunn, a former very good footballer and then club official at Souths. Both are insiders, closely connected to the game.
Laudable, yes, but it's to be hoped the new code will take notice of the NRL's series of seminars on player attitudes and behaviour. It will be better to wait and adopt a code of conduct common to the NSW, Queensland, Australian and National Rugby Leagues.
Some Crikey readers will think Neddy is in need of some 'conduct adjustment, that he's a wee too obsessed by Easts and the Packer connection. Nope, not at all. Neddy just believes in trying to get the best talent, for every position.
Ricky Stuart will be tested at this level. Will he pick Anthony Minichello, a player he and Gould brought on and rewarded as he showed he could handle the pressure of top level football? On ability yes, on his performance as a person, don't know. But you'd have to bet that they will kiss and make up, especially if Minichello's abilities can help win this year's premiership.
In his footballing career so far Stuart has proved he can read the game. He went to league from union after realising that Nick Farr-Jones was a better, stronger and more inspiring halfback. Farr-Jones led Australia to the Rugby World Cup in 1991. If Ricky Stuart had stayed in union, the best he could have hoped for would have been loyal deputy and hope for an injury.
In League he was a revelation. Instead of being a tough halfback in the mould of Mortimer or Arthur Summons, or Billy Smith or even Peter Sterling, he showed that he could think, read the game as well as Sterling, kick better, pass better, while being tough and pretty courageous. The phrase 'groin injury' became synonymous for Ricky Stuart's fitness level.
He helped Canberra to a couple of premierships and has one already as a coach. It's a good record and one that deserves enhancement at State of Origin level. He could very well be one of the rarities in football. A top level player, a star, who successfully switches to coach and proves himself at the elite level.
Following Phil Gould will be a big ask. Stuart will have to lift his media game, stop being so demonstrative and swearing when the camera is on him and understand that he is an actor on a stage in part of the entertainment industry.
The News Ltd papers in Sydney and Brisbane will no doubt give him an early welcome because they represent the half owner of the NRL and think they're its moral guardians. Having Easts and the Packer link behind him will help in that case, just as they helped Phil Gould during the Super League wars and in the so-called truce that has followed.
Despite what others have written, the News Ltd papers have been performing more the role of guardian rather than crusader during the Origin phone calls debacle. The News papers are seeking to protect the News investment in the NRL valued at a heavily written down $150 million in the balance sheet.
Having Easts and its links to the Packers and PBL behind him will give Ricky Stuart a handy counterweight to the News influence over the next year or so.
By Neddy No-Neck
Crikey's hard-tackling League correspondent
NSW has a new state of origin coach for in Ricky Stuart who will be a counterweight to the influence of News Ltd over rugby league in Australia, as Neddy No-Neck explains.
04 June 2004
Columnists Index
Changing the guard in NSW Rugby League
Lashkar-e-Taiba know Jihad, will travel
UK banking good intentions not enough
The NRL coaching roundabout
Ben Oquist on the 'Magic 38'
NRL officials continue to pass the buck
Dan McNutt: Sin City gone to the dogs
'Rule 303' and the Reserve Bank
The Kooka Bros on Gangland death 25
Just when you thought the National Rugby League had settled down and all those conspiracy theories Neddy has retailed in the past two months have been buried, something happens to make it all true again. The King is dead, long live the king?
The Eastern Suburbs Memorial coaching position at the top of the NSW Rugby League industry, has once again been filled by an Eastern Suburbs personality. Yes, Easts Roosters coach Ricky Stuart has been named to replace Phil Gould, his mentor and coaching director at Easts, as coach of next year's NSW State of Origin side.
Neddy didn't realise that the NSW coach's position was a hereditary position to be handed down from Easts coach to Easts coach. It's more along the lines of his argument in April about the closeness between the NRL, ARL the Packer-backed Easts Roosters and the Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club.
Packer-backed Easts and the NRL footballwise, there are no arguments. Ricky Stuart has proven himself in the NRL by one premiership and one losing grand final. The Roosters currently lead the premiership, but the way Penrith put the Canterbury Bulldogs to the sword in the last 10 minutes last Sunday points to a close tussle between the Panthers and the Roosters come finals time later in the year. Easts play Canterbury in Sydney Friday night.
And there is no objection to Phil Gould. His performance before, during and after the controversial first Origin game has been great. His stand on the difficult issues of players doing silly, stupid things, has been firm - leadership material.
It's no wonder that the listed Packer parent company PBL uses him to try and inspire its senior management at the two love-fests at Crown Casino in 2001 and this year.
A test however awaits Gould and the NSW selectors this Sunday night. Do they select Anthony Minichello the phone owner and Mark Gasnier the phoner in the NSW side for the second game, especially after Gasnier played well for St George last weekend?
Remember the phone fall Gasnier made on Minichello's phone at 3.40 am? On the phone Minichello declared was lost! And remember how Ricky Stuart went public within hours when asked by the media, saying he believed Minichello. And then Minichello's line was exposed as a fraud, leaving his club coach high, dry and looking foolish? Another top Easts and NSW player, Craig Wing broke the unofficial curfew and Easts suspended him for a game.
But it's tough being an NRL coach as Paul Langmack at Souths found this week when flicked, and Daniel Anderson, who left the Auckland Warriors willingly and amicably after a miserable, losing start to the seasonr. At Parramatta, Brian Smith is finding that five inept performances and losses on the trot can bring the axe a little closer.
But coaches should not expect to be hung out to dry and made goose of the week by one of their better players. The problem was poor conduct and judgement by seven players in the Origin squad. So on Thursday the NSW Rugby League appointed a former police officer to help develop a code of conduct for Origin teams.
Come again. What do they really need? More pictures, diagrams and conduct manuals? Are these really dumb people we're talking about here? Shouldn't the Mr Six Per Centers, the managers, be somewhat embarrassed by taking money from people who don't know the difference between right or wrong? The Australian Tax Office will have something to say about this relationship soon.
Crikey would have thought the conduct required of NRL players was quite apparent. Don't do anything that you wouldn't like done to yourself, your family or friends. Don't make a fool of yourself, your club, your code or your friends. Very simple really. It's one word - 'No' - in all its shades of meanings.
The code of conduct came from a report prepared by a man called Bob Millward, a NSW Rugby League Board member and a former club official, and Paul Dunn, a former very good footballer and then club official at Souths. Both are insiders, closely connected to the game.
Laudable, yes, but it's to be hoped the new code will take notice of the NRL's series of seminars on player attitudes and behaviour. It will be better to wait and adopt a code of conduct common to the NSW, Queensland, Australian and National Rugby Leagues.
Some Crikey readers will think Neddy is in need of some 'conduct adjustment, that he's a wee too obsessed by Easts and the Packer connection. Nope, not at all. Neddy just believes in trying to get the best talent, for every position.
Ricky Stuart will be tested at this level. Will he pick Anthony Minichello, a player he and Gould brought on and rewarded as he showed he could handle the pressure of top level football? On ability yes, on his performance as a person, don't know. But you'd have to bet that they will kiss and make up, especially if Minichello's abilities can help win this year's premiership.
In his footballing career so far Stuart has proved he can read the game. He went to league from union after realising that Nick Farr-Jones was a better, stronger and more inspiring halfback. Farr-Jones led Australia to the Rugby World Cup in 1991. If Ricky Stuart had stayed in union, the best he could have hoped for would have been loyal deputy and hope for an injury.
In League he was a revelation. Instead of being a tough halfback in the mould of Mortimer or Arthur Summons, or Billy Smith or even Peter Sterling, he showed that he could think, read the game as well as Sterling, kick better, pass better, while being tough and pretty courageous. The phrase 'groin injury' became synonymous for Ricky Stuart's fitness level.
He helped Canberra to a couple of premierships and has one already as a coach. It's a good record and one that deserves enhancement at State of Origin level. He could very well be one of the rarities in football. A top level player, a star, who successfully switches to coach and proves himself at the elite level.
Following Phil Gould will be a big ask. Stuart will have to lift his media game, stop being so demonstrative and swearing when the camera is on him and understand that he is an actor on a stage in part of the entertainment industry.
The News Ltd papers in Sydney and Brisbane will no doubt give him an early welcome because they represent the half owner of the NRL and think they're its moral guardians. Having Easts and the Packer link behind him will help in that case, just as they helped Phil Gould during the Super League wars and in the so-called truce that has followed.
Despite what others have written, the News Ltd papers have been performing more the role of guardian rather than crusader during the Origin phone calls debacle. The News papers are seeking to protect the News investment in the NRL valued at a heavily written down $150 million in the balance sheet.
Having Easts and its links to the Packers and PBL behind him will give Ricky Stuart a handy counterweight to the News influence over the next year or so.
