So why are Aussies better coaches?

[morley101]

I think you will notice a great difference with the national team not just because Bennett is the coach but the number of players playing and excelling in the NRL

 

  The Super league  is still producing very good players, the better players are now drifting over to the NRL because of the $ and the challenge.  I think

the RLIF should introduce a cap of 1 UK player per NRL club and an  unlimited number for players under 21.

[Cooperative]

I don't know the list of coaches for other top English sports, I do know:

 

Cycling is British (do well in Olympics and world championships)

Soccer is British

 

Sorry mate your cycling coach is Australian.his name is Shane Sutton.

[Saint Toppy]

I've alluded to this in other posts but there appears to be some fundamental differences in the way we approach sport in the UK compared to many other countries and its not all down to coaching.

 

Culturally, right from a young age we teach our kids that the 'taking part' is what really matters and that winning is just a bit of a bonus. Other countries take their sports far more seriously and really push their kids and its engrained in them that success is everything. I'm not saying that's necessarily the right way to do it but it goes a long way to explaining other countries success in certain sports - Chinese gymnasts for example.

 

In UK schools physical education & sport is just something that kids have to do and its very much left up to them and their parents whether they pursue a particular sport outside of school. Sport in Australian schools is a major part of their curriculum and is treated almost on the same level of importance as maths & English. They even have 'rugby schools' that kids can attend where RL is played every day and the kids receive specialized RL training on a daily basis. Is it any wonder they have so many players with so many top class skills when they're receiving such good coaching from a young age, all the way through to turning professional. So the UK is always on the back foot to start with because of our attitude to junior sport

 

When we then get to professional level, yes money plays a part (or lack of it) but again I see attitude and culture as major factors. The 'plucky Brits' attitude isn't a recipe for success, it breeds mediocricy. This was summed up perfectly by Cunningham's comments after the WCC loss to the Roosters. He praised his players for their effort, rued their missed chances and talked of hoping this would be some sort of springboard to future success in the domestic league. The players will go away from that game thinking they actually did okay and their level of performance was acceptable. Well I'm sorry but your team has just been absolutely hammered and made to look like rank amateurs. The coaches need to realize they're miles away from where they need to be and the players also need to realize their performance fell well short. They need to go away and look at the levels they need to achieve and work tirelessly to get up to that level.

 

Its like we're afraid to accept were 2nd best, and were burying our heads in the sand. We'll just carry on as we have been, not changing or adapting. All the while the Aussie are pulling further & further away from us at a domestic level.

 

So going back to the original question of this thread about are Aussie coaches better than British - at the moment the answer clearly is yes, they are. They come with a different attitude, mindset and culture. They're adapting, evolving and improving, while we're staying pretty stagnant.

 

I'd like to see all our SL clubs forming partnerships with NRL clubs to exchange young coaches. Our young guys get exposure to how things are done in the NRL and some of their young coaches can come over and work as assistants to our head coaches. As an example I'd love someone like Paul Wellens to go over and work under someone like Craig Bellamy or Des Hassler for a year or 2 before coming back to the club.

Currently the Australians are the best and we need to learn from them. 

 

I'm not saying all SL clubs should now go out and appoint NRL coaches but following the Salford model of having an experienced NRL coach behind the scenes would certainly help. Sheen's influence at Salford is pretty evident already and there's plenty of experienced NRL guys out there who could do a similar job at other SL clubs. Personally I'd love someone like Gus Gould to come to Saints as Director of rugby for a few years to steer the likes of Cunningham, Long & Wellens and our junior coaches.

 

I think the RFL have actually caught onto the fact we're 2nd best, hence why they were talking with Bennett over the several years and were prepared to wait to get their man. They knew McNamara wasn't up to the job and he was just a stopgap until Bennett could take over, and good on them for doing this. England now has arguably the greatest living coach in RL at the helm and at International level at least we can start to close the gap.

[Onreport]

More or less true. I've been on Brit RL forums since 606 was still alive and I can tell you one cultural difference: Aussies seem to have a much clearer idea of the difference between pro sport and blokes running around on the weekend just to stay fit and have a bit of fun.

 

The notion of towns like Haven and Town having "professional" teams is laughable. My city has 300,000 people in a RL heartland and we only play in Sydney 3rd Division.

Personally  as a Town fan (and also as a RL fan in general) I see your point but cant agree its simply down to population, Over here Professional Footbal teams do ok in towns with less than 300k population!