Coach of the Year

[burke]

If Wigan complete the CC, League Leaders Shield and Grand Final treble it will be very easy to sell the  selection of Matt Peet as coach of the year. That said if I had a say on the matter I would be struggling to decide between Sylvain Houles and Mark Applegarth on who should be crowned coach of the year. Either would be a worthy winner, the job they have done recruiting and moulding competitive teams in a short time period is remarkable and with the ridiculous handicap of only receiving half SL funding. Nobody gave them a chance, most expects were particularly scathing of the Toulouse recruitment policy and yet both teams have been great and played some excellent Rugby. 

 

[Loiner]

1 hour ago, burke said:

If Wigan complete the CC, League Leaders Shield and Grand Final treble it will be very easy to sell the  selection of Matt Peet as coach of the year. That said if I had a say on the matter I would be struggling to decide between Sylvain Houles and Mark Applegarth on who should be crowned coach of the year. Either would be a worthy winner, the job they have done recruiting and moulding competitive teams in a short time period is remarkable and with the ridiculous handicap of only receiving half SL funding. Nobody gave them a chance, most expects were particularly scathing of the Toulouse recruitment policy and yet both teams have been great and played some excellent Rugby. 

 

Great Post and 100% correct  

[JohnM]

and Daryl Powell, second to Peet?

[welshmagpie]

Houles for me. Phenomenal results with a squad that nearly everybody wrote off.

[Tommygilf]

Peet is probably due it really, but Houles absolutely should be in the conversation

[StandOffHalf]

Houles for me.

[arcticchris]

It should be Houles but, given the huge amount of injuries in the middle of the season, to keep things rolling and go on a long unbeaten run to the top of the table Matty Peet has also made a strong case.

[Hopie]

3 hours ago, burke said:

If Wigan complete the CC, League Leaders Shield and Grand Final treble it will be very easy to sell the  selection of Matt Peet as coach of the year. That said if I had a say on the matter I would be struggling to decide between Sylvain Houles and Mark Applegarth on who should be crowned coach of the year. Either would be a worthy winner, the job they have done recruiting and moulding competitive teams in a short time period is remarkable and with the ridiculous handicap of only receiving half SL funding. Nobody gave them a chance, most expects were particularly scathing of the Toulouse recruitment policy and yet both teams have been great and played some excellent Rugby. 

 

Sounds like grading on a curve but only if the team is one you prefer. Two clubs that are amongst many that have put some very poor teams on the pitch this year, giving accolades for being better than some expected is a low bar. 

The half funding red herring seems to be a popular one, both teams promoted said they could provide a Super League club on no funding, then were given some extra funding for no good reason. Given most teams are making significant losses, we know that central funding doesn't pay the bills, owners do. We don't know who is spending what on players, and it doesn't seem overly relevant, do you have to submit you salary cap spend before you can decide if the team are well coached? If Wigan spend the most does that mean their top spot in the table is expected and therefore the coaching easy?

[The Squirrel]

All credit to Applegarth; done extremely well and hopefully now established as York’s coach for the long term, but……Houles wins it for me easily and I’m a York fan.  
 

    What he’s achieved there is nothing short of miraculous they can play some cracking rugby too AND the real core of the team is from their home nation (other than OAB -and he probably nearly counts as French at this point); something that not all English clubs can even say.

[StandOffHalf]

4 hours ago, Hopie said:

Sounds like grading on a curve but only if the team is one you prefer. Two clubs that are amongst many that have put some very poor teams on the pitch this year, giving accolades for being better than some expected is a low bar. 

The half funding red herring seems to be a popular one, both teams promoted said they could provide a Super League club on no funding, then were given some extra funding for no good reason. Given most teams are making significant losses, we know that central funding doesn't pay the bills, owners do. We don't know who is spending what on players, and it doesn't seem overly relevant, do you have to submit you salary cap spend before you can decide if the team are well coached? If Wigan spend the most does that mean their top spot in the table is expected and therefore the coaching easy?

Grading on a curve?? More like funding on a curve.

Perfectly legitimate to evaluate candidates for Coach of the Year on how they have done with what is available to them. Houles has certainly got more out of his charges than was expected.

Edited September 10 by StandOffHalf

[Hopie]

Grading on a curve refers to assessing teams based on how other teams have done, there are 6 competition points between 8th and 14th, so all of a similar standard over the season, and nobody is saying how great a season Hudds/Hull/Cas have had. 

What was expected of Toulouse? Not bottom, but not too far ahead? Seems about right. 

 

[Just Browny]

The OP had it right really. I'd also agree Toulouse have just been a nose ahead of York, although both have played excellent refreshing rugby. Their points difference is more than 100 points better than York: they haven't conceded 50+ in any game and have been in a lot of games they ultimately lost, including of course that golden point game v Leigh.

I think best of the rest would have to be Arthur, Powell, and Burgess, who have all meaningfully achieved improvement v 2025.

 

[StandOffHalf]

3 hours ago, Hopie said:

Grading on a curve refers to assessing teams based on how other teams have done, there are 6 competition points between 8th and 14th, so all of a similar standard over the season, and nobody is saying how great a season Hudds/Hull/Cas have had. 

What was expected of Toulouse? Not bottom, but not too far ahead? Seems about right. 

 

Toulouse have done quite a bit better than expected. I'm not sure you could say the same about any of the other clubs you mention. 

I don't think Coach of the Year should be judged coldly on the table. It's about looking at the team at the end of the season and asking whether the coach has got them better or higher up than the consensus was before the season started.

In that sense it's a Before and After exercise. I think Houles should be right up there, and the winner of it for me.

[phiggins]

3 hours ago, Hopie said:

Grading on a curve refers to assessing teams based on how other teams have done, there are 6 competition points between 8th and 14th, so all of a similar standard over the season, and nobody is saying how great a season Hudds/Hull/Cas have had. 

What was expected of Toulouse? Not bottom, but not too far ahead? Seems about right. 

 

6 points is a significant gap. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Houles has done an astonishing job in my opinion. Most of their squad played in the Championship last season and although they won the Grand Final, they definitely weren't the best team over the course of the season, or indeed one of the standout teams of recent years. They only made one really big-name pre-season signing for 2026 (Dupree) and he didn't last very long there. 

Around 90% of their squad had been playing in the Championship for the last few years and hadn't been snapped up by SL clubs (Ashall-Bott might have done barring his injury history, but otherwise most of the squad seemed to have their level established).

The improvement, and in particular, Houles' ability to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts, has been remarkable. I must admit I'm partly tempted to conclude that we are watching a pretty ordinary SL comp this year, but regardless it's a tremendous coaching achievement. It says something too for coaching continuity - how often do coaches last 13 years at the same club?

[RBKnight]

Coach of the year ? This has to be a contender....... 

[Snowys Backside]

Applegarth and Houles have had fantastic seasons.

Adrian Lam deserves a mention too.

Peet is the obvious candidate though to be fair. His use of the second string to battle harden the youngsters in SL has been second to none.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

16 hours ago, Hopie said:

Sounds like grading on a curve but only if the team is one you prefer. Two clubs that are amongst many that have put some very poor teams on the pitch this year, giving accolades for being better than some expected is a low bar. 

The half funding red herring seems to be a popular one, both teams promoted said they could provide a Super League club on no funding, then were given some extra funding for no good reason. Given most teams are making significant losses, we know that central funding doesn't pay the bills, owners do. We don't know who is spending what on players, and it doesn't seem overly relevant, do you have to submit you salary cap spend before you can decide if the team are well coached? If Wigan spend the most does that mean their top spot in the table is expected and therefore the coaching easy?

Surely a 'coach of the year' tag is deserved by virtue of what you make of the resources available to you; in that sense, it quite rightly might be 'giving accolades for being better than some expected' (by the way, for 'some' I think you really mean 'almost everybody' which therefore might have been a more accurate description to use!)  Whether your club was slow to  recruit players (though none of the Bulls, Knights and Olympique Treize were given adequate time for that) or your club management was too miserly are irrelevant here.  The issue is what you, as coach, managed to achieve with what you had.

I don't think the half-funding issue is a red herring at all.  If you want to be in SL, then you are likely to take a gamble and say you can provide a team of the requisite standard; if you say the task is impossible, then presumably the offer to join SL would be withdrawn.  Half-funding is half-funding whatever the background circumstances and buys you less, in terms of recruited players' salaries, than full-funding; I take that as an arithmetic fact.

What do you think of the additional financial 'penalty' TOXIII have faced - 24 return, channel flights to fund so that each English club has to pay for none?

Regardless of all that, Houles has done well in SL with a slightly augmented, erstwhile championship-level squad.  That seems a notable achievement to me and one that makes him worthy of being named coach of the year.

[Phil]

This seems very super league centric so let me post an outlier. Kyle Eastmond, could have walked away from Halifax when we went bust early this last season. But he said he had a job to complete, and with the 14 players we had left plus some astute loan signings we made up our 12 point deduction and finished the season.

He’ll go on to big things in the game.

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

Houles would be a very deserved winner.  

Using The Dream Team as a measure we can probably look forward to Brad Arthur getting the nod.  

No coach has a father on the panel do they?

Edited September 13 by Wollo Wollo Wayoo

[MZH]

Another vote for Houles here. He's done remarkably well with very little resource. Toulouse have been a joy to watch at times.

I wouldn't be against Peet getting it, but I reckon even I could get a tune out of that outstanding Wigan team. Coach of the year should be about who has achieved the most relative to the quality of the players available, not simply who won the most. I'd say Applegarth and Powell would make up the shortlist, with Arthur and Burgess getting honourable mentions.

[DoubleD]

I’m surprised there’s been no nomination for Luke Robinson 

[Expatknight]

2 hours ago, DoubleD said:

I’m surprised there’s been no nomination for Luke Robinson 

if he was the only contender, he would probably lose. Not his fault, it is the poisoned chalice that is Cas at the moment. 

[DoubleD]

6 hours ago, Expatknight said:

if he was the only contender, he would probably lose. Not his fault, it is the poisoned chalice that is Cas at the moment. 

And at Huddersfield?

[Expatknight]

42 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

And at Huddersfield?

It had slipped my mind that he was there until six months ago.