I HAVE written about them before, but I think they deserved to be acknowledged once again.
In the NRL competition in 2022, Brisbane Broncos finished ninth, Newcastle Knights were 14th and New Zealand Warriors were 15th.
Those three teams this year have finished respectively second, fifth and fourth.
They are the only NRL clubs to have moved into the top eight who were not there at the end of last season.
And the common denominator is that they all appointed British assistant coaches at the start of the season.
The Broncos appointed Lee Briers, Brian McDermott joined the Knights and Richard Agar was appointed by the Warriors.
Now of course I don’t have any special insights into how the coaching team operate at each of those three clubs.
But given the performances this season of those three clubs, the circumstantial evidence is quite compelling that British assistant coaches add significant value to NRL clubs.
I would be only too delighted to see one of those clubs win the NRL Grand Final on the first day of next month.
But in my view the achievement of Briers, McDermott and Agar should be recognised by all of us.
The next step is to see a British coach appointed to the head-coach role for an NRL club.
Parallel universes
Something else that is quite noticeable about the NRL this season is how badly the Sydney clubs have performed.
Of the nine Sydney clubs, only three of them have made the top eight, and that is if you count Penrith as a Sydney club. The other six are in the bottom nine positions alongside three Queensland clubs, including the new club, the Dolphins.
It’s interesting to compare that with the Super League, which has six Yorkshire clubs, with five of them occupying the bottom five places and only Hull KR hanging on to a place in the top six.
I’m not sure why the Sydney and Yorkshire clubs have performed so badly this year but I’m sure that supporters on both sides of the world would like to know.
What’s also been quite amazing this season is the way that two particular clubs started the season like a house on fire but then dropped away alarmingly.
If you opened the edition of League Express that we published on 15th May, you would have seen that Warrington were four points ahead in Super League with ten wins from twelve matches, while South Sydney led the NRL with eight wins from eleven matches.
But then, both clubs suffered a disastrous run of form, with the Rabbitohs falling out of the top eight and Warrington threatening to fall out of the top six in Super League, although in the last two weeks it looks as though they have arrested that decline just in time.
It really has been an unusual season in both hemispheres.
Referee protection
Last week the subject of hateful abuse being aimed at referees raised its ugly head when Marcus Griffiths published details on X (formerly Twitter) of some horribly homophobic comments aimed at him on Instagram.
Unfortunately too much abuse is still directed at referees in our sport by fans who expect them never to make a wrong decision, particularly in relation to their team.
And of course the fans are biased themselves. How often do referees get slammed by supporters, only for the subsequent replays to prove that they had it right all along?
Sometimes, of course, referees do get it wrong and the best course of action then is for them to admit that they did get it wrong.
That happened when Robert Hicks admitted that he incorrectly disallowed a try by St Helens’ Morgan Knowles in the 2019 Challenge Cup Final. He saw it during the match when the incident was replayed and it preyed on his mind for several days after that, but of course the decision couldn’t be reversed.
Abuse of referees isn’t limited to this country.
In Australia, Ben Cummins has retired this year but has revealed that he advised his son to become an umpire in the AFL (Aussie Rules) rather than following in his father’s footsteps because of the abuse he would suffer in Rugby League.
I think we need a zero-tolerance policy to abusive behaviour towards referees.
David Watkins
The news that the great David Watkins had died came too late on Sunday for us to be able to prepare an obituary.
Dai Watkins was a remarkable rugby player in either code, having captained Wales against the All Blacks in 1963 before turning professional with Salford in 1967, with whom he enjoyed a lengthy and successful career.
Last year he was deservedly inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame, but unfortunately his poor health prevented him from attending the ceremony to receive his award personally.
My sincere condolences to his family and friends for the loss of a dual-code legend.
