Im sure many Rugby League fans will agree with me that the is way too many overseas coaches in Super League at present. I have read over the years that Chris Joynt, Tommy Martyn, Andy Farrell, Paul Sculthorpe, Paul Newlove and many others from other clubs have took there coaching badges but when they have retired they leave the game alltogther and this cant be right. I know that all ex players dont have a desire to go into coaching but surely there are a few ex players who long for a chance at being a Head Coach but dont get given the chance. I am sure players of the calibre of Farrell, Sculthorpe and Joynt would love to have a crack at coaching having taken in all there experience of playing under there coaches at club level and playing International Rugby for so long in there careers but as allways we settle for appointing an Australian/Kiwi. There is nothing I hate more than an Australian incharge of the England National team and its about time it changed. I know I have mentioned mainly ex Saints players here but I mean there must be christ knows how many from other clubs who havent been given a chance. I know they all wont turnout to be Daniel Andersons or John Monies (in his hey day at Wigan) but lets give them a fair crack of it at the very least!

Thoughts???

I agree. To many players retire and never seen again.

I would love to see bobbie goulding in charge at saints one day.

Well thats going to three years and least at thats if he does well with the French National side. I hope Bobbie does well.

Not sure a lot of them want to,
Im sure Ive heard Scully say hes not interested in coaching??
might be thinking of someone else

Definitely think Cunningham will go on to coach saints one day

I don't think there is anything stopping them bar their own abilities and enthusiasm for the job. Noble and McNamara amongst others have progressed nicely from playing (Averagely) to coaching, so there is nothing stopping other people doing it.

I think we need to remember that being a great player is often the worst possible introduction to coaching, as you get Ruud Gullit syndrome where the players simply aren't capable of working at your level. Also being a great player doesn't mean the person knows anything about the game other than the position they excelled in themselves or that they have the personality required.

In football they do get the chance at a drop of an hat into management but in Rugby League its a different matter i feel. The board of directors would rather take the easy option of appointing an overseas coach than stick with there own.

I'd love the likes of goulding or Cunningham to coach saints when potter goes back home.

I just feel goulding would suite saints. We would defo play good rugby under him.

I always thought bobbie would finish his playing days at saints. He could have been a all time legend at saints.

Pitty he let himself down off the field so many times.

Personally I think Goulding is a Saints legend for captaining us to the league and cup double in 1996 but thats my opinion. Having said that I dont think he will ever be coach at Saints because of the mr meaners he did in his playing days here.

Bobbie still loves saints. He knows he made mistakes but now he older and looks to have grown up alot since his playing days.

I know bobbie pretty well and only has good words to say bout saints.

Mike Bennett is currently coaching Service Area at Saints and also helps out with the club on a game day. Would seem that the opportunities are there at the club for the players that want them

Yeah I read about that. I am sure he is presidant of Newton Storm if im not wrong!

We all make mistakes when we are young and I for one would love too see Goulding back at Saints when Potter leaves whenever that maybe. In the short term I would love too see Goulding do well with France. Read the Rugby League World today and he certainly sounds up for the job and doesnt sound like he will take any prisoners.

Every time bobbie talks u can just tell he lives and breathes rugby league

Should still be playing our Bob, never mind coaching.

RL's Gazza...

True he should still be playing. He was playing for widnes st maries just weeks b4 getting the French job

IMO we don't have enough. One of the major problems with our sport over here is the lack of good coaching. Arguably the best British coach of recent times is Brian Noble and look at the job he's done at Wigoon. Five out of the current top six are coached by overseas coaches which I think says a lot about the quality of the coaching over here. Look at the difference Nathan Brown has made at Huddersfield and he was hardly a great success in the NRL. A good solid overseas coach e.g. Anderson, tend to be better than a good British one.

It's no good saying we should have more British coaches in our sport without giving them adequate training for the roles. There is room for British coaches in our sport, however we must provide them with a good route into those roles instead of appointing them on a hunch. The sport needs to look at what development we provide to people interested in pursuing a coaching career because as far as I'm aware we're still probably working with the Phil Larder coaching manual which was out of date before Super League even started.

Is Scully working for the club ?
If so, what is he doing ?

I know for a fact that one of his roles involves working with connexions to help get young people into education or jobs and to promote a healthy lifestyle.

He is business development manager.

Basically it is his job to get our name out there into the public. He has the reputation to do that

Plenty of british coaches get a chance, but very few prove themselves. Sharpe at Hudds is a grest example of this, he was very highly reguarded at saints as assisstant and many players said it was his coaching and not millwards that brought us that success. When it came to his chance he fluffed it bigtime, and now Nathan Brown has shown that with a very similar squad what can be done with great coaching. McBanana i am unsure on as he has been given absolutely no money, but Noble inherited a great side at bradford, but at wigan had to build his own and look what happened.
the top coaches in this league now in no particular order are:-
Potter
Morgan
Brown

Well the RFL should set up coaching for the players who are retiring in the near future or ex players who wish to go down that route. Far too many players who have a wealth of experience have been lost due to eithier not been given adequate training or just basically forgotton about. We cannot afford to lose the experience of Sculthorpe, Joynt and Farrell plus many others. As you rightly said Noble is the best British coach so why on earth did the RFL not let him continue as the National boss??? I for one believe despite what many people think on this board Noble would got England playing alot better in the WC than Tony Smith. I said it when it happenend that Smith wasnt the right man for the job and he never will be.

Why not? If they are good coaches they should apply for jobs at clubs with coaching vacancies or approach their former clubs about possible roles.

There isn't some block on British coaches, the fact is that they just don't perform, so end up getting sacked and drifting down the leagues until they pack it in and turn bitter like Schofield.

Still not enough emphasis is being placed on developing new coaches who are British. I hope Bobbie does well for France and eventually gets a chance to coach at SL level. By all accounts he was doing well at Rochdale, a club who was at the time desperately short of cash.

Tommy Martyn is another who i would think would excel at being a coach given the right opportunity and right environment.

Maybe where clubs have a player development pathway there needs to be a more in depth approach to developing a coaching pathway.

After all do we want another Aussie coach to coach England after Tony Smith? Surely in the long term we would want a Brit. Can you ever imagine the Aussies appointing a Brit as a national coach......never.

Tommy was very badly done to at leigh and the club politics that went with that situation probably put him off senior management for a while. The last i heard he was helping saints juniors. I hope he can come back to proper management soon, he has the best rugby brain i have ever known

Did he ever. A real master at understanding the game and tactics. Yes he was bitten badly by politics at Leigh when the club should have stuck by him. He only left Saints because of the player coaching opportunity that became available only later to be shown the door. Disgraceful really.

As a matter of interest I was thinking how many English coaches in the last 25 years have been successful in coaching a team to the League title/SL. I can only think of three, Noble, Hanley, Doug Laughton. Have I missed anyone else out? If not, it pretty much says it all about the reliance on overseas coaches.