My team (Saints) have Cunningham in charge, one of the best that has been (or probably will be), but he's struggling at the moment.

I once heard someone say that a top player knows what to do, but they are unable to communicate this effectively to players who do not possess their same ability. As you get better at what you do, your ability to communicate your understanding, or to help others learn that skill, diminishes.

Arguably, the greatest coach of all time, in any sport, is Vince Lombardi. He never played professional football, but was a successful head coach. On the other hand, Johan Cruyff was an excellent player, but did well as a manager.

Back to RL: I could be wrong, but I don't think Wayne Bennett did anything of note in his playing career, but is the most successful RL head coach.

What do you think?

The thread was about Cunningham.

Top players like

Reilly, Hanley, Edwards as said above
Ashton, Alex Murphy, Frank Myler

Australian's such as Mal Meninga, Bob Fulton, Chris Anderson, Ricky Stewart, Laurie Daley, Arthur Beetson

Depends how far down the list of players you go to still call them great and how far down the list of coaches you go to still call them successful.

So, of course they can. Some do some don't.

The context is irelevant, Wane was not a great player.

What are you talking about? I, nor anyone else other than you has mentioned Wane. There is a thread on the Wigan forum about Cunningham on which I posted something very similar to what I posted on this thread.

Jim Sullivan, Vince Karalius, Roger Millward (had reasonable success as a coach). So in answer to the question "can" the answer is an emphatic YES given the relatively high proportion of Hall Of Famers that have had successful coaching careers.