Formers players as coaches
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@taniwharugby said in Formers players as coaches:
@Chris-B think it applies in the real world too though, some are meant to lead, others better as a 2IC.
Yeah - probably a lot of great leaders who get winnowed out by their shit technical skills - and a lot of shit leaders who get promoted on the back of being great technicians (or brilliant corporate snipers)!
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@junior said in Formers players as coaches:
Not only that, but he's far more likely to get a rookie coaching gig within a pro organisation (particularly one he's previously represented) than someone coming straight out of the amateurs
That is more it. There has absolutely been a bias towards ex-All Blacks progressing in the NZ system at Super Rugby level and for the high performance teams - just look at the difference in the run Robertson got vs Penny with similar ITM Cup records and countless other examples. Would Milton Haig have cakewalked into a job like SJK did? Unlikely.
Rennie, Boyd and Plumtree all had to take the long way around to even get a sniff of a head coaching role. Cotter has applied for two Super roles unsuccessfully despite a stellar record.
I guess Rassie has blown a hole in this but outside of him and Wayne Smith (who as a head coach hardly had a stellar record) & Underwood are there any ex-players with a tenured international career that have been prominent in the pro-era? Mostly provincial journeymen who slipped in a few rep caps. The template seems to be obvious yet we persist with ex-ABs.
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@rotated It's probably an error to think that there's any real template for success. It's more about the individual. Measuring success by winning World Cups, every one of our pro era Head Coaches had a failure - Henry and Hansen also won one.
After 2011, we've been sold a continuity template - and there's plenty to be said for not throwing the baby out with the bathwater - but, you still need to look at the individual. Continuity didn't work in 2019 and my jury at least is far from convinced about Fozzie.
Perhaps another point that shouldn't be missed is that the ex-players who are coming through now are sort of a second generation of pro player coaches. Guys who spent most of their professional playing careers in proper professional environments.
So I'd differentiate them from e.g. someone like Jeff Wilson who tinkered a bit, and a bit unsuccessfully, with coaching - but played 1992-2002, but even in his pro-era playing days was probably in environments where mainly the coaches were still feeling their way and learning what pro coaching was all about.
Edit: Clive Woodward can be added to Rassie.
