Sacked Manly coach Des Hasler joins a select few premiership winning mentors on the open market, which will ramp up the pressure on four NRL coaches to perform or perish in 2023.
Dragons coach Anthony Griffin and Knights counterpart Adam O’Brien lead a list of four mentors whose teams need to improve dramatically with Hasler joining former Sharks mentor Shane Flanagan and New Zealand coach Michael Maguire as the only premiership winning coaches on the open market.
Read on for the NRL coaches most under pressure heading into 2023.
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ANTHONY GRIFFIN
The St George Illawarra Dragons coach is the early favourite to be the first coach sacked in 2023 as conjecture over his future continues to plague his tenure at the club.
Griffin is entering his third season at the helm of the Dragons having won just 20 of his 48 games for a win percentage of 41.7.
The 56-year-old is yet to lead the club to the finals in his two seasons in charge, with the Dragons finishing 11th in 2021 with just eight wins and 10th last season, with 12 wins and 12 losses.
Griffin has been criticised for his unwillingness to blood the club’s promising juniors in Tyrell Sloan and Jayden Sullivan, who have both requested releases to join the Dolphins and Bulldogs respectively.
The fact that just two players in Ben Hunt and Zac Lomax attended the Dragons’ end of season awards night added to rumours Griffin has lost the dressing room.
Reports emerged last season some of the younger players in the team were unhappy with Griffin playing favourites with his former Broncos’ contingent of Hunt, Andrew McCullough and Josh McGuire.
Griffin is also under fire for his recruitment strategy of paying for part of underperforming players’ bloated contracts at other clubs, including Moses Mbye and McCullough and investing in an ageing forward pack including Aaron Woods and George Burgess, who failed to light the world on fire in 2022.
However, the biggest issue Griffin faces is his inability to improve the side’s defence with the Dragons conceding a whopping 569 points, the fifth most of any team in the NRL in 2022.
Dragons skipper Hunt admitted recently that if the club doesn’t start strongly next season, Griffin is gone, which shows just how precarious his tenure at the club is.
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ADAM O’BRIEN
The Knights coach is arguably the second favourite to be sacked in 2023 unless the Knights can make a dramatic turnaround after a dismal 2022 campaign.
The Knights went from the top eight in 2021 to 14th last season and finished just four points off the wooden spoon with a measly six wins.
The club failed to replace their most important player in halfback Mitchell Pearce, who was let go with a year to run on his contract to join Super League side Catalans.
Jake Clifford and Adam Clune failed to cement the No.7 role as the Knights looked rudderless in attack and the mid-season signing of Anthony Milford couldn’t inspire a turnaround.
The club’s failure to lure Luke Brooks from the Tigers left the club without a recognised first grade halfback to guide the team around and it showed.
Reports the Knights are close to landing Brooks for 2023 will help, but he is not a silver bullet and hardly a like for like replacement for Pearce, while they have plenty of issues to address in other areas.
O’Brien even sensationally admitted the Knights’ season would have been much different had they been able to land Brooks for 2022.
In another damning assessment O’Brien admitted he could have less than eight weeks to turn things around next season or it could be curtains for his time in Newcastle.
O’Brien has won just 29 of his 70 matches at the Knights heading into his fourth season in charge for a win percentage of 41.4.
The Knights made the finals in his first two seasons, but struggled to make an impact when they got there, while they were lucky to avoid the spoon in 2022.
Heading into the final year of his contract, O’Brien’s biggest issue is getting the team’s culture back on track after skipper Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann’s infamous toilet cubicle saga, while out injured.
Second to that, the Knights need to improve their defence dramatically after they conceded the third most points in the NRL last season, a whopping 662.
The impact their poor defence had on their spluttering attack was evident, as they scored the second fewest points in the NRL with 372.
O’Brien has a massive off-season to improve his side’s fitness, attack and defence or he could find himself replaced less than two months into the 2023 season.
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JUSTIN HOLBROOK
The Titans were arguably the most disappointing team in 2022 going from within a pass of the semi-finals last year to 13th and just two losses off the wooden spoon.
Holbrook’s side won just six games all season taking his tally to 25 wins from 70 matches for a win percentage of 35.7 over his three seasons at the helm of the Titans.
The 46-year-old came under fire for his worrying recruitment and retention strategy, which saw him let skipper and halfback Jamal Fogarty leave to put his faith in four game rookie Toby Sexton.
Fogarty went on to shine at the Raiders as they made it to the semi-finals, while Sexton barely fired a shot before being dropped to reserve grade late in the season.
Holbrook also came under fire for his use of $1 million plus star David Fifita, who failed to live up to his price tag again in 2022.
Fifita was confoundingly used off the bench for much of the season and struggled to make an impact apart from a number of brilliant solo tries that were few and far between.
AJ Brimson’s switch to five-eighth to accommodate another rookie in Jayden Campbell at fullback was a failure and he was returned to the No.1 jersey late in the season.
The Titans’ woes in the halves saw them invest in ageing playmaker Kieran Foran on a two-year deal, which shows Holbrook’s recruitment strategy was flawed to go with a rookie spine in 2022 and he has backtracked.
The recruitment of Sam Verrills is much needed as the Titans have paid the price for playing without a recognised dummyhalf over the last couple of seasons, with Erin Clark used in the role with little success.
The Titans also need to address their woeful defence after they conceded the fourth most points in the NRL last season with 662.
Holbrook has shown he can win titles in the Super League and can perform in the NRL as he did in 2021, but that appears the only thing to have spared him the axe last season.
Holbrook faces a huge test to turn things around in time for next season with a largely similar roster or his head will be on the chopping block.
KEVIN WALTERS
On the evidence of the Broncos’ first three quarters of the 2022 season, Kevin Walters shouldn’t be under any pressure at all, but their dismal season fade out sees him fighting for his future at Red Hill.
The Broncos were in the top four after 19 rounds but lost five of their remaining six games to slip out of the top eight and finish ninth.
The Broncos still improved on their dismal 2021 campaign and are trending in the right direction, but that is simply not good enough for this success starved former powerhouse that demands premierships.
The Broncos haven’t won a title since 2006, which is 16 long years and Walters is under pressure to finish in the top four next season.
Entering into the final year of his three year deal, Walters knows that only a top four finish can help him secure his long-term future and he wants to go further and chase premiership success.
However, the Broncos have a young squad that probably means any potential premiership success is still a couple of years away at least.
Outgoing playmaker Tyson Gamble’s assertion that skipper Adam Reynolds is more influential on the Broncos playing group and team tactics than the coach was a damning indictment on Walters’ credentials, despite denials from the captain and the club that is the case.
Brisbane ultimately have to decide if Walters is the right man to bring them their next title and he will need to start next season strongly to earn a contract extension.
If the Broncos start 2023 slowly then the knives will sharpen for Walters and at the very least they will consider bringing in a new coach for 2024 and cutting Kevvie’s tenure to three years maximum.
