The coaching tree: How 44 of the last 45 grand finals can be linked to seven coaches

Regardless of the result this coming weekend, it would be remiss of us to not take serious consideration to the thought that Craig Bellamy is the best rugby league coach.

Ever.

Bellayche coaches in a record 11th grand final this weekend. More than any coach, ever.

Yes, St George won eleven straight back in the day, but they had different men at the helm throughout. Ken Kearney won the most with five.

Wayne Bennett has coached in ten deciders, Ivan Cleary's four-peat and two other finals is still to be reckoned with. It seems a bit more time and what occurs moving forward will cement that one way or the other due to his relative youth.

Jack Gibson coached in five and won them all.

Craig Bellamy is 67 years old on Friday. By close of play Sunday he could have an official fourth premiership on his record.

He did win two other grand finals, in 2007 and 2009, yet they were both expunged titles due to salary cap breaches at the Melbourne Storm.

Fans of and clubs other than the Melbourne outfit will be happy to say those premierships don't exist. But many, including myself, know that there's a bit more to it than that.

When rejoicing at Bellamy's 11th appearance at the big dance, every masthead and broadcast didn't add an asterisk next to the ‘salary cap breach' finals. So, it seems the game officially recognises the Storm got there at least.

I would like to say Craig Bellamy has already won six grand finals (that's a fact) out of ten. On Sunday, it could be seven out of eleven. Simply amazing.

Standing in his way is Broncos coach Michael Maguire. One of the few men to have won a premiership on both sides of the world with South Sydney in Australia and Wigan in the UK.

Maguire is a coach who has re-invigorated the boys from Red Hill in Brisbane, after ensuring New South Wales won their only series of the last four. After inspiring the Kiwis to beat the Aussies 30-0 in the 2023 Pacific Championships Final against all odds.

If ‘Madge' has been one of the better coaches of the last decade, maybe it's not coincidence.

He was Bellamy's main assistant coach in the early days of Melbourne Storm under Bellamy.

While Bellamy gets praised for his ‘tough training', Maguire has copped rumours of players complaining about training being too tough!

They are both cut from similar cloth. A coaching journey where the key learnings came from their playing days.

Three weeks ago, I wrote about the evolution of the coach in rugby league. And we are about to go into a big weekend where we can reflect on this.

In that piece, I made mention of the fact that Tim Sheens and Wayne Bennett coached teams to victory in eight of the premierships on offer between 1989 and 2000 and then both added another in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

I then continued with the fact that a protégé of both Sheens and Bennett, Craig Bellamy would go on to make a splash in the game with clipboard in hand.

Of course, this weekend, Bellamy squares off against another Sheens acolyte, Maguire.

Whatever the result, either way, it will be another premiership win for the Tim Sheens coaching tree.

If Melbourne win, another celebratory bauble can be hung on Wayne Bennett's coaching tree as well as that of Sheens.

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Wayne Bennett has won seven premierships all to himself, and he has been a direct mentor of premiership winners Craig Bellamy and Paul Green, so we can attribute a further four (or six if you include the two that were taken off the Storm due to salary cap irregularity). Craig Bellamy might add another to this tree this weekend.

Since his first premiership win in 1989, Tim Sheens went on to win three others. His first-generation footy offspring Craig Bellamy, Michael Maguire and Paul Green have since won six (or eight).

This weekend, Tim Sheens will have had an impact on eight of the nineteen Grand Finals that have been played. It will be nine (or eleven) from twenty by the time the trophy is lifted on Sunday.

Considering the old master Wayne Bennett has won over half of the premierships on his coaching tree, and is still a current coach, the Sheens legacy is the one that stands out over the last two decades.

Using that same measure, how many other coaching trees have produced such success?

Jack Gibson, the Australian Coach of the (20th) Century, won five himself, before his former player John Monie added one as a coach in 1986.

Another Gibson follower, Brian Smith, despite never winning a premiership himself, played a huge role in the development of three-time premiership winner Trent Robinson and 2015 title winner Paul Green.

Warren Ryan, the double premiership winner and first coach to truly challenge Jack Gibson for the ‘supercoach' moniker in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has mentored five premiership winning coaches in Chris Anderson, Phil Gould, Michael Hagan, Steve Folkes and Shane Flanaghan. Between them, they have won five premierships since 1988.

Ron Willey coached Manly to two titles in the early 1970's, and two of his best players Frank Stanton and Bob Fulton added two each between them. Mal Reilly added another title with Newcastle in 1997

When we look at third generation coaching trees take on an even more significant role.

In the table below, the winning coaches had to be either a part player of, or assistant to, the coach they are linked to.

Grand Final Winning Coaches and their Coaching Tree Links Since 1972

* Title revoked due to salary cap breaches.

Since 1981, 44 of the 45 grand finals have been won by, or by first-generation or second-generation descendants of seven coaches: Jack Gibson, Warren Ryan, Tim Sheens, Wayne Bennett, Brian Smith, Ron Willey or Bob Fulton  

Since 2004, that coaching crowd can be linked to every single Grand Final win.

Including the one that will be crowned this Sunday.

Lee Addison is a former Sea Eagles and Panthers coach and the founder of rugbyleaguecoach.com.au. His recently published book ‘Rugby League Coach' is available now on Amazon and www.rugbyleaguecoach.com.au