The guillotine is hovering over Michael Maguire at Wests Tigers – and the media and fans are baying for the end of his three-and-a-bit-season tenure at the long-suffering club with the bloodlust of a crowd of gawkers at a medieval execution.
Mid-season coach sackings were once rare in rugby league but now occur almost with the frequency of the notoriously fickle English Premier League.
Here we take a look at every club’s historical propensity for getting rid of their gaffer midway through a campaign.
BRISBANE BRONCOS
Kevin Walters is only the Broncos’ fifth full-time coach, with Wayne Bennett guiding the club in 25 of its 34 seasons.
The hapless Anthony Seibold is sole Brisbane coach to not see out a season, sacked after his team won just two of their first 13 games on the way to the 2020 wooden spoon. Peter Gentle performed caretaker duties for the remaining seven games of the campaign.
CANBERRA RAIDERS
The Raiders boast one of the league’s most respectable records in terms of mid-campaign coach axings. In their four-decade history, David Furner is the only gaffer to meet an untimely demise – shown the door three rounds from the end of a tumultuous 2013 season, his fifth in charge.
Unfortunately for Furner, his only other top-level head coach gig ended early, sacked by Leeds during 2019.
CANTERBURY BULLDOGS
Canterbury broke a 67-year unblemished streak of letting coaches keep their dignity when they punted Kevin Moore with eight rounds of their 2011 campaign left. The Bulldogs were ultimately edged out of a Top 8 spot on for-and-against after caretaker Jim Dymock led them to five wins.
Dean Pay, a former teammate of Moore’s, met an identical fate in 2020. The highly-touted ex-Storm and Eels assistant had the rug pulled out from under him after Round 9 of his third season at the helm, with serial caretaker Steve Georgallis filling in for the rest of a difficult year.
CRONULLA SHARKS
Having multiple coaches in one season only became part of the Sharks’ M.O. relatively recently.
Declaring that he felt he no longer had the players’ support, Ricky Stuart fell on his sword with eight rounds of the 2010 season still to play – becoming the first Cronulla coach to fail to see out a season.
Stuart’s exit allowed Shane Flanagan to make an early start to his tenure. The club’s peptides scandal meant Peter Sharp coached the Sharks for the first two rounds of 2013 before Flanagan resumed. Sharp took the reins again in 2014 with Flanagan stood down, then offloaded the duties to Jamie Shepherd after Round 16.
The Sharks parted ways with John Morris in a messy exit five weeks into 2021, having announced Craig Fitzgibbon as their coach for 2022 and beyond. Josh Hannay performed admirably in a caretaker capacity.
GOLD COAST TITANS
The Titans carry the unflattering record of having ditched all three of their previous full-time head coaches.
Foundation coach John Cartwright was let go with four rounds of the 2014 season remaining. He was replaced by Neil Henry, who in turn was shown the door two matches out from the end of 2017 – less than a year after steering the club to the finals.
Highly-rated successor Garth Brennan lasted less than two seasons, punted after Round 17 of the 2019 campaign. Craig Hodges – alongside Terry Matterson and Luke Burt, respectively – filled the caretaker role after Henry’s and Brennan’s axings.
MANLY SEA EAGLES
The only coach Manly got rid of mid-season was their first one. The fledgling club’s board shoved Harold Johnston after an 0-5 start to their foundation 1947 campaign – including a 61-11 loss to St George – and brought in Easts legend Ray Stehr.
The only other coach to depart midway through a season was a Sea Eagles icon, the unsackable Bob Fulton, who brought the curtain down on a glittering career after his charges lost their first seven games in 1999.
MELBOURNE STORM
Premiership-winning foundation coach Chris Anderson is the only mentor to leave Melbourne mid-season, quitting seven rounds into 2001 as poor results and a falling out with club management created an untenable situation.
Mark Murray was handed the caretaker reins and stayed until the end of 2002, when Craig Bellamy was recruited to begin arguably the greatest club coaching tenure in premiership history.
NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
The Knights split with Allan McMahon with eight rounds of a dismal 1991 season left, having reached a fifth-place playoff under their foundation coach the year before. David Waite took over and remained at the helm until the end of 1994.
Roosters-bound Brian Smith walked out on the club a month out from the end of the 2009 regular season. Caretaker Rick Stone got the Knights to the finals and stayed in the job until Wayne Bennett’s arrival at the end of 2011.
Stone was reinstalled as head coach in 2015 – starting the year 4-0 – but was fired with five rounds remaining, with Knights legend Danny Buderus slotting in.
Nathan Brown endured an ugly finish to his four-season stint in charge, walking out with two matches of the 2019 season to play after dumping Jesse Ramien, confronting CEO Phil Gardner about his future and watching the Knights meekly surrender in a 46-4 loss to the Tigers.
NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Few clubs have a historically itchier trigger finger when it comes to coaches than the Warriors – which may make Nathan Brown, currently sporting an 8-18 record in charge of the nomadic outfit, a tad nervous.
Inaugural coach John Monie’s difficult tenure was vetoed halfway through the 1997 Super League season, replaced by Frank Endacott, who kept the job until the end of 1998.
The Warriors’ first successful coach, Daniel Anderson, left of his own volition (and against the hierarchy’s wishes) after a 3-8 start to 2004 marked by player unrest. Long-serving assistant Tony Kemp took over until the end of 2005.
Popular ex-Kiwis coach Brian ‘Bluey’ McClennan was brutally punted with just two games of his maiden season remaining after succeeding Ivan Cleary in 2012. The Warriors’ next hire, the experienced Matthew Elliott, also met an early demise – knifed after an ugly Round 4 loss in 2014, despite wins in their previous two games.
Elliott’s assistant, Andrew McFadden, stayed in the role until the end of 2016 before being passed over for Stephen Kearney.
Eighteen months after ending the Warriors’ finals drought – and only six games into a three-year extension and four games into the NRL’s post-COVID resumption – ‘Mooks’ was staggeringly given his pink slip six rounds into 2020.
Caretaker Todd Payten turned down the full-time gig in a bizarre on-air backflip, which saw the Warriors panic buy Nathan Brown.
NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
The Cowboys aren’t far behind fellow 1995 entrants the Warriors when it comes to coaches failing to see out a season.
Tim Sheens’ rocky and wildly unsuccessful five-season reign in Townsville ended during the first half of 2001, stepping down due to stress-related health concerns. Reserve grade coach Murray Hurst took over and was reappointed for 2002, only to be punted just three rounds into the campaign.
Graham Murray took the seemingly poisoned chalice and steered the club to three Top 8 finishes and a grand final in six years but was informed early in 2008 that Neil Henry would be taking over at the end of the season. Murray intended to see out the year but stepped down after Round 10, with Ian Millward caretaking.
Premiership-winning mentor Paul Green became the third of five coaches to be sacked during the COVID-interrupted 2020 season – his seventh in charge – with Josh Hannay taking over for the second half of the year prior to Todd Payten’s arrival.
PARRAMATTA EELS
Parramatta lasted until 2006 before parting ways with a coach mid-campaign. Nine-year coach Brian Smith was informed pre-season that Michael Hagan would be taking his job from 2007 and he pulled up stumps after Round 10. Jason Taylor subsequently became the first caretaker coach to steer a team to the finals.
Stephen Kearney is the only other Eels mentor to fail to finish a season – and again it was the coach’s call. The New Zealander left amicably with six rounds of the 2012 season to go, with Brad Arthur plugging the gap until Ricky Stuart took up the head coach position.
PENRITH PANTHERS
The Panthers’ recent history of knifing coaches mid-tenure is chequered to say the least.
English captain coach Mike Stephenson relinquished the coaching duties to Barry Harris late in the 1975 season. Premiership mentor Phil Gould packed up and left with six rounds of the 1994 campaign left – and just a fortnight after being banished from the Shark Park sideline by referee Bill Harringan.
Royce Simmons took the caretaker reins and stayed in the job until the end of 2001, heralding a period of almost 17 years of relatively stability. But Matt Elliott’s sacking during the 2011 campaign (with Steve Georgallis filling in for the last 11 rounds) marked the start of a brutal period for Penrith coaches.
Ivan Cleary was punted in a shock move by general manager Gould at the end of 2015 – but at least he was allowed to see out the year first.
His replacement, Anthony Griffin, wasn’t so lucky. ‘Hook’ was hooked with five rounds of the 2018 season remaining, despite the team sitting fifth on the ladder at the time, as ‘Gus’ again did as he pleased.
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
St George Illawarra’s history doesn’t bode well for Anthony Griffin’s chances of avoiding another midyear exit at some point.
Inaugural coach David Waite was muscled out less than nine months after the joint venture’s debut-season grand final appearance, with assistant Andrew Farrar taking over for the last five rounds of 2000 and the following two seasons.
Nathan Brown and Wayne Bennett saw out their contracts, but Steve Price got the tap on the shoulder after Round 10 in 2014 and caretaker/successor Paul McGregor was belatedly axed with six matches of 2020 left – making him the fifth NRL coach to get the chop mid-season that year.
SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Club legend Bob McCarthy returned to struggling Souths in 1994 and steered the club to a stunning pre-season Challenge Cup triumph. But his role had already been altered to accommodate Ken Shine, who was effectively installed as a co-coach, with new football manager Alan Jones pulling the strings behind the scenes.
McCarthy stood down after just five weeks of the premiership, citing health reasons (a hip problem). Despite the diplomatic line, media reports claimed the ever-controversial Jones had virtually forced McCarthy’s hand, allowing Shine to take sole charge of the first-grade side.
Former Norths coach Steve Martin succeeded Shine ahead of the 1998 season but lasted a mere 18 games, leading the Rabbitohs to just three wins and feuding with star players. Craig Coleman took his place.
Paul Langmack had a disastrous season and a half at the helm before the Souths board ran out of patience halfway through 2004, with Premier League coach Arthur Kitinas filling the breach for the rest of the year.
SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Job security for Roosters coaches was tenuous at best during the 1990s and 2000s.
A 10-match winless streak culminated in Russell Fairfax’s sacking with eight rounds to go in 1990. Kiwi back-rower Hugh McGahan finished the year as one of the premiership’s last captain-coaches.
Mark Murray got the Easts head coach job from 1991 but it ended bitterly, cut loose after 14 rounds of the 1994 season. The legendary Arthur Beetson – who had two previous stints as Roosters coach – saw the team through to the end of the year.
Dual premiership-winning coach Chris Anderson succeeded Ricky Stuart in 2007, but it quickly became apparent the game had passed him by. After winning just five of 16 games, ‘Opes’ jumped before he was pushed and caretaker Brad Fittler led the Tricolours on a spirited late-season run to land the fulltime gig.
WESTS TIGERS
Remarkably, despite the joint venture’s chronic underperformance in the pre-and post-Sheens eras, Michael Maguire would be only the second Wests Tigers coach to be ferried out the door in the midst of an NRL campaign.
There is some concerning symmetry as ‘Madge’ heads into this Friday’s crunch game with the Warriors, however: Jason Taylor was punted at the end of Round 3 in 2017, following back-to-back heavy losses to Penrith and Canberra.
Andrew Webster took the caretaker reins for two games before Ivan Cleary came on-board for an ultimately truncated stint that still fills Tigers fans with white-hot fury.