The NRL’s current coaching darling and the red-hot favourite for Dally M Coach of the Year honours, Andrew Webster signed a four-year contract extension that will see him become the Warriors’ first 10-season coach.
Stability in the top job is viewed as crucial to premiership success, so we’re profiling the longest coaching tenure for every NRL club.
Brisbane Broncos: Wayne Bennett – 21 seasons (1988-2008)
The fledgling Broncos managed to lure Queensland Origin coach Bennett out of his commitment to take over as Canberra’s head coach in 1988. He co-coached the Raiders to a historic grand final appearance alongside Don Furner in 1987.
Bennett made some huge, controversial calls during the star-studded but underachieving Broncos’ early seasons – most notably sacking Maroons legend Wally Lewis as captain – but was ultimately vindicated as they became the dominant club of the 1990s.
After premierships in 1992-93, 1997-98, 2000 and 2006, Bennett’s unprecedented 21-year reign ended in 2008, accepting a deal to take over at St George Illawarra. He had earlier agreed to join the Roosters at the end of 2005 but backed out when the deal was revealed publicly against his wishes.
Bennett would rejoin the Broncos for a four-season stint that delivered a grand final appearance in 2015 but ended in bitter and acrimonious circumstances in 2018.
Canberra Raiders: Ricky Stuart – 13 seasons (2014-26)
A club legend and three-time premiership halfback in 203 games for Canberra from 1988-98, Queanbeyan-born Stuart returned home after coaching the Roosters to a rookie-season premiership in 2002 and another two grand finals, followed by stints at Cronulla (2007-10) and Parramatta (2013).
‘Sticky’ controversially walked out on the Eels one season (which reaped a wooden spoon) into a three-year deal to take over at the Raiders in 2014 – where he has remained ever since.
Currently in his 13th season coaching in the capital, the fourth-longest unbroken tenure in premiership history, Stuart has led the Raiders to six finals series, including a grand final in 2019 and a minor premiership in 2025.
Triple grand final-winning coach Tim Sheens was the club’s previous longest-serving coach courtesy of a nine-season stay (1988-96), while the Raiders have only had one fulltime head coach – Neil Henry (2007-08) – last less than four seasons in their 45-year history.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs: Steve Folkes – 11 seasons (1998-2008)
Malcolm Clift (1973-77), and premiership-winning coaches Ted Glossop (1978-83) and Chris Anderson (1990-97) all set records as Canterbury’s longest-serving mentor, before Folkes became only the third coach in history to lead a club in 10 consecutive seasons.
Folkes won four grand finals among 245 appearances as an industrious, hard-hitting back-rower for the Bulldogs and succeeded brother-in-law Anderson as Bulldogs coach in 1998, steering the club to a grand final from ninth in a 10-team finals series at his first attempt.
Six more finals series followed in the next nine seasons, navigating the devastating salary cap scandal of 2002 and players’ off-field incidents to guide the Bulldogs to their most recent title in 2004.
When he exited after the Bulldogs’ 2008 wooden spoon, Folkes’ unbroken tenure was second only to Bennett’s at the Broncos. Des Hasler coached the Bulldogs for six seasons (2012-17), while Cameron Ciraldo is currently in his fourth year at the helm.
Cronulla Sharks: John Lang – 8 seasons (1994-2001)
No coach had stayed at the helm at Cronulla for more than four straight seasons when former Test hooker John Lang – who had plenty of success coaching in the Brisbane premiership – arrived in 1994.
Lang immediately turned the battling Sharks’ fortunes around and took them to the finals for the first time in six years in 1995. The club would reach the finals six times in his eight seasons, including a Super League grand final in 1997 and a minor premiership in 1999.
The likable Lang joined Penrith in 2002 and won a grand final the following season.
Shane Flanagan, who ended Cronulla’s wait for a premiership in 2016 but also had two stints with the Sharks halted by NRL bans, coached the club across seven and a bit seasons, while current mentor Craig Fitzgibbon is in his fifth year.
Dolphins: Wayne Bennett – 2 seasons (2023-24) and Kristian Woolf – 2 seasons (2025-26)
Bennett sat out the 2022 season – the first time in 36 years he had not coached in the premiership – to prepare for the Dolphins’ NRL entry. After guiding the club through its first two seasons, he handed the reins to assistant Woolf and rejoined South Sydney.
A three-time Super League title-winner with St Helens, Woolf will have the honour of leading the Dolphins into their maiden finals series in 2026, his second season in charge.
Gold Coast Titans: John Cartwright – 8 seasons (2007-14)
A highly-rated assistant at the Roosters, former Penrith great Cartwright was installed as the Titans’ foundation coach and remained in the role until the latter stages of their eighth season.
Cartwright steered the Titans to top-four finishes in 2009-10, but a wooden spoon in 2011 marked the beginning of a difficult period for the club.
Current Newcastle coach Justin Holbrook, who was axed midway through his fourth season on the Gold Coast, is the Titans’ next-longest-serving coach.
The Gold Coast Giants/Seagulls/Chargers’ ill-fated 11-season tenure in the premiership was bookended by three-year coaching stints from Bob McCarthy and Phil Economidis.
Manly Sea Eagles: Des Hasler – 8 seasons (2004-11)
Bob Fulton’s 13 seasons in charge at Manly was a premiership record for any club, but they were split across two stints (1983-88 and 1993-99).
Hasler succeeded Peter Sharp in 2004 and led the Sea Eagles to two premierships in eight seasons but abruptly departed for Canterbury after the latter in 2011. He returned for another four-season spell at Manly in 2019.
Melbourne Storm: Craig Bellamy – 24 seasons (2003-26)
Chris Anderson guided Melbourne in its first three seasons and Mark Murray had the reins for two fruitless campaigns before rookie coach Craig Bellamy accepted the job in 2003. He’s been there ever since, overseeing one of the most extraordinary dynasties in Australian sport.
Discounting salary cap breaches penalties, Bellamy has taken the Storm to 11 grand finals for five wins, and nine minor premierships. This year will be only second time in Bellamy’s 24 seasons that Storm won’t feature in the finals and the first the club will finish with less than 13 wins.
Newcastle Knights: Michael Hagan – 6 seasons (2001-06) and Adam O’Brien – 6 seasons (2020-25)
Premiership-winning mentor Malcolm Reilly (1995-98) was the Knights’ longest-serving coach in their first 13 seasons. Former Newcastle skipper Hagan took over in 2001 and won a grand final at his first attempt, guiding the club for another five seasons before being poached by Parramatta.
O’Brien earned his reputation as an NRL-coach-in-waiting as an assistant at Melbourne and Sydney Roosters, taking over at the Knights in 2020 and immediately ending the club’s six-year finals drought.
Three more Top 8 finishes in the next four seasons followed by O’Brien was axed following a disastrous wooden spoon campaign in 2025.
North Queensland Cowboys: Graham Murray – 7 seasons (2002-08) and Paul Green – 7 seasons (2014-20)
After Grant Bell and Graham Lowe guided North Queensland in its first two seasons, the Cowboys have had just six fulltime coaches in 20 seasons with only Murray Hurst lasting less than four years in the job.
Murray, who steered the Cowboys to their first finals series and grand final, and maiden premiership-winning coach Green both exited during their seventh season in charge. The Cowboys qualified for the Top 8 in each of Green’s first four seasons, including two grand final appearances.
If he sees out the 2027 season, Todd Payten – who took the reins in 2021 – will become the longest-serving coach in Cowboys history.
Parramatta Eels: Brad Arthur – 11 seasons (2014-24)
Vic Hey set a long-standing Parramatta record by coaching the fledgling club for six seasons (1948-53), which was eventually equalled by John Monie (1984-89).
Brian Smith (1997-2006) became just the second coach to lead a club in 10 consecutive seasons, taking the Eels to seven finals series, two minor premierships and a grand final.
Arthur, who had a brief caretaker stint in late-2012, resumed as Parramatta’s head coach in 2014 after Ricky Stuart’s abrupt departure and stayed in the role for 11 seasons – the equal-fourth-longest unbroken stint in premiership history at the time.
Navigating the club’s salary cap dramas of 2016 and ending the Eels’ eight-year finals drought the following season, Arthur took the Eels to the 2022 grand final but was punted only a season and a half later. Jason Ryles is set to become only the second Eels coach since Smith to last longer than two years.
Penrith Panthers: Ivan Cleary – 8 seasons (2019-26)
Penrith’s second coach, Bob Boland, led the club for five seasons (1968-72) – which remained a record until Panthers legend Royce Simmons took over as a caretaker in late-1994 following Phil Gould’s departure.
Simmons assumed the fulltime job from the 1995 season and stayed for seven seasons, including two finals series, but was replaced by John Lang after collecting the 2001 wooden spoon.
Cleary’s initial four-season stint as Panthers coach was controversially cut short by GM Gould in 2015. But his second tenure has now lasted a record eight seasons – including becoming the first non-playing coach to win four straight premierships (2021-24). He will depart at the end of 2027.
St George Illawarra Dragons: Nathan Brown – 6 seasons (2003-08) and Paul McGregor – 6 seasons (2015-20)
After his playing career was cut short by a neck injury, the 29-year-old Brown was installed as the joint venture’s coach but he was unable to get a stacked roster to a grand final in six seasons and Wayne Bennett was brought in – with premiership-winning results.
Another St George Illawarra foundation player, McGregor took over from Steve Price as interim coach midway through 2014 and got the fulltime gig. Two finals series over the next five seasons was an underwhelming result and ‘Mary’ was dumped in late-2020 after beating Brown’s record by one game.
South Sydney Rabbitohs: Clive Churchill – 9 seasons (1965-73)
Charlie Lynch coached Souths in a then-record 11 seasons across two stints (1928-34 and 1937-40), winning four premierships. Fullback icon Churchill was the Rabbitohs’ captain-coach in his final season, 1958, before finishing his playing career in Queensland.
After an unsuccessful coaching stint at Canterbury, ‘The Little Master’ returned to Souths in 1967. His nine-season stay was the longest unbroken tenure in the competition’s history at the time and garnered four grand final victories, but he stepped down amid a wooden spoon season in 1975.
Two-time Dally M Coach of the Year George Piggins (1986-90) and Michael Maguire (2012-17), who oversaw the end of Souths’ 43-year premiership drought, are the only Rabbitohs coaches to last more than four seasons since.
Sydney Roosters: Trent Robinson – 14 seasons (2013-26)
Robinson has won three premierships and missed the finals just once during his 14 seasons in charge of the Roosters – the third-longest tenure of a coach at any club after Brisbane’s Bennett and Melbourne’s Bellamy.
The legendary Arthur ‘Pony’ Halloway, who coached Easts in 10 seasons all told, previously held the club’s unbroken stint record at six seasons (1933-38), while Phil Gould (1995-99) and Ricky Stuart (2002-06) later helmed the Roosters in five consecutive campaigns.
Warriors: Ivan Cleary – 6 seasons (2006-11)
Long-serving coaches have not been the Warriors’ forte, but Cleary’s stint stands out like a beacon. The club’s 2002 grand final fullback returned as an assistant in 2005 and was installed as head coach the following season, taking the Warriors to four finals series in six years.
But their 2011 grand final appearance was bittersweet, with the club letting Cleary join Penrith at the end of the year rather than granting him the length of extension he was seeking – a decision widely regarded as the worst in Warriors history by long-suffering fans.
That pain has only been assuaged by the arrival of Andrew Webster, who will become only the second Warriors coach to see out four seasons in charge this year. Daniel Anderson and Stephen Kearney both exited during their fourth campaigns.
Already signed to the end of 2028 – which would see him equal Cleary’s mark – Webster recently penned an extension tying him to Auckland until 2032.
Wests Tigers: Tim Sheens – 10 seasons (2003-12)
Wayne Pearce stepped down after coaching Wests Tigers in their first season and Terry Lamb lasted two years, before the vastly experienced Sheens took over for a decade-long tenure that delivered an extraordinary premiership win in just three years but ultimately garnered only three Top 8 finishes.
Sheens would return for one ill-fated season in 2023, handing the reins to novice Benji Marshall a year earlier than originally planned.
In a fortnight’s time, Marshall will become only the second coach to have led the Tigers through three entire campaigns start to finish.