Right balance the key among player contract frenzy

The fact the match at Brookvale is indeed the match of the round is testament to coaches Paul McGregor and Trent Barrett. Both featured prominently in “first coach sacked" markets but, spending any time around McGregor during preseason, he looked to be a man decidedly unburdened. It’s now quite apparent, it was not an act.

In rugby league terms, the term “post-season review” is often code for conducting straw polls in board rooms. However, one of the key findings of the review undertaken by the Dragons at the end of last season was that McGregor was forced to wear more hats within club walls than any other coach in the NRL.

After admittedly trying to “micromanage” departments last year – in part due to necessity – McGregor’s  found success in 2017 by stepping back. For that he deserves plenty of credit – it was a ballsy move to make in an off-contract year. 

Most tellingly, in 2017, player contract negotiations are completely the realm of recruitment chief Ian Millaward. Player contract talks had a major destabilising influence on the club last season.

With the likes of Gareth Widdop and Josh Dugan off-contract, it had the potential to be an even bigger issue this season but that’s now a headache Millward is employed to have. 

Employing a coach purely to coach the football team seems a novel idea in the modern game, but it’s paying dividends for McGregor and the Dragons.

It makes Kickoff wonder if other clubs would benefit from putting just a few more degrees of separation between their coaching and recruitment departments.

Jason Taylor has made it clear his demise was predominantly the result of getting bogged down in salary cap matters, first with Robbie Farah and then with the poorly dubbed ‘big four’. 

At Canterbury, questions over Des Hasler’s future at the club was on shaky ground due to poor recruitment decisions. The reports are that his new two-year deal came with the stipulation he cede some control, including on recruitment matters. McGregor’s success this year shows that may not be a bad thing. 

It was Jack Gibson who said the best coaches are the best recruiters. Only a fool would question the wisdom of the mastercoach, but Gibson never coached within the modern NRL salary cap.

Player managers weren’t stockpiling talent at clubs, players did not sign multi-million deals with rival clubs years in advance and player movements were not the preoccupation of a ravenous 24-hour news cycle. We currently don’t even have a salary cap figure for 2018.

Managing that colossal poo fight is a full-time job.

We’re still unlikely to see recruitment managers sacked after a string of losses, but a good one can certainly help keep a coach in their job.