Captian-coach days are numbered | Northern Rivers Rugby League | NRL Rugby in Northern Rivers

Kyogle’s Clinton Horne (right) is one of seven playing coaches in the NRRRL this season.

NORTHERN United coach Chris Binge believes the days of the captain-coach in the Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League competition are numbered, and the statistics back him up.

Binge believes the modern demands of running an unlimited interchange bench while also analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing team is too big a job for a captain-coach and a quick look at the competition ladder lends credibility to that view.

Five of the six top sides are coached by non-playing mentors while six of the bottom eight sides are run by captain-coaches.

The last captain-coach to taste success in the old Group One competition was Dean Callaway when he took the Grafton Ghosts to a premiership in 2002.

“In my opinion I think it is too big a job to be a captain-coach these days,” Binge said.

“One, you have to coach; two, you have to play; and three, you have to recruit and retain players. That's a big job.

“I was a captain-coach at (Lismore) Workers for two years and I really struggled. The balance you need to strike in this comp now is that you need to run your bench and look closely at the opposition to make a change at the right time.

“Coaching from the sideline I think gives you an advantage because you have a bit more of an open view of the game and if you are captain-coach that is taken away.

“Also, if you are captain-coach you are generally one of the strike players and once the adrenaline kicks in during a game I think it can be hard to make the best decisions for a team because you not only have to be worried about your job as a player but also as a coach.”

Flying in the face of Binge's assessment, however, is that Lower Clarence currently sits atop the NRRRL ladder and they are guided by captain-coach Dallas Waters.

However, Waters has missed half of the season through injury.

“I can see where Chris is coming from and if you look at the comp recently most clubs that have had success have had a non-playing coach,” Waters said.

“I don't see too much of a problem with a captain-coach though. I keep an overall eye on the team and I have a good assistant running the bench to a plan that we've worked out before the match.

“If there is an injury we have to juggle things differently but it's not too hard to adapt to things as they go. I would say that sometimes you have a better view of what's happening on the field because you can see what individuals are doing.

“At the moment it's working for us and we'll stick to what we're doing and hopefully we can change that perception maybe.”

THE old Group One competition has a healthy tradition with successful captain-coaches.

As Callaway did with Ghosts, Brian Purtell also took Kyogle to a premiership.

Ross Conlon did likewise with Casino RSM and David Grant took the Bush Turkeys to a grand final.

In recent years former NRL players Hudson Smith and Wise Kativerata have been in charge at Kyogle with varying degrees of success.

NRRRL president Robin Harley said the common denominator for success with a captain-coach was that they came to a club that already had a number of strong players.

“To be fair about the guys who won premierships they came to clubs where they had the cattle,” Harley said.

“I can see why clubs go for a captain-coach because it's a way of bringing someone into the mix and paying them some money when there are not really any other options but that works the other way with appointing a non-playing coach allowing you to spend more on players.

“But I believe bringing a captain-coach to a club with NRL experience in particular can really open the eyes of some locals to how they do it in Sydney.”

Harley said the NRRRL was working with the Gold Coast Titans to try and encourage more former NRL players to take up captain-coach opportunities in the area.

“The Country Rugby League has set up a program which can put blokes in touch with clubs,” Harley said.

“And we are working hard with the Titans to try and get them to feed their players who have finished with the NRL down this way.

“It will still be fairly infrequent but it would be good to get a player every now and again.

“I believe it is getting a bit harder to get the high profile captain-coach because someone just out of the NRL could go to the Queensland Cup or go overseas but we're trying to encourage them to come down here.”