Dragons Linked To Stuart
The future of Ricky Stuart's coaching career in 2009 is assured, but which club he'll be at will be the issue with the Dragons now believed to be in the running for the current Australian coach.
Stuart's two-year deal with Cronulla expires at the end of 2008 and already interest in his services are hotting up.
It's been reported in the press today that St George Illawarra have expressed interest in replacing current coach Nathan Brown with Stuart. Brown will be entering into his 6th season at the Dragons next year and there's some at the Saints who believe that the club needs a change of direction. Brown does have the undeniable and unbackable support of Chief Executive Peter Doust and both men have remained close knit despite calls from supporters to have both removed from their positions.
Stuart has been linked in the past two months with a possible return to the Bulldogs where he finished his playing career and started his coaching career with a Premiership in the 2001 Jersey Flegg competition.
The Bulldogs coaching situation has two twists to be decided before they'll make a decision if and when to replace long serving coach Steve Folkes, who after Wayne Bennett is the longest serving current coach at one club and including Bennett is the longest serving coach to only be in control of the one club.
Much of Folkes' future firstly depends on the Bulldogs AGM in February next year and secondly results in the opening six rounds of the competition. If George Peponis retains control of the board next year following the board elections, then Folkes will see out the entire 2008 season and needs a blistering start to retain his position. Should the Peponis controlled board move into a new era, they'll look at either Stuart or Catalans Dragons coach Michael Potter as the replacement. Should Peponis lose control of the board (even though he will be elected unopposed as Chairman) the new coach will be Kevin Moore and it won't be any surprise to see him in the position sooner rather than later.
Brown took on the Dragons coaching position two years after his playing days ended and much of the criticism levelled at Brown has been his close association to the players being former teammates. The team Brown now has doesn't contain many (if any) of his former teammates, but in some ways he was thrown into the position too early where he was unable to stamp his authority as a coach.
The Sharks are desperate to re-sign Stuart whereas Stuart if he plays his cards right will be keen to hold off as the opportunity to coach at more stable clubs for coaches such as the Bulldogs and to a lesser extent the Dragons would be much more enticing for him then a club who does do away with their coaches fairly easily.
Four of the five coaches off contract at the end of 2008 are four of the five coaches who were in control of their teams in 2003 and in the case of Folkes and Bennett before that as well. North Queensland's Graham Murray came into the Cowboys coaching role during 2003 and Wests Tigers Tim Sheens became Wests Tigers coach at the start of 2003. Bennett's future at the Broncos is now clouded a big question mark and there's a chance that the 2009 season could complete a generational change of coaches.
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