Ranking the 12 Super League head coaches

Super League head coaches come and go, many leave a lasting legacy whilst others go out with a whimper.

With Super League’s 26th season just around the corner, the 12 top-flight bosses will be putting their last preparations in place.

But, just how would each coach be rated on paper?

12. John Duffy – Leigh Centurions

Sorry Leigh fans! But, really there could only be one candidate for last place. Yet to coach in Super League – with all his coaching career taking place in the lower divisions – John Duffy has the tough task of keeping Leigh in the top-flight after the club won the race for the last Super League spot. He has won 26 from 39 games with the Centurions in the Championship since 2019, but the first tier is an altogether different kettle of fish.

11. Brett Hodgson – Hull FC

It’s hard to rank a coach that is in his first big job, so inevitably, Brett Hodgson has to be near the bottom. After staff roles in the UK, Hodgson returned to Wests Tigers for the 2018 season as an assistant coach and head coach for the feeder team, the Western Suburbs Magpies. With expectation high amongst the Hull faithful – as well as ambitious owner Adam Pearson – Hodgson will have to make an impact – and quickly.

10. Chris Chester – Wakefield Trinity

With a mere 41% win rate over a period of five seasons and nearly 150 games, Chris Chester simply cannot be listed any higher than ninth. His Trinity side finished second-bottom in 2020 with the club apparently going backwards with each passing year. There’s little wonder, then, that Chester is the favourite to lose his job first.

9. Richard Marshall – Salford Red Devils

Why is Richard Marshall 9th and not 10th, 11th or 12th? Because he has been learning from the absolute best the past few seasons. Understudy to Justin Holbrook and then Kristian Woolf at St Helens, Marshall may not have had a head coaching role in the Super League – he was number one for four years at Halifax – but he is certainly primed and ready.

8. Tony Smith – Hull KR

If you were judging Tony Smith on his time at Warrington and Leeds, then he would be in the top three no doubt. However, much like his first coaching job at Huddersfield, the Australian is struggling at Hull KR. Smith has won just 9 from 32 games since taking over in 2019, leaving him with a 28% win rate. He is above Chester by the fact that I believe Smith will be able to inspire Hull KR to have a better year in 2021.

7. Steve McNamara – Catalans Dragons

Surprisingly, Steve McNamara is joint-favourite with Chris Chester to lose his job first, even though the former England coach took Catalans to the play-offs in 2020. McNamara has actually won the same amount of games he has lost as the Dragons’ boss, but one draw hands him a 49% win rate. It’s perhaps unfair to see him ranked so low, but McNamara just doesn’t seem to fit in the south of France.

6. Steve Price – Warrington Wolves

With 56 wins in 91 games, a 62% win rate and a Challenge Cup success in 2019, it may be bizarre to see Steve Price this low down on the list. But, the Warrington boss just isn’t that popular with the Wolves’ faithful, mainly because he has brought in the likes of Gareth Widdop who haven’t performed. His brand of rugby also leaves a lot to be desire and, before Price announced he would be leaving at the end of 2021, many were calling for his head.

5. Daryl Powell – Castleford Tigers

If 2020 hadn’t have ended so abysmally for Castleford, finishing eighth with just two wins after lockdown, then Daryl Powell may well have been higher up the pecking order. However, with the worst season under his belt as Tigers boss completed, Powell will now be looking at 2021 to redeem himself. A 59% win rate from over 200 games is not to be sniffed at, but the past few years have seen the West Yorkshire side slip further from the heights of 2017. It’s up to the ex-Leeds and Featherstone head coach to turn that around.

4. Richard Agar – Leeds Rhinos

Richard Agar is somewhat of a quandary as a head coach. Far from popular at Hull FC and Wakefield, he has somehow transformed that reputation with a Challenge Cup success in 2020 with Leeds. With less than 50% win rates at FC and Trinity, Agar’s appointment at the Rhinos was perhaps surprising. He has, however, justified that choice with 21 wins from 36 games and a trophy-winning year last season. It will be interesting to see if the Yorkshireman can build on that in 2021.

3. Ian Watson – Huddersfield Giants

There may be some eyebrows raised at Ian Watson occupying third spot, but after guiding Salford to a Grand Final in 2019 and then a Challenge Cup Final in2020, no one can really bemoan the Lancastrian’s place in the top three. In 164 games at the Red Devils, Watson won 80 – just shy of 50% – which is an incredible feat considering the lack of resources and manpower at the AJ Bell Stadium. A huge coup for Huddersfield, the former halfback has been tasked with turning the Giants around – and he’s certainly a good candidate to do so.

2. Adrian Lam – Wigan Warriors

League Leaders’ Shield winner and Grand Finalist, Adrian Lam thoroughly deserves his place as number two after turning Wigan into proper contenders. The Papua New Guinean has won 35 from 56 games so far with a 63% success rate, but finished top in 2020 after inspiring his chargers to a superb end to the season. Unfortunately, a heartbreaking loss in the Grand Final means Lam escapes being labelled number one.

1. Kristian Woolf – St Helens

There can really only be one winner. A 67% win rate with 14 wins from 21 in 2020, Kristian Woolf’s statistics don’t appear that good. And, despite cruising for most of the second-half of the season, the Tonga boss lost out on the League Leaders’ Shield to Adrian Lam’s Wigan. However, the way in which Woolf turned things around from pre-lockdown to post- and then to win the Grand Final in unbelievable fashion hands him the top spot.