‘There is a shortage of good quality British coaches’ says former Sky Sports commentator

We’ve seen two head coach sackings in this past week, Sunday night saw Daryl Powell depart Warrington Wolves and then his old club Castleford Tigers sent Andy Last packing after defeat last night.

They became the second and third head coach dismissals of the season following ex Castleford boss Lee Radford being dismissed from Wheldon Road just after round three.

Immediately the job search began for Warrington and as it often does it went down under with ex St Helens boss Justin Holbrook the heavy favourite and the Wire first choice, however he knocked them back in favour of staying down under and taking up a job with Sydney Roosters in 2024.

One man who now lives down under having commentated on Super League for much of the Super League era is Mike ‘Stevo’ Stephenson and he has suggested that there is a lack of top quality British coaches, a point he made on his and former colleague Eddie Hemmings, ‘Eddie and Stevo Podcast’.

“I’m sure that he (Holbrook) would be getting a bigger wage in the NRL than perhaps what Warrington could offer him, but one never knows,” Stevo speculated.

“I mean, he was quite successful at St Helens, is a damn fine coach. It was a bit of a surprise when it got sacked from Gold Coast.”

Prior to Holbrook knocking back the Wolves he had actually agreed a deal, as reported by Brian Carney on Sky Sports last night, with Australian commentator Andrew Voss claiming it was a very lucrative deal in a tweet that has since been deleted.

“He had agreed to come here and was being booked on flights to arrive on Sunday.” Carney explained prior to Warrington’s clash with Catalans.

“Then after late discussions with his family, he had to give back word and turn a job that he had accepted just 24 hours previous.”

Stevo continued his tirade about the lack of British coaches, explaining that money is always the issue.

“In many ways, you sort of think to yourself, does that mean that we are not bringing through young coaches in the UK? That once again we have to go to Australia to get a top coach.

“Once again at the top of the tree, you normally find it’s an Australian that they’re going to go for, because as I said earlier, are we not developing the coaches in the UK.

“Again it comes down to that awful word money, if you’ve got plenty of money. if you’ve got a great backer at the club, well then you’re on your way to success because whether you like it or not it all comes down shillings and pence and pounds.”