Can money buy NRL success? No. There’s a much more important ingredient
In a casual discussion with the former chairman and chairman of the long-time NRL club, he talked about sustainable success.
“Do you know what these clubs, which are constantly at the top, have in common?” the former club boss asked. “Money.”
This is an interesting point, considering that every club spends the same amount of money on players below the salary cap, which is just under $12 million per year.
What the former CEO was talking about was the establishment of clubs: centers of excellence, access to sports science and medical experts, facilities in general, support staff overseeing the salary cap and youth development, coaching staff etc.
And although each club is structured very differently, there are definitely haves and have-nots.
I put the CEO’s theory to the test and crunched the numbers over the last 10 seasons to see how often teams have made it to the finals. Making finals consistently is a definitive KPI for clubs.
Topping the list is Melbourne – who have won all 10 – followed by the Panthers, Roosters and Sharks, who have won nine times. These were the four names that stood out.
The Raiders and Broncos have featured six times each, followed by the Rabbitohs five times, Manly, Parramatta, Cowboys and Newcastle four times, Canterbury and Warriors three times, the Titans twice, the Dragons once and the Wests Tigers zero.
For the purpose of this exercise, Dolphins are exempt because they are new.
If you examine this list, you will see that money is not the only factor. This is important, but leadership is more important.
When you have both money and strong leadership, you have a powerful combination.
This combination is clearly seen in Melbourne, Roosters and Panthers.
Melbourne is owned by an active consortium led by online betting multimillionaire Matt Tripp, the current chairman, who created Sportsbet, Beteasy and Betr.
The stability and determination of the leadership extends to head coach Craig Bellamy and football manager Frank Ponissi, who are the best in the business.
The Roosters are also very similar, with philanthropist and chairman Nick Politis surrounded by business luminaries such as Mark Bouris. They rule the club with an iron fist and deep pockets and never shy away from their ambition to win the premiership.
Coach Trent Robinson has led the team with three wins in the last 13 seasons. They are as strong as the Harbor Bridge.
Penrith is a little different. Their wealth comes from the powerful Panthers club group, the largest of which has their headquarters in Penrith, complete with a giant club, numerous restaurants, two hotels, a convention center and entertainment precinct.
It has been led for years by CEO Brian Fletcher and a strong board of directors, the first organization to establish the football center of excellence. Once Phil Gould laid the foundations, coach Ivan Cleary, his son and captain Nathan went to work turning the massive young talent base into a championship-winning juggernaut.
The outlier among the four most successful finals teams of the past decade is the Sharks. They don’t have a lot of money, they have a small but passionate fan base, and they play on the worst professional ground in the country: Shark Park, also known as Portaloo Park.
The club’s restructuring was a financial disaster.
Despite this, they won the championship in 2016 and reached the final 9 times in 10 seasons. This is a tremendous effort and a testament to the off-field leadership, coaching and playing group.
Canberra’s success also depends on leadership; mainly CEO Don Furner and coach Ricky Stuart. These are the DNA of the club. It’s not easy to attract players to the long winters in Canberra, and it’s hard to keep them. They deal with a failed local government with no vision and do the best they can in a decaying stadium.
The Broncos should be more successful than they are because of their size, their health and their passionate membership of 70,000. While one title and six finals appearances in ten seasons was a borderline sign of transition, off-field brawls and anger held them back.
In the underachieving section we have Parramatta and the Bulldogs. The two giants of the 80s have failed to find their way in the last decade, despite the advantage of rich league clubs.
Both clubs have had boardroom rows for decades and it has cost them dearly.
Southerners have incredible ownership and a leadership group filled with passion. Chairman Nick Pappas and CEO Blake Solly are as good as they get, but winning 50 percent of finals series in a decade is probably a bit of an underachievement. You may argue that luck plays a role, but you create your own luck.
Manly are impossible to beat. Its owners, the wealthy Penn family, do not run the club in the same way as Politis at the Roosters. It is passive and you have to send out a search party to find passion. Since the 2008-2011 golden era of two premierships and grand finals, not much has happened apart from the emergence of the Trbojevic brothers and the routine sacking of coaches and CEOs. Des Hasler left, came back, left and sued, Geoff Toovey did his best, outsiders Trent Barrett and Anthony Seibold never quite calmed down and now Kieran Foran is interim.
The Dragons were more disappointing than Manly. The competition’s most historic club has been the cricket club since its 2010 premiership under Wayne Bennett. It’s very painful to make it to the finals every 10 years.
Both Manly and the Dragons have gone from big clubs to small clubs this century. This is both embarrassing and shameful.
The Titans are well-coached, have good facilities, a great field and a strong team headed by Rebecca Frizelle, but the playing group can never come together on the field. On the other hand, two finals appearances are one more than the Dragons. Let’s see.
Then there are Wests Tigers. It’s been a disaster for twenty years. They belong to the Holman Barnes group, which controls several clubs including the mega-rich Wests Ashfield, which is dripping with poker machine wealth.
But they have a terrible board and this is reflected in the football club. Not being able to qualify for the finals since 2011 says it all. No amount of money can make up for bad leadership.
The great Jack Gibson said it best: “Winning starts in the front office.”
Neil Breen is national sports editor and Walkley Award-winning journalist.Connect with: X.
