Coaches are the first to have their heads on the chopping block when things aren't going well at a club, so it is good to be able to give them a wrap when they turn things around. Trent Barrett at the Sea Eagles and Paul McGregor at the Dragons are two that really deserve a lot of praise at the moment, for the way they have their teams travelling in 2017.
McGregor was popular among many judges to be the first coach axed this season after the Dragons had a mediocre 2016, finishing eleventh. He was a club legend, having played a total of 128 games for the Steelers and the joint-venture Dragons, as well as representing New South Wales and Australia. He worked his way through the club to be head coach and some people were beginning to doubt his abilities.
This season he has stopped a lot of the sideways football the Dragons were playing. He has Gareth Widdop dominating behind a very powerful and direct-running forward pack, lead by new signing Paul Vaughan. Their kicking game is really good and they miss very few tackles. I'm a real fan of the way they play and the passion they are putting into every performance. McGregor has signed on for another two years and I think he has done a wonderful job.
Barrett had an even tougher task, taking over from club legend Geoff Toovey in unfamiliar territory as a rookie coach. Any slip and he was facing the ire of some really passionate and loyal Manly Sea Eagles fans. His first season on the peninsular wasn't very successful, finishing 13th, amid boardroom dramas and player issues. He made some changes, brought in a mixed bag of fringe first-graders from other clubs and has moulded them into a team which is playing some very successful football.
It's very important for a coach to improve the players in his team, and Barrett has managed that with the likes of Curtis Sironen, Jackson Hastings, Akuila Uate and Jonathan Wright. These guys have all played first grade elsewhere, so they have the ability, they just needed to find direction in a new set-up.
I keep going back to the Storm and how they often turn player's careers around. A good coach has to win games and get the best out of the better players, but coaches like Bellamy and Barrett show that real success comes when you get the whole team to step up a level. All teams would love to have four or five rep quality players running around, but to win they need the rest of the squad to be playing out of their skins as well.
Manly are showing the benefits of that kind of team building. Five-eighth Blake Green has been a great buy for them. Daly Cherry-Evans is back to his best, off-the-cuff running, style of play with an excellent kicking game thrown in. DCE needs a player like Kieran Foran or Green taking care of the game management side of things, so that he can play what is in front of him. Martin Tapau and Dylan Walker are having fantastic seasons and we all know the outstanding talent of the Trbojevic brothers. They'll be nipping at the heels of the teams in the Top Four, as they are competing in every game they play.
Meanwhile one of the game's best coaches, Wayne Bennett, has surprised many by dropping Ben Hunt from his squad to take on the Rabbitohs. Bennett has a history of overlooking players who have announced their pending departure, he did the same thing to Justin Hodges years ago when he signed with the Roosters mid-season. He is obviously looking towards next season, when Kodi Nikorima will more than likely be the halfback for the Broncos. The more time he has fitting in with Anthony Milford and Darius Boyd the better things will be this year and into 2018. It's a bit of a kick in the bum for Hunt though, a player who has been signed for a ridiculous amount of money by the Dragons for next season, but Bennett obviously knows what he is doing.
Bennett has also brought Benji Marshall onto the bench and has indicated that he wants to keep him at the club for another year. I was interested to see the way he went last week, it reminded me of the Benji of old, he played nice and straight and threw some quality long and short balls. I think Benji is keen to repair his legacy a bit before he hangs up the boots. He wouldn't have been happy about the way he played last year at the Dragons and he'll be keen to be remembered as the great player he was in his prime.