pressure gauge 2023, every coach’s contract, rated, Anthony Griffin, Dragons,
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There were four NRL coaches sacked in 2022 and several more are skating on thin ice heading into 2023.
Since 2011, clubs have parted ways with coaches a whopping 45 times at an average of almost four per season.
There have been 10 axed since 2020 and while Anthony Seibold has made a triumphant return at Manly, most are stuck in the coaching wilderness.
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It would be a minor miracle if none are axed in 2023, so foxsports.com.au has created a 1-5 pressure gauge and given every NRL coach a rating.
Most of the veterans have nothing to worry about while others know their days are numbered if the losses keep mounting next season.
Here foxsports.com.au analyses all 17 coaches heading into the 2023 NRL season and where they sit on our pressure gauge.
Pressure gauge: (1) Safe as houses, (2) Not going anywhere, (3) Safe for now (4) Walking the tightrope (5) Last chance saloon
Ivan Cleary – Penrith Panthers
It’s hard to imagine just how much would have to go wrong for Cleary to be sacked at Penrith for a second time.
Cleary was flicked in 2015 after only just avoiding the wooden spoon, but he returned in 2019 to coach his son Nathan who has since become the best player in the game.
Together they’ve delivered Penrith back-to-back titles over the past two seasons and will start 2023 red-hot favourites to produce the first trifecta since Parramatta in 1984.
The father and son duo re-signed in April on monster deals that will keep them both at the foot of the mountains until the end of 2027.
Contracted: 2027
Verdict: (1) Safe as houses
Craig Fitzgibbon – Cronulla Sharks
This year Fitzgibbon enjoyed the best NRL rookie coaching season since Trent Robinson led the Roosters to the 2013 premiership.
Fitzgibbon’s bold decision to sign Nicho Hynes and make him Cronulla’s halfback paid big dividends as the club charged up the ladder to finish second.
Hynes won the Dally M Medal, but the Sharks were taught a lesson in the finals and bounced out in straight sets.
Fitzgibbon would have learned plenty from those losses to the Cowboys and Rabbitohs and as a result his side will be genuine premiership contenders in 2023.
Contracted: 2024
Verdict: (2) Not going anywhere
Todd Payten – North Queensland Cowboys
It proved a tough first season as an NRL head coach for Payten last year but the Cowboys stuck solid and he repaid the faith in spades in 2022.
Payten took North Queensland from 15th on the ladder to third in just 12 months and the club was rewarded with a home preliminary final.
Reuben Cotter, Tom Dearden, Jeremiah Nanai and Murray Taulagi all turned into State of Origin stars under his tutelage – with the latter two also making the Kangaroos’ World Cup squad.
Payten’s tough love approach has the Cowboys competing for premierships again…
Read More: pressure gauge 2023, every coach’s contract, rated, Anthony Griffin, Dragons, 2022-12-08 02:35:00