Graham Lowe: Rabbitohs' man for all reasons

If league is a game from the far side of the tracks, then South Sydney is a club from the very extremities of that far side.

It's a great old club. Over the years it has had more than its share of characters, battlers, brawlers and bloody great footballers. Its fortunes have ebbed and flowed and, in recent years, the club has suffered the fate of many inner-city outfits, with resources and player numbers flagging.

But the club seems as resilient as ever, and the financial lifeline it has been thrown by modern-day Gladiator Russell Crowe may see it rise to its great heights of the 1960s and 70s.

The one thing the club has never been short of is smart, dedicated administrators, even when currency was king and common sense went out the window at the height of the ARL/Super League war.

Current Rabbitohs chief executive Shane Richardson (then with Cronulla), who shared an office with me at Super League HQ, was a rare customer. While contracts were being given to players who must have thought they had struck Lotto, Richardson was one of the few who questioned the exorbitant value of the deals. Some players were getting 10 times their worth to commit their allegiance to one or other of the warring sides.

Not only did Richardson soon recognise the folly of all this, he was brave enough to say so. It's no surprise he is considered one of the game's best bosses.

One of the worst legacies of that era is that players and some coaches are paid what amounts to appearance money not related to winning or losing. It's led to major problems for a number of NRL clubs and I can't see things changing.

If the Warriors players knew they were being paid only for winning, I doubt we would be seeing the same lamentable lapses of concentration in the dying stages of games as we saw last Saturday against the Raiders.

I fail to see why players can't accept a good base salary (maybe a third of the contract) and earn the rest according to their winning records.

But the greed that infected the game during the Super League saga has taken a firm hold, and will be near impossible to remove.

South Sydney has a history as proud as any league club in Australia. But in more recent times and for many reasons the club has struggled. Richardson faces a Catch-22 situation because he needs to rebuild a consistently competitive team, all the more difficult because of recent problems.

Because they seem to have had a mortgage on the wooden spoon (although the Warriors have put in some strong challenges in recent times), player agents have circled like sharks, demanding over the odds to position their players at the club.

But if there's one bloke who can lead them back to anywhere near the great team they once were it is Richardson. He understands the real meaning of contracts, unlike so many in the game. I never had a written contract at any stage of my coaching career. A handshake and a look in the eye of the chief executive and chairman was all I needed.

I was - and still am - of the view that I was not going to let the club down and I expected the same in return. I never saw any risk in doing it that way because I was confident of trust all round.

When I went over to coach Wigan, I'd had a chat on the phone with vice-chairman Maurice Lindsay and he gave me a quick rundown of where the club was at and what they wanted to achieve.

A lack of player discipline needed urgent attention. So there were two initial challenges: win the championship - which we did by a record 15 points - and get rid of the player-power problem, which we also achieved.

With regard to money, Maurice said they would look after me and that was good enough.

I'd been in the job for a month when Maurice called to see me, looking very embarrassed. He said he didn't know what we'd agreed but thought it was time I started to get paid.

Over a cuppa, we agreed on a deal, shook hands and that was it. I only left Wigan and moved to Australia for family reasons - it was a very tough decision to make.

But I was always aware Maurice was ruthless and his recent action in sacking coach Ian Millward came as no surprise.

I am very surprised now that most coaches consider themselves as career coaches and look at the position to make more money than they could in a normal job.

Granted, at some clubs there is a lot of money to be earned but too many people in the game are looking just to make a quid out of what they are doing. That's the problem.

If you want to coach, or be involved in any way in footy solely to make money, you are destined to fail.

Wigan's position at the bottom of the Superleague has not just happened - it's been coming for a number of years - and Maurice has to take some of the blame for this.

Prior to appointing Millward, some of his actions in signing and then sacking coaches a short time later have been very curious, and that goes for a number of players as well.

I've always regarded Maurice as one of the game's greatest administrators but I do wonder if he is tired.

We are talking about what was the greatest league club in the world and the way in which it has been allowed to slide disappoints me.

Also soccer has played a significant part in all that has been happening at the famous club.

Club owner Dave Whelan is a soccer man and the entry of Wigan to the English Premiership this season has undoubtedly captured his focus.

I don't expect that will be a problem in the future with a revitalised, recapitalised South Sydney. And certainly not while Shane Richardson stays at the helm.