Graham Lowe: Coaching's all about simplicity

Sir Clive Woodward's run with the Lions has put coaching methods in the spotlight and his approach should raise concerns about what could happen when coaching gets out of hand.

It appears to me that he's taken things to extremes - taken a simple job and made it impossibly complicated. He started as a coach but now he's not one - he has a team of coaches coaching for him.

The more people involved in the mix, the more the message gets watered down.

This happened a lot in league in the 1970s and 1980s when the American NFL was the model everyone followed.

There are some clubs still going down this path and to an extent the Warriors are one of them with a fairly big coaching staff, the Eels are another. The Broncos, who are leading the competition, have one of the smallest coaching staffs.

I'm not saying there is no value in bringing people in. Often there are areas where a specialist can certainly help out. But having someone else holding the coach's hand - I don't think that's healthy.

It's interesting to find two former Warriors and New Zealand coaches in very different positions at clubs in England. Frank Endacott has a very difficult job to save Widnes from relegation. They are not playing well at all and it looks as if they and Leigh will drop out of Super League. It was a brave move by Endacott but he must now be starting to wonder if he can achieve what he set out to with the players he has.

Daniel Anderson is in a completely different situation at St Helens.

He came to a club that has a super team, one of the best in the league world. The house has been built, all he has to do is touch up the paint. If he starts moving the bricks around it will all fall down and that's what he has to be careful about. The fans do not like change. Anderson probably thinks he's felt pressure but there is a lot more pressure coaching in England, not least because there is relegation waiting to bite you. What he needs to do is the role that John Monie played at Parramatta and then Wigan. He took teams that were good and lifted them to another level. It's a completely different job to trying to build a team.

Anderson built the Warriors up but didn't have the mortar to keep them together.

Tony Kemp appears to be struggling to build a side. They are two totally different roles. I think Iafeta Paleaaesina is a good example of what's wrong at the Warriors. Sometimes he starts, sometimes he doesn't. It must affect a young bloke's confidence. He looks like a lot of the team - good one week, not so good the next. It's got to be a confidence and coaching issue.

Every Warriors fan knows what Paleaaesina is capable of. Now it will be interesting to see if Ian Millward can get the best out of him consistently at Wigan. If that turns out to be the case, and I believe it will, Paleaaesina will be one of several players over the years to have shown talent for the club then gone elsewhere to have that talent drawn out.

Wigan is in a drastic position, in the middle of the worst run in the club's history. I put that down to inexperienced coaches, a string of ex-players just out of the game. The influence from those coaches is crippling the club.

Ian Millward did a great job building up St Helens but this is harder. I think Paleaaesina will be a good buy for him. And when you weigh up the $250,000 Wigan paid for him and the close to $1 million the Warriors paid for Ruben Wiki and Steve Price you have to wonder who made the right choice.

Who is advising Cullen Sports about league? Who do they have telling them about the game because it is quite obvious there is a gap in their whole philosophy. It's getting to the stage where if Eric Watson and Cullen Sports can't fix it, it could have a huge detrimental effect on the game in New Zealand.

If the Warriors do not win five of their next eight games, and then miss the playoffs, will they then say they are rebuilding the club? They've had five years to do that, they should be polishing the silverware by now.

* Graham Lowe is writing his column from England.