NRL: Coaches ready for rollercoaster ride

Stephen Kearney. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

It's not quite the master and the apprentice, the battle of the coaches in tonight's Warriors v Eels match.

More like an old hand squaring up against a college graduate the boss has picked to be a big superstar in a couple of years' time.

Ivan Cleary has fashioned a nice little body of work in five seasons as an NRL head coach. Taking a Warriors club that hasn't always floated around the upper echelons of the NRL to three finals appearances in five years is a more than respectable effort. He might have been around the block a few times, but Cleary would still balk at the epithet master.

Stephen Kearney might have joined Melbourne as an assistant to Craig Bellamy the same season Cleary took up the reins in Auckland, but he's hardly served a standard apprenticeship, leading the Kiwis to World Cup and Four Nations glory in three years in charge of the national side.

Kearney might be taking his first steps as a head honcho in the NRL but he's hardly a babe in the woods. Having rubbed shoulders with Wayne Bennett in the 2008 World Cup campaign, and carried Bellamy's jacket for half a decade, he's about as well-schooled as a rookie coach can be.

While different paths have led Cleary and Kearney to Eden Park tonight, they are in remarkably similar positions. Off contract at the end of the year, Cleary needs a big season to secure his future.

The big raps Kearney has received have opened doors, but he remains unproven as a club supremo. Until he proves he can cut it in the big league, those doors remain in danger of slamming shut.

"I might sound like a bit of a ... it doesn't really bother me," says Kearney hesitantly when asked how he felt on the eve of his NRL coaching debut. "I have a job to do. Obviously I'm excited and the nerves will probably come [today] but I am just focused on what I need to do to make sure the side is prepared well."

Cleary played against Kearney frequently but doesn't claim to know him well. He rates him as a good acquaintance rather than a friend - someone he respects and whose company he enjoys, but not someone he sees a lot of.

Given the glowing coals Daniel Anderson often appeared to be dancing on, Kearney needs a good start to put a bit of chill into the Parramatta hot seat. So far the signs for his opposite were positive, Cleary said.

"I'm sure he is his own man but he has been brought up in the Craig Bellamy system and, just watching his team play in the trial games and the Kiwis, he takes a pretty disciplined approach," Cleary said.

"It certainly looks like the boys in their side know what they are doing. You can see that they have plenty of energy. He's obviously made some changes and the players have brought into them.

"He's taking his first step on a long road. He may change a bit over time but I guess we'll have to wait and see. All I know is that they'll be pretty good [today]."

Kearney joined a club that went into last season as favourites but unravelled in a hail of boardroom clashes, media leaks and ugly, often spineless on-field displays to finish second-last. He inherited a team of big names that produced big games only rarely. Many of those big names are conspicuous by their absence in the line-up Kearney named to face the Warriors tonight.

He has his work cut out but believes he is slowly putting his stamp on the club. "We are getting there.

"It is a journey that I don't think is going to take overnight. It is a long process, but the lads have really come a long way in three or four months."

Transitioning from a campaign-focused national coach to a club coach with multiple responsibilities had been a challenge, he said.

"Obviously in the national job a lot of it is already organised, whereas taking over the Parramatta role is helping to set up a whole new structure. So it has been pretty full-on, but it is something I have really enjoyed."

Tonight marks the start of the next phase in Kearney's career, but for Cleary it is also a step into the unknown. After a resurgent 2010 the level of expectation around the Warriors has skyrocketed. But big things were also expected in 2009, when the team crashed and burned to finish 14th.

"All I know is that we have prepared well and I am happy with the squad and what we have achieved in the trial games," Cleary said.

"We are ready to get on the rollercoaster."

Stephen Kearney
* Age: 38
* Playing career: 246 games for Wests, Warriors and Storm.
* Coaching career: First NRL season as head coach. Kiwis coach from 2008 to present. Won World Cup (2008) and Four Nations (2010).

Ivan Cleary
* Age: 40
* Playing career: 186 games for Manly, Norths, Roosters and Warriors
* Coaching career: Sixth season with Warriors. 61 wins 62 losses 3 draws. Guided team to finals in 2007, 2008, and 2010