Rugby League Top 10: Coaches

What makes a great coach? Sustained success obviously plays a huge part, but there are several other deciding factors which elevate some coaches above others.

Alongside the arbitrary 40-year rule to qualify for the top ten, and to make it a level playing field, our nominees need to have coached a club to a Super League title, that is, during an era when the sport was fully professional. Unfortunately, that rules out legendary leaders like Dougie Laughton and Alex Murphy, alongside a few others who did, but still missed the cut.

However, it does include the likes of John Monie, the hugely successful Wigan coach who claimed the very first Super League Grand Final. That was after guiding them to four consecutive league and cup doubles between 1990 and 1993 as Monie won over 80% of the games he coached with the Cherry and Whites.

Brian McDermott won four Super League Grand Finals with Leeds, twice guiding the Rhinos to victory after finishing fifth in the regular season and led them to the treble in 2015. While the current England coach, Shaun Wane, steered Wigan to three Grand Final triumphs and will be hoping to add to that success in this autumn's Ashes series.

Current Wigan boss, Matt Peet, won a quadruple in 2024, making it seven trophies in his first three seasons in charge of the Warriors. While Kristian Woolf was victorious in each of his three seasons in charge of St Helens and also coached Tonga to victory over Australia in 2019, one of the greatest upsets in rugby league history.

Others under consideration include Tony Smith, a winner with Leeds and Warrington, who also took charge of England and Great Britain. Kiwi, Brian McLennan, secured back-to-back Super League titles with Leeds, Ian Millward was a multi-trophy winner with St Helens and Daniel Anderson who led Saints to a treble and two different NRL clubs to Grand Finals. Finally, there's panellist Brian Noble, a three-time Grand Final winner with Bradford Bulls and coach of Great Britain. But can 'Nobby' persuade the others to vote for him as the best coach of the modern era?