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Important SN update for SouthlandMeninga: Coaches are scapegoats, sacking them is the easy option
Emily Benammar • June 25th, 2025 1:09 pm
Incoming Perth Bears boss Mal Meninga says NRL coaches are all too often the scapegoats when it comes to clubs in crisis and that their sackings are often the “easy option”.
Speaking with Corey Parker and Ian Healy ahead of the Cowboys clash with the Titans – a match where both coaches are under enormous pressure to keep their jobs, Meninga said he had enormous empathy for the leaders.
Todd Payten’s Cowboys sit 12th (5-1-8) while Des Hasler’s Titans (4-10) are anchored to the bottom.
Both need a win amid growing speculation they are heading towards the exit.
“They’re the scapegoats,” Meninga said. “There’s a lot more to clubland than a coach and a coach is the easiest man to get rid of to try and change things.
“It starts at the board, chairman and the CEO and down to the head coach, then the players.
Theres a lot of accountability on the coach because you’re judged on success every weekend.
Theres a lot of accountability on the coach because you’re judged on success every weekend.
“It comes down to everyone buying in and getting the culture going.
“I feel sorry for the coaches, they’re the easy out.”
Meninga said more focus has to be put on the role of the players to execute the directives of the coaching staff.
“Standards and behaviours are important – critical,” he said. “The coach and his team set those examples. The environment reflects the leaders, but that’s the bosses and the leaders in the team.
“They carry out the requests of the coach about the standards. It lays on a lot of people.
“The chairman doesn’t get sacked, the CEO doesn’t get sacked, the players don’t, the easy one is the coach.”
Asked about his experiences with the Titans, where he worked as a high-performance advisor to former coach Justin Holbrook, Meninga said the club lacks an understanding of rugby league at a board level.
“I haven’t been there for a few years but they’re a great group of people and they love the game of league,” he said.
“They will always make decisions in the best interests of the club. At times you have to make tough decisions (and) they have to come from the people in the organisation.
“You need all these other skillsets to run a club but you need an in-depth understanding of the game so you can make decisions around the on-field performance. They probably haven’t got that.”
