Some NRL players have great playing careers, while others have incredible coaching resumes.
It's difficult to determine which is more rewarding, but very few men cross the threshold of a successful NRL and head coaching career.
While many footballers excel due to their freakish athleticism and natural abilities, others simply have a knack for the game, with a blueprint to success that could hand them a handy coaching gig post-retirement.
3. Daly Cherry Evans (Manly Sea Eagles)
Daly Cherry-Evans is not only one of the greatest talents to don the Manly Sea Eagles jumper, but one of the best leaders as well.
Entering 2025 as Manly's skipper for the ninth consecutive season, 'DCE' is a clear-cut choice for the next NRL player-turned-coach.
He is one of the oldest and most experienced players in the competition, representing his club, state, and country.
The Queensland Maroons skipper has led on all stages, possessing an extremely high rugby league IQ that has seen Cherry-Evans age like fine wine in his later years.
His ability to mould his game around his body's capacity to compete showcases just how brilliant his vision is, an essential quality in an elite head coach.
Cherry-Evans is perhaps the most obvious player to be featured on this list, as he is simply one of the most well-spoken and cool-headed leaders the NRL has ever produced, period.
We can see him moving into a head coaching role as he sets up for his life post-footy, mimicking the cool-headed coaching styles of Ivan Cleary and Wayne Bennett.
โHarry Grant is a guy who lets his actions do most of his talking.
This is a skill not many players in the league possess, but Grantโs ability to lead a side by example is a unique characteristic that would surely make him a stellar coach post-retirement.โ
Leading by example is not a useful skill for a coach on the sideline, away from the action.
Iโd recommend identifying what it is that a coach actually does, and what skill-sets he needs, before trying to identify players who look like they may be decent at that job.
Assistant coaches are focused on the technical side of the game.
They may also be responsible for running pathways programmes and developing young kids โ thatโs a different skill than working with the young professionals in Jersey Flegg and above.
NRL Head Coaches are about the day to day grind of motivation, promotion / dropping from the team, dealing with injuries, setting strategies for particular opponents, working with recruitment & retention, cap management etc.
SOO coaches donโt have to worry about most of that. They get a bunch of players who are fit, and who already have the requisite skill set. SOO coaches have to be able to deal with huge egos and to meld the bunch of alpha-males into a team.
Kevin Walters and Michael McGuire were good SOO coaches, but neither has been successful as an NRL coach. Craig Bellamy and Rickly Stuart have not been successful as SOO coaches. Different jobs and different skills.
At its most basic, being a player is about being good at YOUR job. Being a coach is about MAN-MANAGEMENT, and making individuals into a team.
Not easy to pick man-management skills from players who donโt need to have such skills, but to start by trumpeting _playing_ skills is not offering any insight on which players _might_ become decent coaches.