2022 was a busy year for the NRL's coaching carousel, with three first-grade mentors out of a job before the end of June.
Trent Barrett, Michael Maguire and Nathan Brown all felt the wrath of undelivered expectations and have paved the way for the next generation, while the Tigers have gone back to a tried-and-trusted method by re-hiring Tim Sheens.
But while brand new coaches and revered figures are likely to be given some time to implement their grand plans, there are a number of coaches at the other end โ feeling the pressure after a disappointing or at least heavily scrutinised 2022 campaign.
2. Justin Holbrook (Gold Coast)
How any coach can survive winning one game from 17 in the modern NRL era is a reasonable question โ and Justin Holbrook clearly has the answers after the Titans took a massive backward step in 2022.
He's lucky that star signing David Fifita was also failing to hit the lofty heights of expectation that had developed at Robina after securing their first finals berth in five years in 2021.
Fifita was regularly pilloried in the news for not living up to the hype or justifying his massive price-tag, meanwhile Holbrook largely escaped censure.
By winning three of their last four games, they were also able to gloss over that remarkable mid-season streak, but they were undeniably putrid during that time.
While Fifita had injury issues and captain Tino was away during that time on Origin duty, a lot of the problems actually emerged in pre-season, with the club's decision to release the only experienced half they had left in Jamal Fogarty.
While it's always good to have youth options you can depend on, going for a halves combination with a total of 25 NRL games experience between them was a disastrous call that has been acknowledged. Holbrook might be aiming for a long-term benefit in the future, but there's a reason the club have since brought in 262-game veteran Kieran Foran.
The Titans have also acted smartly in regards to dummy-half by introducing Sam Verrills, and there's a not-unreasonable belief that adding experience in these key positions will help the club immeasurably.
Either way, if the new-look Titans fail to fire in the early rounds, the scrutiny will amplify and Holbrook won't have an inexperienced squad to fall behind.
The Fifita issue may still linger, at least until the million-dollar man negotiates what is likely to be a decreased salary moving forward โ or opts to go somewhere else. If that situation can't be handled professionally it could become a distraction that the coach really doesn't need.
While the Titans will take on the Storm and the Cowboys in the first five rounds, they'll open their campaign against the defending wooden-spooners and face the Dragons twice. While expectations won't be unreasonable, if the Titans can't emerge from those first five rounds without at least two wins, the clock will already be ticking on Holbrook's job security.
