Re: youth policy
given he was cleared of any and all wrong-doing, no, he didnt realise this.
Greg Bird was cleared too. I think it's highly naive to think Bellamy wasn't aware there were dodgy doings on the books.
However, on topic, I think OXY makes a good point that the competition has been so much harder to win consistently since they tightened the salary cap. The only consecutive grand final qualifiers never managed to win back to back titles (Roosters 2002-2004, only won 2002, and Storm 2006-09, won 2007, 2009 but since removed). Bellamy has undoubtedly been the standout coach of the last decade, and that's been built around the core of Cronk, Smith, Slater. Been plenty of quality players around them each year, but also a lot of workmen and average players who were coached simply to play their role. No more, no less.
So (putting aside deducted premierships), the most successful coaches since 2000 are:
1. Bellamy (3 premierships, 5 grand finals)
2. Wayne Bennett (3 premierships, 3 grand finals)
3. Des Hasler (2 premierships, 4 grand finals)
They're the only multiple premiership winners of the past 14 seasons.
Michael Hagan: 1
Ricky Stuart: 1 (3 GFs)
Tim Sheens: 1
John Lang: 1
Steve Folkes: 1
What's interesting about the multiple premiership winners? Both Bennett and Bellamy adopt an incredibly boring, suffocating style of football designed around maximising possession and field position, limiting errors in your own half and wearing your opposition down. The big difference is that at the Broncos, Bennett didn't always have a team capable of or suited for such a plan, but he moulded St George and now Newcastle into that style.
Bellamy meanwhile sticks rigidly to his team structure. Maintain his core 1, 7, 9, plonk someone with adequate ability in the 6, ensure you've got some finishers in 2,3,4,5 and then stack the forward pack with guys that will do what they're told and execute a plan, and train them until they're as fit as fit can be. It works great for him.
Des Hasler on the other hand is I think the most creative coach of the current generation. He gets his forwards doing a lot of the attack and relies less on his halves and fullback. The plan itself is not much more exciting than Bellamy, but he's had the advantage of some really exciting individual players who make things happen out wide (Barba now, Lyon at Manly etc).
Tying all this back to the Broncos recent struggles, we had Henjak who wanted to spurn the bash and barge but he went too far to sacrifice any real defensive structure at all. Griffin is the polar opposite, deadset focussed on defensive structures and no frills forward play, but there is no attacking game plan and he doesn't have a Locky who can just make something happen.
If I had a choice, I'd want Hasler to coach the Broncos. Despite being a dirty Manly prick.
