Prior to the start of the 2016 season, the much loved Head Coach and former player, Paul Rowley mysteriously left the club. It was a dark cloud that was never fully revealed to the general public, but the void was filled by rumours of which I would never dare to speak openly on the internet.
Derek Beaumont quickly promoted the two remaining coaches, with Neil Jukes and Paul Anderson, being left to run the club and playing staff. Mid season the two vacant positions where filled in by Paul Cooke and Keiron Purtill. Paul Cooke was available immediately and appears to have had an instant impact. Keiron Purtill was placed on garden leave and not able to start his new position until the season had officially finished.
How good are the brains in the outfit? It is important to know because brawn is no advantage when fighting brawn, it is brain power that will win the day. The Duke of Wellington is attributed to the quote, "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton". The coaching staff have to lay down the platform to beat the opposition. At the same time opposition is trying to do the exact same thing to you.
Neil Jukes - Head Coach - It is telling that Jukesy's Wiki page is only two lines long, which is still probably more than his playing career. Credit must go to Neil for steering the team all season, with only 3 defeats in all competitions. The biggest plus in his favour is long history with the club from player to 6/7 years as assistant coach. There is no Super League experience, with the exception of 4 games in the middle 8's.
In a game where to rise to the top of the coaching profession you must first have played the game to a decent level. Neil did not have a stellar playing career and quite frankly in interview appears to only just have a grasp of basic English and is not best suited to media work.
Paul Anderson - Assistant Coach - appears to work in the background as the club enforcer and glorified water carrier. Not much is known of his work, but he appears to be hot headed and prone to get into trouble with authority. Not a good role model when the team need to limit the amount of penalties they give away, if they any chance of competing in Super League.
Paul Cooke - Assistant Coach - A player with some distinction, and an astute reader of the game. Paul Cooke obtained coaching experience with Doncaster Knights in Rugby Union, working as a Skills and Backs coach. He is a sharp analyst and appears to like working with the loveable rogues of the game. Troubled during his own playing career he is trying provide both skills and advice to those that most need it. During a break in a game, he will often relay advice to the key players in the Halves, Fullback and Hooking positions.
Many people believe that he will eventually become the Head Coach at Leigh when Neil Jukes fails to make the grade. Paul appears to be well settled at the club and in a recent interview with the Guardian appears to be close to signing an extension to his contract.
Keiron Purtill - Assistant Coach - Well respected in the game, Keiron has spent the last 14 years as Assistant Coach at St Helens and Huddersfield. Although fired from his last position or more plausible made his escape plans to flee the sinking Huddersfield Giants.
Keiron is expected to polish up the team and concentrate on the youth setup and player welfare.
In summary Leigh have created a strong coaching team, who appear to be bonding the team together, they have introduced are the latest technology, but that only brings them in line with all the other Super League teams.
It is hoped that Neil Jukes and Paul Anderson are concerned with the team as a whole, whilst Paul Cooke and Keiron Purtill can assist at a player level with bring new attacking ideas that will hopefully be able to get the team over the whitewash. (See Leigh v Huddersfield 2016). Leigh in the 1st half deliberately targeted the international pairing of Leroy Cudjoe and Jermaine McGilvary as a weakness defensively. It paid huge dividends with Matty Dawson scoring a hat trick of tries. This I have no doubt was the work of Paul Cooke.
As a team Leigh need to shore up the defence, otherwise they are constantly going to be chasing games. The middle 8's saw a late capitulation in all 7 games, and this is a major weakness when Leigh are starved of the ball for long periods.
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