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There are several ways to judge a rookie coach\u2019s success \u2013 wins, losses, preliminary final appearances \u2013 but when the man in question shares your name, perhaps the best measure is in the misdirected messages you receive.<\/p>\n
When Andrew Webster was the interim coach of the Wests Tigers in 2016, the miscued messages were ones of genuine care and support.<\/p>\n
When Andrew Webster was an assistant coach at Penrith, the misguided missives came from head coach Ivan Cleary, asking for video of the opposition to be clipped up \u2013 including grand final week last year.<\/p>\n
Told he\u2019d messaged the gibbering journalist not his hard-working assistant, Cleary sent back a series of laughing emojis.<\/p>\n
But this season, in Andrew Webster\u2019s first as coach of the New Zealand Warriors, the avalanche of congratulatory messages and phone calls from all sorts of people truly tell the tale of his success.<\/p>\n
There have even been a few people sliding into my Instagram DMs, either praising Webster or shamelessly asking for a Warriors jumper signed by the entire squad.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Andrew Webster and Shaun Johnson after Saturday\u2019s win against the Knights.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n The Warriors meet the Kevin Walters-coached Broncos in a preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.<\/p>\n Most assume one of these two men will be named Dally M Coach of the Year in grand final week, but they should hand the statuette to Webster now.<\/p>\n Sure, Walters has done well to finally get the Broncos \u2013 the most scrutinised team in the NRL \u2013 into top gear.<\/p>\n But this is his third year in the job, with the NRL\u2019s most promising group of young players at his disposal and halfback Adam Reynolds running the show like an on-field coach.<\/p>\n In his rookie season, Webster took charge of a team that spent the best part of three years living out of a suitcase on the other side of the Tasman \u2013 and one that finished second-last in 2022.<\/p>\n The Broncos were expected to go this deep into the season. Few predicted the Warriors could make the eight.<\/p>\n The Warriors have become a graveyard for coaches. Not only does the head coach carry the burden of winning the club\u2019s first premiership since being admitted to the competition in 1995, but he\u2019s also competing with rugby union for young players, fan interest and relevance.<\/p>\n Which makes their resurgence under Webster so remarkable. On his watch, in one season, Mount Smart Stadium resembles a K-Road nightclub, and the All Blacks have been knocked off the front and back pages.<\/p>\n (It\u2019s been a few years since I\u2019ve walked the sticky floorboards of a K-Road nightclub so apologies if this analogy misses the mark).<\/p>\n If you want an indication of why Webster has done so well, lifting his team into the final four, you need to go back to the first round of the season, inside the dressing room at Sky Stadium, Wellington.<\/p>\n The Warriors were about to play the Knights and chief executive Cameron George addressed the playing group, following the tradition of handing the rookie coach a signed jumper.<\/p>\n \u201cBoys, when you get a new coach, the first thing they want to do is change everything,\u201d George said, according to those in the room. \u201cBut Andrew was different. He said, \u2018I\u2019m happy with the squad we\u2019ve got\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Webster stayed true to his word, with only Te Maire Martin and Jackson Ford their genuine off-season recruits, before he set about coaching the hell out of the players he had.<\/p>\n Warriors chief executive Cameron George.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n The first thing he did was enact a policy that ensured every player walks past the coaches\u2019 offices every day \u2013 when they arrive and when they leave.<\/p>\n By doing so, Webster didn\u2019t just know when players were arriving but could also engage with them when they left. If there was something that needed addressing, it was done before they went home for the night.<\/p>\n He also adopted the same straightforward, strategic approach that made him invaluable at the Panthers.<\/p>\n He showed his players the targets they needed to hit statistically to roll with the big boys of the competition, either defensively or in terms of possession. That included explaining the historical data of the leading sides of the past five years.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you do these things,\u201d he told them, \u201cwe\u2019ll play finals football.\u201d<\/p>\n And here they are, one victory off a grand final, and maybe it was meant to be.<\/p>\n When the Warriors were looking for a coach to replace Nathan Brown, George didn\u2019t cast the net too wide.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t cast a net at all. He ignored the advice being shoved down his throat about recycled coaches who had been sacked from their previous roles.<\/p>\n He flirted with Kristian Woolf because of his experience coaching Tonga, but Webster was always the preference; he\u2019d been an assistant to Andrew McFadden at the Warriors in 2015-16, loved the city, loved the country, and most importantly got on with owner Mark Robinson.<\/p>\n Webster politely declined a request to chat this week.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to keep a lid on it,\u201d he texted. \u201cHappy to do something at the end of the year. That might be too late.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019ll never make it as a journo, which is all well and dandy because this Andrew Webster certainly knows how to coach.<\/p>\n Stream the NRL Premiership 2023 live and free on <\/b>9Now<\/b>. <\/b><\/p>\n Sports news, results and expert commentary. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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