Henry Still The Man at Cowboys | Thebigtip

The cannibalistic nature of being a first grade coach in the National Rugby League is almost always overlooked. The Penrith Panthers have already sacked Matt Elliott mid season and more movement is expected in the coming months as teams fail to perform or meet their targets.

If the Sydney Roosters and New Zealand Warriors continue to nosedive, it is almost a guarantee that Brian Smith and or Ivan Cleary will be released.

Cleary will leave the Warriors at the end of the year to take up the Panthers job while Smith now has the added pressure of having Elliott working underneath him at the Roosters.

When a team is struggling, the coach gets the blame. That’s when the rumours and innuendo begin to mount. How the players aren’t responding or that the coach has lost the faith of his men. Even though this may not be the case in many circumstances, the players quickly begin to use this as an excuse. Before long the coach is sent packing and the players suddenly begin to play good footy again under someone else. Case in point, Steve Georgallis with the Panthers.

The Panthers can sack Elliott and make him the scapegoat. That is their right. It is their football club after all. But the fact remains, Elliott is still a better coach then Georgallis.

But in an era where being an NRL coach can be over before it ever begins, one man continues to survive. He has survived and now he is prospering. Neil Henry’s North Queensland Cowboys are once again winning football games.

Last year the Cowboys couldn’t buy a win. They were terrible and if it wasn’t for the salary cap rorting Melbourne Storm, the Cowboys would have came dead last.

In the final game of round 18 last night, the Cowboys travelled to AusGrid stadium to take on the Newcastle Knights. The Knights looked like red hot favourites with Kurt Gidley, Jarrod Mullen and Akuila Uate expected to have too much class for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys won 22-12 and they did it without Jonathan Thurston. The most influential player in the NRL. The Townsville boys played tough and they got what they deserved. A very important win.

Coach Henry’s job is no longer in jeopardy. Had he become a bad coach? Off course not. But if he was to blame for everything bad the Cowboys were doing last year, surely he deserves the credit for North Queensland’s revival this year.

Henry is a cool customer and it shows.

"The media are the ones that trump up the odds or talk about the odds of a coach being sacked. That's all it is. I didn't have any internal pressure to lose my job. I didn't have anyone in the organisation tap me on the shoulder and say if you don't win your first six games you're gone,” he said earlier this year.

"That's bullshit. But it keeps getting trotted out in the media.”

The Cowboys are now 11-5 and equal fourth with the Brisbane Broncos. This also means there is a six point gap on the table between them and the Warriors and Knights.

You can thank Neil Henry.