THE (COACHING) LIFE OF RYAN
1978 First coaching job - Western Suburbs under-23s. Runners-up
1979 Moved to Newtown first grade side where team finished 11th. Finished 8th in 80; runners-up in 81; 7th in '82 and 13th in '83
1984 Moved to Canterbury. Premiers in 84 and 85; runners-up in 86; finished 6th in 87.
1988 Moved to Balmain. Runners-up in 88 and 89; finished 5th in 90.
1991 Moved to Wests. Finished 5th in 91; appointed Dally M coach of the year. Finished 5th in 92 and 13th in 93. Dumped by the club mid-July 1994.
1994-1998 Radio work
1999 - Newcastle
 

Responsibility-wise, this job has weighed more heavily on my shoulders than any other because I'm from here [Newcastle]. I feel that extra responsibility."

A centre, Ryan began his playing career at Central Charlestown in the Newcastle competition in the early 1960s. He played for St George 1964-65 (one first grade game), Cronulla 1967-68 (24 first grade games), Western Suburbs (Illawarra) 1969-73, Collegians (Illawarra) 1974. Captained Country Firsts 1972. 
"I think the game has improved enormously. It has evolved, more or less out of necessity just in my coaching lifetime" 
First coaching appointment Wests Under-23s 1978. Coached Newtown 1979-82, Canterbury 1984-87, Balmain 1988-90 and Wests 1991-94. He took Newtown to 1981 grand final, Canterbury to premiership wins in 1984-85 and Balmain to grand finals in 1988-89. 
Ryan's teams have reached the semi-finals nine times in 15 seasons, have qualified for six grand finals and have won two premierships. He coached Country Origin 1987-91.  Premiership coaching record: 413 matches, 232 wins, 166 losses, 15 draws.  Winning percentage: 56.2%.
Representative Duties: Country Origin 1987 - 1991

His exceptional coaching career has spanned over four decades and seen him achieve success at every club he has involved himself with. Warren first came to prominence when he took an unheralded outfit from Newtown to the Grand Final against the mighty Parramatta team in 1981.  Since that time he has taken the reigns at Canterbury, Balmain and Western Suburbs. He won premierships with the Bulldogs in 1984 and '85 and saw Balmain to successive Grand Finals in 1988 an '89. Ryan was considered the finest coach in the game when he took Canterbury to premierships in 1984 and '85, and Balmain to grand finals in 1988 and '89. He spawned a host of disciples who continue to exert vast influence over the game.  But Ryan's departure from coaching did not do justice to his status; he left Western Suburbs in July 1994, a year in which the Magpies won just six premiership games. When Ryan left the top job at Western Suburbs at the end of the 1994 season, critics said his defence-orientated style of coaching had made him redundant.   But with Newcastle only one match away from the grand final and having topped the try-scoring tally this season, his unlikely two-year association with the club has proved successful.  Retiring at the end of the season, Ryan said for the Knights to see him out on a winning note they needed to improve their completion rates.  "If you have a high completion rate, with the quality of what these guys can do ... you're really putting your opposition to the sword defensively. 
In 1999 Warren joined the Knights after a five year break from coaching which saw him continue his involvement with the club through the media.  Warren's decision to announce his intentions at this early stage of the season will provide the Knights with ample opportunity to secure a new mentor for 2001. Newcastle Knights coach Warren Ryan is likely to retire at the end of the season as the longest-serving coach in the history of Australian rugby league. Warren Ryan said. "My contract ends this year and the way I'm feeling at the moment, by the time the season ends I think I'll be quite happy to retire. It's becoming increasingly appealing, with the grind and worry of the outcome each week. Responsibility-wise, this job has weighed more heavily on my shoulders than any other because I'm from here [Newcastle]. I feel that extra responsibility."  Ryan was also tiring of "living like a hermit" on his own in Newcastle.  His wife Pam and 18-year-old son Matt still live in Sydney's eastern suburbs, and Ryan gets to see them only one or two days each week, depending on the Knights' schedule.  "The first year seemed to go fairly quickly but I'm really noticing it this year," he said. 
Ryan has a heap of high-profile enemies in the media and last year, in his return to coaching with Newcastle, was involved in a stairway stink with former coach and Sydney Morning Herald journalist Roy Masters. Ryan has had run in with playmakers at clubs where he coached including; Tommy Raudonikus, Steve Mortimer, Paul Langmack and Wayne Pearce.   "I remember when we used to play Newcastle, when I was at Canberra, they were very forward-dominated," he  said. "But now they have so much class in the backs, they're a different side." 
Warren Ryan has been around and seen a lot so it's no small wrap that he rates his Newcastle side as the most skilled he has ever coached.  Warren Ryans open speech to the knights players at the start of 1999 informed them that they had only won  half a comp in 1997, devaluing their achievement because the competition was split between the ARL and  Super league.  While his comments were meant to be motivational, they are an example of his coaching style.   Club sources said there has been major discontent among most of the players since December, and the  discontent remains. Players regard Ryan's approach as being too strict and believe he is over-training them.  They claim they lost to the Northern Eagles last Sunday because they were flat and exhausted from heavy  training leading up to the game.  They are also angry that Ryan let popular centre Owen Craigie go to the  Wests Tigers. Under new coach Warren Ryan, the Knights played  razzle dazzle football, unlike Ryan coached sides of previous years. Warren Ryan became the longest serving coach in premiership history, passing Bob Fulton's record (405) in  round 19 against Canberra and hanging up the clipboard at 415 games after the game against the Roosters in  the final series 2000.  Ryan's teams have reached the semi-finals nine times in 15 seasons, have qualified for six grand finals and  have won two premierships. He coached Country Origin 1987-91.   Premiership coaching record: 413 matches, 232 wins, 166 losses, 15 draws.  Winning percentage: 56.2%.  Warren's decision to announce his intentions at an early stage of the 2000 season allowed the Knights ample opportunity to secure the new mentor Michael Hagan for 2001. 

Age of enlightenment; Knights choose coaching `guru' Ryan to lead them towards 2000 - Herald. May 30, 1998.
FIRST GRADE RECORD GRAPHIC APPEARED WITH THIS STORY
DUAL premiership-winning coach Warren Ryan was the only candidate the Newcastle Knights wanted to take over the reins from Malcolm Reilly, club chairman Michael Hill revealed yesterday. And Ryan completed a perfect match when he said the Knights were the only team he was prepared to come out of retirement to coach. The man Hill described as the `guru of modern coaching' was appointed yesterday to at least a two-year term as the Knights' first-grade mentor. He will succeed Reilly, who will leave the club at the end of this season to return home to England after four years at Newcastle's helm. Ryan, who has not coached since being sacked by Western Suburbs towards the end of the 1994 season, will become only the fourth coach in the Knights' history after Reilly, David Waite (1991-94) and Allan McMahon (1988-91). The Hamilton Marist Brothers (now St Francis Xavier) old boy was chosen ahead of about 12 other candidates.
Former Knights reserve-grade coach Peter Sharp, now at Parramatta, was considered by many to be the favourite because he is seen as a coach of the future, but Hill rejected suggestions Ryan was yesterday's man. Hill had been using Ryan to help him run the rule over some of the candidates but it quickly became apparent that the man who guided Canterbury to back-to-back titles in 1984-85 was right for the Knights. `At this stage of the Knights' evolution we're past giving someone a go,' Hill said. `We're in the top echelon of the game and we want to stay in the top echelon of the game.
`The football team deserves someone to match their skills, someone at the same level as them. His record speaks for itself, and if you look at some of the blokes who have developed under him, Waitey (Waite), Macca (McMahon), Phil Gould and even Chris Anderson, he is the guru of modern coaching.'
Ryan was rushed to Newcastle yesterday to attend a press conference after news of his appointment broke on ABC Radio in Sydney. Since his last coaching stint, he has remained involved in the game by commentating with the ABC team and writing a newspaper column. He had a quick answer yesterday to a suggestion that, in coaching terms, he may have lost touch with the game. `If you took a sabbatical, would you be able to write when you got back?,' the twice premiership-winning coach replied to a journalist. `. . . I have got a bit of a clue about it (coaching).'
He said his media work and absence from coaching had recharged his batteries but he was never desperate to return to `the trade'.  Reilly described Ryan's appointment as a `popular choice'. Halfback Andrew Johns was looking forward to working with him. The guy's got a very good coaching record and I'm pretty pleased they've appointed someone of his calibre,' said Reilly, adding that he had no direct input into the decision. Johns, who was unable to attend a meeting with Ryan, Hill and other senior players on Wednesday, was only in his rookie season the year Ryan was sacked by the Magpies. `I've never had anything to do with him but from everything I've heard about him he's a very astute coach and I hope to learn a few things from him,' Johns said. Gould rates Knights the best, Page 22 

Newcastle add Ryan drop City; LEAGUE; Sydney Morning Herald. May 30, 1998.
The Newcastle Knights yesterday announced former premiership-winning coach Warren Ryan as the man who will replace outgoing coach Mal Reilly at the end of the season, then celebrated with a 20-4 victory over Sydney City. Ryan signed a two-year deal with the Knights after four seasons on the sideline. In response, Newcastle turned on the power in the second half of last night's match, splitting the Roosters up the middle, kicking intelligently, and generally being all-round the better side. The Knights scored three tries to one on a day that may well be remembered as a pivotal point in the club's history. Some may see the appointment as a two-edged sword. Ryan, given his talent and the quality of club he is taking over, has the ability to turn the Knights into a group of perennial winners and it is equally true, given his chequered history, that he has the ability to break them apart. Newcastle chairman Michael Hill said the decision to appoint Ryan was simple.
"Quite frankly," Hill said, "there is nobody else in the game, other than those people who are presently coaching. There is nobody else with a record that can compare with his."
Ryan's appointment came after a search by the Knights board began early this year, when Reilly announced he would not be returning next season for personal reasons. Ryan's appointment has aroused plenty of questions as to the future of the Knights. The Knights have drifted away from their traditionally forward-oriented game in recent years, mainly because of the emerging brilliance of playmaking halves Matthew and Andrew Johns. At his press conference yesterday Ryan said he would change his defence-dominated coaching style. "There will be a very dramatic change in my style," he said. "This is a very exciting football team with relatively young halves. I want the Knights to retain their current style. I won't be changing a thing - I will be encouraging them to retain the way they are playing now."
That style was never more evident last night than, say, in the 48th minute. Ahead 6-4, five-eighth Matthew Johns took the ball to the line and dropped it on to his left foot for centre Brett Grogan to sprint past the defence and score as the ball dribbled in-goals. The try sent the Roosters into a funk, the mood doubling when Newcastle scored again soon after through winger Jason Moodie. As time ticked away, pressure caused Sydney City to get worse. Whenever they threatened the Knights and were faced with one of two options, they were odds-on to make the wrong decision. Newcastle just grew stronger. Hill said he had spoken in confidence to several players within the club regarding Ryan's appointment and all had agreed it would be in their best interests to sign him.
Hill said the club had interviewed a number of prospective coaches and had also interviewed former associates of Ryan regarding his compatability.
Ryan's influence on the game has been enormous. Along with Jack Gibson, he has been credited with shaping the modern game and has a stable of current coaches who learned their trade under him. He was responsible for introducing a style of play known as "Wozzaball", where defence dominated matches. Coincidently, last night's first half was a similar defensive struggle, with both sides going to the break with one try each. Both were remarkable individual efforts. The first was an Andrew Johns's effort, Johns stepping off his left foot and beating hooker Simon Bonetti, Bryan Fletcher and then fullback Ryan Cross. The next was a dazzler, winger Matt Sing catching the ball five metres from his tryline to score, stepping, tripping over, getting up and finally leading Owen Craigie and Robbie O'Davis on a sprint to the tryline. It came to an end 95m later.

Results and breeding - why the Knights went for Wozza; SMH, May 30, 1998.
THE (COACHING) LIFE OF RYAN joined to story. NEWCASTLE'S appointment of Warren Ryan ends a six-month search by the club and a life-long quest by the coach. Ryan was raised and schooled in Newcastle and has long-coveted the position of coach of the city's team. He was unavailable in 1988 when the Knights entered the competition (Ryan was coaching Balmain) but was instrumental in having one of his former players, Allan McMahon, appointed. McMahon was succeeded by David Waite, another of Ryan's charges when the irascible 57-year-old coached in Wollongong in the '70s. Ryan's return to Newcastle gratifies both the coach and the board which appointed him. It is evidence of one of Australian life's great truisms: Novocastrians believe there are only two classes of people on this earth - those who were born in Newcastle and those who wish they were. The Knights have been searching for a coach since incumbent Mal Reilly informed them he wanted to return to England at the end of the current season. Reilly took the club to its first premiership last year and, although raised on the Yorkshire coalfields, has only one of the two qualifications the Knights sought - a premiership coach and raised in Newcastle. The Knights board considered local coaches but none had won a NSWRL premiership. They considered non-Newcastle coaches such as North Sydney's Peter Louis, whose contract ends this year, but ruled him out because he has not won a first-grade flag. Ryan coached Canterbury to premierships in 1984 against Parramatta and the next year against St George (although his critics point out he has lost more grand finals than he has won). Ryan coached Newtown to a loss against Parramatta in '81, failed against the Eels again in '86 and twice took Balmain to the grand final, losing to Canterbury in '88 and to Canberra the following year. His critics argue two of those grand finals - 1981 and 1988 - were lost by Ryan's legendary hubris. On both occasions he made late replacements which were expected to elevate him to the ranks of the genius but the substitutions rebounded on him with the opposition storming home. But an unlimited replacement rule has been introduced since Ryan was sacked as Wests coach almost four years ago. Ryan's "Wozzaball" was one of rugby league's more interesting chapters. Practised in the mid-'80s it came to represent gang-tackling in the forwards to slow down the play the ball; offside defence in the backs to choke any opposition attack; a relentless ground-gaining game via an intimidating pack and clever moves executed when in opposition territory. It contributed to three grand finals in the mid-1980s, all decided by one or two points.
The rule-makers, desperate to restore tries to the game, rendered the Wozzaball obsolete with the 10-metre rule. Attack dominated once more. 
Interestingly, this year the rule-makers made changes which reward dominant defence, and some teams have temporarily abandoned slide defence and are experimenting with Ryan's sweeping umbrella style. Ryan, who often complained about the "scorched earth" policies of the coaches who left him with a team of players who couldn't catch, run, pass and kick, has inherited one of football's most gifted teams. The Knights' backline has the potential to become one of the most brilliant attacking units in the game. While age may be a problem in the front row, there is great depth and talent in the back row. All coaches covet Newcastle's brilliant halves - Andrew and Matthew Johns. There are inddications of team turmoil at Newcastle with Andrew Johns squabbling with hooker Lee Jackson.
Ryan's enemies will say his biggest weakness is exacerbating the divisions in a club, pointing to the factions that formed in Canterbury and Wests during his stewardship. But he spent three years at Balmain and is always welcome at the club. Ryan is too experienced and too smart to fumble his life's dream at Newcastle.

Let's do the time warp again - Herald. May 30, 1998.
HE is the man. His achievements as a coach don't just say that, they yell it out loud and strong from the rooftop. But everyone has a use-by date, everybody goes past their prime. So is he yesterday's man?  Can he really be the man of rugby league's brave new world in the next millennium?
Or, more importantly, is he the man for Newcastle? 
Will he suit Newcastle, and vice versa. That's it. Simple, plain and easy. Is Warren Ryan the right bloke to take over as coach of the Newcastle Knights?
Yesterday fans, the loyal true believers of Newcastle, were left pondering whether Ryan's anointment as successor to Mal Reilly would propel the Knights forward or send them spiralling into a time tunnel. Is it `a jump to the left, and a step to the right, let's do the time warp again?' Will it be Rocky Horror revisited for Newcastle?  And make no mistake, for all his fantastic achievements, for all the accolades as a thinker, a mover and a shaker in rugby league, Warren Ryan has attracted just as much criticism rightly or wrongly for the way the clubs have dealt with his way of coaching. Rugby league writer Tony Adams sums it up this way in his book Masters of the Game: Coaches Who Shaped Rugby League, (published 1996): `There are two schools of thought when discussing Warren Ryan and his contribution to rugby league. The more popular is that the man was the most controversial coach the game has seen, an egotistical despot who made his teams play a ruthless, relentless defensive brand of football. But the second, and perhaps more accurate, is that Ryan was an astute thinker on rugby league, a revolutionary who mastered the game to such an extent that administrators were forced to make rule changes to prevent his total domination of the code. Two things invariably followed Ryan throughout his 14-year top-grade career, success and controversy.'
Toss the penny in the air; which way do you think it would land for Ryan here in Newcastle?  One name leaps out whenever Ryan's resume as a premiership-winning coach undergoes a severe examination: Steve Mortimer if not the best, then certainly among the most creative superstars of the modern era.
Mortimer led "The Entertainers", as Canterbury was known. They were the crowd favourites. Ryan took over. All of a sudden there were shackles on Mortimer and the razzle dazzle. There was red zones and green zones. There was a patterned defence. There was success. But what there was turned out to be more than just a family feud; it was a war that raged and threatened to tear the heart of out of the club. Whether Ryan was right or wrong, the power struggle at that club was there. It was the favourite son who possessed such strong ties with the club versus the master who was in control and wanted things done his way. Canterbury had the Mortimer clan. Newcastle has the Johns boys. Canterbury was the razzle dazzle merchant of the '80s. Newcastle plays that brand now. Maybe that is why some fans are fearing the Ryan-Newcastle era. Yesterday Ryan went to great lengths to point out that he won't be changing Newcastle's style, but he also said the Bulldogs' brutal way had influenced today's game. The way the game is played now is very significantly, very contributable to a team I coached in the mid-80s, Canterbury,' he said. `That is the way the game is now and Canterbury forced that on the game, so I do have a clue about it.'
Ryan is a winner, so therefore some ardent admirers will say he does not have to apologise to anyone, but listen to the fans and some reckon they have already had a taste of the Ryan regime and style. It came from the men he groomed. The grand figure of Ryan loomed large in the way Allan McMahon and even David Waite learnt how to become coaches. Both have said he was their mentor. Both coached Newcastle during its infancy. To say the least, teething problems developed.
So will those problems enlarge into severe decay or will Ryan go on with the job that is being done so grandly at the moment?
Ryan has said that he was asked to coach Newcastle when the Knights first joined the premiership. He said then the time was not right. There was speculation he would take over as Newcastle coach after he left Balmain. He would have had to replace McMahon to do that. Was the time right? Well, he ended up going to Western Suburbs. So why has the time finally come. A drunk does not sip his last bit of grog, he does not caress and enjoy it, he swallows it quick and hard.
A nark might say that this is Ryan's last toast. An admirer might say that Ryan will be celebrating long and hard at Newcastle because this is the right time for the coach and club he has longed for to get together. Who is right?
As Ryan himself once quoted in his paper column: `I give the same half-time speeches over and over. It works best when my players are better than the other coach's players.' Jack Mills, American football coach. `There's two things you can be certain of, dying and getting the arse as a football coach.' Royce Hart, Footscray coach 1980 to '82. Toss the penny.

Warren Ryan to lead Knights but he's not yesterday's man; Mal Reilly committed to leaving Newcastle Herald. May 30, 1998.
ARL premiers Newcastle have named mid-1980s super coach Warren Ryan as the man to take the club into the new millennium, while debate rages over whether he was yesterday's man. The man Knights chairman Michael Hill described as the `guru of modern coaching' was appointed yesterday to at least a two-year term as the Knights' first-grade mentor. He will succeed Malcolm Reilly, who will leave the club at the end of this season to return home to England after four years at Newcastle's helm. Ryan, who has not coached since being sacked by Western Suburbs towards the end of the 1994 season, bristled at a suggestion at yesterday's announcement that he may have lost touch with the coaching game. `If you took a sabbatical, would you be able to write when you got back?' the twice premiership-winning coach replied to a journalist. `. . . I have got a bit of a clue about it (coaching).'
Ryan, a renowned defensive coach in `the grim days of the five-metre rule', said he would change his methods to accommodate the Knights' razzle-dazzle playing style. `You don't stifle brilliance,' he said. `So there will be a dramatic change in my style because I want the Knights to continue in their style.' 
Hill said the Knights deserved a coach to match their skills and had found one in Ryan. Perfect match; Dinner date sealed fate; New steps for Wazzaball, Page 24

Why I came back - Ryan; LEAGUE 98; Sun Herald. May 31, 1998.
New Knights coach Warren Ryan hits back at his critics in this edited interview with Paul Crawley.
SH: You were always going to be remembered as a great coach - it didn't appear as if you had anything left to prove. After four years out of coaching, the most obvious question is why did you want to return?
Ryan: Because I was asked. I grew up in Newcastle . . . even when I moved to Sydney to go to college, I never joined a Sydney athletics club. I always went home on weekends. I am a local boy, a Novocastrian . . . that was a big part of it. Michael Hill [Newcastle's chairman] always consulted me originally, having been the bloke who helped get Newcastle into the competition. Part of the plan then was to come in and coach but I was never off contract. I thought, if I didn't do this at some stage, when the opportunity came up, I thought if I had said no a part of me might have been regretful.

SH: Do you think it will be hard to win over the New- castle supporters?
Ryan: I am not going in over the top of Malcolm Reilly, but whoever it was that went there has to keep the good work going - keep them playing the way they are playing.

SH: One criticism of you was that you were always regarded as a defensive coach - and Newcastle is one of the great attacking sides. Some people fear your style won't suit Newcastle.
Ryan: That's a cruel criticism - and an inaccurate one. When do you defend? You defend when you don't have the ball. The Canterbury sides [Ryan coached] in the middle '80s changed the way the game was played. Observers of that time know the two sides that had the best defence got to the grand final. In '87, that changed. The referees were told to get the teams back, 10m and that went to 12 . . . as a result, the two best attacking teams were the ones who made it to the grand final. As it happened, the next two years after that, my side, Balmain, made it to two grand finals.

SH: There is a suggestion that after four years out of the game, it will be hard to pick up where you left off.
Ryan: Tell me, if you were out of journalism for four years, would you forget how to write?

SH: Is it an intimidating task to take over a team like Newcastle - who won the grand final last year and are well on their way to doing it again?
Ryan: Yes, it is. But what do I do - dodge away from them? I actually consider it a privilege because they are such a great side. Far better it is to take over there than at some desperate club that is battling. I guess it's at the other end of the scale of when I took over at Newtown, who had won three wooden spoons in a row. Malcolm hasn't left me with a great deal of scope for change, has he? I guess when you look at it that way you are putting your head on the railway line but my job is to preserve and nurture the way they are going and what they are doing. I don't have to go in there and stamp my print on them, I am not some young hot-shot.

SH: You work on ABC Radio's Grandstand and write a newspaper column. Will you continue your media commitments?
Ryan: I have been doing this since 1984. Working on Grandstand is one of my great joys. I think [host] Peter Wilkins is outstanding and it's a class program.

SH: You say you enjoy your job on Grandstand . Will your return to coaching take the fun out of football?
Ryan: The facetious answer is that for quite some time I have become bored with it because I haven't had to care who wins, but the real answer is that it will change enormously. All your waking hours as a coach are spent having anxiety about next week's game, last week's result. From the moment you open your eyes in the morning it never goes away.

SH: Apparently there was a meeting between you and a couple of the senior players during the week. How did it go?
Ryan: Yes, there was a meeting and it went well. We hadn't planned to make the announcement just yet but after that the Knights decided to announce it now rather than later.

SH: Have you discussed your appointment with Malcolm Reilly?
Ryan: We are going to meet shortly and discuss things.

SH: How long do you plan to coach the Knights?
Ryan: I have an agreement for two years and that will be plenty, thanks very much.

Knights need not fear Wok factor; Herald. Jun 4, 1998.
THERE aren't too many more people I like talking to about rugby league than Warren Ryan. Every weekend that ABC Radio covers the same game as we do, I seek him out to chat about `what's doing' in the game we both love so passionately. These conversations are always interesting, surprising and enlightening.
Starting with the 1999 season, it will be the Newcastle Knights who will be enlightened week in, week out by one of the true students of the game. A student who also happens to have an outstanding record as a coach. I must admit I was as surprised as anyone upon the announcement of `The Wok' taking over the reins from Malcolm Reilly; in fact, I was surprised on two counts. Firstly that Warren was keen to take on the role once again with all the pressures and problems that are part and parcel of the vocation and, secondly, that a secret in rugby league had actually been kept. I read an article about the appointment which said that Ryan joined the Knights `with baggage', a euphemism for the accepted belief that he has left clubs in less than amicable circumstances. That may well be true; I'm afraid I don't know the details of such incidents. But what I do know is that Newcastle has signed one of the most astute coaches in the business and although some may view this association with trepidation, it should be more with anticipation. It has been said that Ryan is a `strict disciplinarian'.
Despite the fact that I played under Jack Gibson, Frank Stanton and John Monie, who were also strict disciplinarians, I'm not exactly sure what it means. I know that all three had certain standards that were expected to be met, but all were fair, clearly defined and aimed at making the organisation run as smoothly as possible. I don't recall the `punishment' if they weren't adhered to, as punishment was rarely needed. Every player understood that the conditions set were done so to make it easier for each individual to fulfil their potential and everyone reacted positively to that. It was shown that discipline, dedication and hard work were the stepping stones to success. It has been said that Ryan is `defence-oriented'.
He will tell you that if the opposition have the football then you'd better tackle them. This tag comes from the success achieved by the relentless intimidation of the Canterbury teams of the mid-80s. From painful experience, the style of play undertaken by the likes of David Gillespie, Steve Folkes, Peter Kelly and Paul Langmack was very effective. They were hard men who made the defensive side of the game an art form, using the tight five-metre rule to their advantage.
The bottom line is that in any sport, be it cricket, boxing, hockey or rugby league, to be a champion you must have great defence and the Bulldogs of that era did it better than anyone. Unfortunately what is often overlooked is the fact that these sides were also tremendous in the attacking department because the coach never took away their ability to play what was in front of them. It was probably more obvious with Balmain in the late 1980s because the then new 10m rule made it so.
It has been said that Ryan will change the Knights' style of play and shackle their adventurous spirit. When you have players with the vision and flair that this side contains, you would be foolish to tamper with something that is working. Ryan is no fool. Finally, it has been said that Ryan has been out of the ranks too long and may have lost contact. It is true that he last coached five years ago at Wests, but in the interim he has been in the perfect position to keep his finger on the pulse.
Each weekend he has been fortunate enough to watch copious amounts of football, taking on board what sides have done to achieve success, as well as noting the strengths and weaknesses of teams and individual players. As you can gather, I'm a fan of Newcastle's new coach and have always enjoyed his views on our game. In the past he has obviously been able to pass that on to teams he's coached as well as being an influence on the likes of current coaches David Waite and Phil Gould, and I see no reason why that should not continue. Make no mistake, despite the departure of Malcolm Reilly, there are exciting times ahead for the Knights and fans should strap themselves in for the ride.

Ryan's back and the game waits; SMH: Feb 20, 1999.
Coaches influenced by the dynamic duo joined to story. Warren Ryan's return to Newcastle means a new dose of his legendary coaching. PAUL KENT reports. 
THE setting was a pool table, coloured balls and green felt. Wayne Bennett was standing with his mole. "This is how it works," the mole said.
The table represented a football field and lined across the table were the 13 balls which, for the exercise's sake, were 13 players. If the ball-handler is tackled here, said the mole, then the centres should be here, the five-eighth and lock here. You're halfback floats here. The mole drew imaginary lines lengthways down the field and he spoke of 60-40 splits and 30s and percentages. A foreign language to most, but Bennett heard music. The mole floated the ball across the field and Bennett saw when and where these players defend, all according to the tackled player's position. Bennett was learning Warren Ryan's defensive system. All this happened years back, before Bennett was a three-time premiership-winning coach and when Ryan was Yoda. From August 1987 to July 1990, with all his talented players, Bennett never won a match against a Ryan-coached team. Now it was time for payback . . .
Bennett is not the only man to have put the touch on Ryan's blueprint. One coach says he can go through every part of the game and see evidence of Ryan's fingerprints somewhere. But with Ryan returning to coach Newcastle this year, the experiment has only just begun. Through Phil Gould and David Waite, to a lesser extent Steve Folkes, Wayne Pearce, Andrew Farrar (assistant, St George) and Peter Mulholland (assistant, Penrith), Ryan's influence is still being exerted in the National Rugby League. While Jack Gibson is the other great coach credited with revolutionising the game, only Peter Louis remains as a coach with a clear link to the Gibson lineage. It marks the contrast in the two coaching philosophies and explains why, after almost a five-year break from the game, nobody is tipping against Warren Ryan's success. Elvis, it seems, is back in the building. "He won't have any trouble with the way the game is played today," Louis said. "He's smart enough," said Pearce, "to have adapted to the changing nature of the game."
The fact that Gibson's lineage is slowly fading out, while Ryan's influence is still the core for many of the game's top strategists, speaks volumes for Ryan's initial blueprint. The basic difference is Gibson, in effect, coached men. Ryan coached the game. Gibson coached the men who played the game, preaching minimum mistakes and discipline and character. He surrounded that with ideas from America that seemed, at first and to many, useless or unnecessary - specialist coaching staff, a belief in statistics, in low mistake rates, in tactical kicking - but through these ploys Gibson showed these men how to win, and turned them into winners.
Ryan sat and played with the technicalities. He walked away from the 1962 English team impressed with the way this team, perhaps with a background in soccer, used space. So Ryan worked on space. He didn't sit down at a pool table, but the effect was the same. He found every action created a reaction you could depend on. And every reaction could be countered. He came up with a blueprint. He figured the best way to play the game and then found the bodies to fill the jumpers.
"He was an innovator," Waite said. 
While Gibson was working on men, Ryan was working on his blueprint. The two different systems complemented each other and tore each other apart. Ryan played up-and-in defence and was winning premierships with Canterbury (1984-85). John Monie succeeded Gibson at Parramatta and, following Jack's theories, played no defensive system at all. He beat Ryan's Bulldogs for the 1986 premiership. "John didn't need a defensive system because he had [Mick] Cronin, who was just never, ever short [in defence]," Louis said. "He just knew when to go. So did [Steve] Ella, and [Brett] Kenny. They'd just jam one another up to get there.
"Ryan always used to try and beat them by dragging them across and returning before they could adjust. But Mick [Cronin] was pretty smart, he knew just when to go. "And Ryan played that up-and-in defence, so to get around that John used to go two and three wide and would run his plays, his second mans and so on, out there. He'd be running plays on the outside of them. It was one method against the other."
But in the end, Gibson's strategies appear exhausted. Players are full-time and professional, and so much of what Gibson depended on for his edge is now done by all clubs because of necessity. Everybody plays a defensive system. Not that Ryan is without need for change. He returns, but his blueprint is only that now.
Gould and Waite and others have taken Ryan's ideas past the point he ever explored. But the advantage Ryan takes to Newcastle is that many of today's strategies are adapted from his original blueprint. To label a defensive system simply as up-and-in these days is like looking at a Model T and a Ferrari and calling them both cars. Good if you're trying to sell the Model T, but not if you're buying. Coaches adopt subtle changes to their defence, their players adjusting the system to the situation called for in front. Ryan's advantage is, being a thinker, he can look at how far coaches have taken various strategies and recognise where it originated, because he has his fingerprints all over it. Being a thinker, he can also follow the reasoning that got the system to where it is today. Football is still played in spaces, after all. Every action still causes a reaction. "You can't re-invent the game," Waite said. A rumble went through the game when Ryan was appointed coach last year. While critics feel his personality is such that he would have difficulty selling a bomb in Iraq, not even they doubt his ability. Coaches influenced by the dynamic duo.

No more gaps; Ryan plans changes to plug holes in leaky defence; Herald. Mar 30, 1999.
NEWCASTLE Knights coach Warren Ryan has demanded a better defensive performance and will make changes to the team for Monday's game against Wests at Parramatta Stadium to ram the message home. The Knights have the NRL's second-best attacking record (107 points) behind Melbourne (112) but are only equal ninth with Souths (80) in points conceded and Ryan is less than impressed. Newcastle led Manly 16-0 after 20 minutes at Marathon on Sunday but the winless Sea Eagles held them to 16-all for the rest of the game and found their way through to score three tries. Manly scored four tries in the first-round game at Homebush and Parramatta (three) and Canterbury (four) have also had little trouble finding the line. `I'm still concerned that while we might be the second-highest scoring team, there's way too many points being scored against us,' Ryan said. `We've got to take steps to arrest that because it's not satisfactory for a team with championship aspirations. I'd rather make changes now.'
Even taking into account the fact that two teams with better defensive records (Norths and Penrith) have played one less game than Newcastle because they have both had a bye, Ryan said the Knights had to plug the holes before they move into a horror stretch of the draw. After the game against the struggling Magpies, Newcastle have back-to-back home matches against St George-Illawarra and Brisbane then hit the road for two weeks against Canberra and Parramatta. 
They return to Marathon to host Norths in round 10 then have away games against Penrith and Souths. Ryan gave nothing away about which players were under pressure to hold their positions but the back row is expected to come under the microscope. The halves and front row are unlikely to be altered and Ryan has few options in the back-line while Robbie O'Davis and Adam MacDougall (both suspended) and Matthew Gidley (injured) remain unavailable. Scott Conley will return after a week off to rest a thumb injury, Troy Fletcher is working his way into match fitness after off-season shoulder surgery and prop Clinton O'Brien has put in some eye-catching performances off the bench and could be considered as a second-rower.

Knights stand behind Ryan; League 99; Herald. Apr 8, 1999. 
THE Newcastle Knights have accepted coach Warren Ryan's version of events in his altercation with rugby league journalist Roy Masters at Parramatta Stadium on Monday. In a formal press statement issued yesterday, Knights chairman Michael Hill acknowledged that Ryan did not have a smooth working relationship with sections of the Sydney rugby league media but maintained that the two-time premiership-winning coach was the best-credentialled man to lead the Knights.
The Knights are investigating the incident and will provide the National Rugby League with a detailed report as soon as possible. Hill said the club regretted that the incident happened, while Ryan gave an undertaking that he would deal with all members of the media professionally as long as they treated him the same way.
`I believe the incident between myself and Roy Masters was an unfortunate event and has done nothing for the game of rugby league,' Ryan said in a written statement. `I have provided my account of the matter to the club. I give an undertaking that I intend to continue to deal with all members of the media, including Roy Masters, in a professional manner and not indulge in any criticisms of a personal nature. I, in turn, would appreciate the same treatment.'
Hill said the club was `satisfied with Warren's explanation of events' and believed sections of the media had blown the incident out of proportion. `The incident was part of a longstanding dispute between the two (men),' he said. `Unfortunately, others are doing their best to inflame the situation. The Newcastle Knights regret that Warren was involved in an incident which has detracted from the game he loves and to which he has contributed so much. The club engaged Warren for his outstanding coaching ability and his unrivalled knowledge of the game. The Knights are aware that Warren Ryan and some sections of the Sydney media have at times not seen eye to eye but we believe he is the person best equipped to lead the Newcastle Knights in their premiership quest.'
Ryan said later he was not concerned about the possibility of disciplinary action by either the Knights or the NRL and hoped the `almighty attention' the altercation had attracted would die down soon.

Ryan chose himself; Herald. Aug 2, 1999. 
LONG before the 1998 season even started, coach Malcolm Reilly announced he would be leaving the Newcastle Knights at the end of the year to return home to England. Using modern-day coaching godfather Warren Ryan as a sounding board, Knights chairman Michael Hill went to work behind the scenes to try to recruit Reilly's successor. It quickly became apparent to Hill that Ryan who had spent four years away from coaching while working as an ABC Radio commentator was the right man for the job. In today's extract from his autobiography One Perfect Day, Paul Harragon tells of his role in the selection process and a meeting of senior players at Hill's house which secured Ryan's signature. MAL made it clear at the end of 1997 that 1998 would be his last year with the Knights. The death of his father early in 1998 only confirmed to himself that he was doing the right thing by going back to England to care for his mother. He left Newcastle as one of the city's most popular adopted sons, and it was the first time a Knights coach left the club on pleasant terms. His departure left an enormous void. Guiding the Knights into the 21st century was a hot ticket in the coaching game and there was a long list of quality coaches interested in the gig. Applications came from Australia and England, but the hot favourite was Peter Sharp.
`Sharpy' was our premiership-winning reserve-grade coach in 1995, won a couple of premierships with our junior teams early in the decade, then moved to Parramatta in 1997 and won another comp with the Eels' reserves. Being from Maitland and spending so much time in the Knights' system meant he was one of us.
Out of the blue, Warren Ryan's name was tossed up as a contender. It was just a rumour at first and no-one took it seriously. He had been out of the loop for four years and seemed to be enjoying life as a commentator with ABC Radio. He could have coached in any number of those years but no-one seemed to think he wanted to come out of retirement. The information I was getting, however, suggested that he was prepared to get back into coaching . . . but only if it meant coaching the Knights. Our chairman Michael Hill kicked some ideas around with me about who should be Mal's successor. The players were all of the belief that Sharpy was the heir apparent, but at a meeting with `Hilly' in late April he told me that it had become a race in two between Warren and Peter. I could tell that Michael was already leaning towards Warren but was interested in what I had to say as a gauge to what the players thought. Warren has left a lasting legacy among the coaching fraternity. His disciples include Phil Gould, David Waite, Allan McMahon, Steve Folkes, Wayne Pearce, Andrew Farrar, Dean Lance and Tom Raudonikis. All were either players or lower-grade coaches under his guidance, and with two premierships and four other grand final appearances to his name, his record demanded respect. I was in Origin camp with the NSW team shortly after Michael raised Warren's name with me, so I secretly sounded out some of my NSW team-mates for their opinions of the man they call `Wok'. I spoke to Terry Hill and Laurie Daley, different guys who had played underneath him, and I was being inconspicuous because his talks with the Knights were highly confidential at the time.
ALMOST to a man, everyone described him as one of the best coaches they'd ever had that they had learnt more in one year with Warren than they had in a career with any other coach. There were very few negatives about him. The only ill-feeling seemed to come from the media. Without a doubt he had built up his fair share of enemies over the years, mainly because he spoke his mind as a coach, then in his media role on radio and in his controversial newspaper columns. Public perception was vastly different from what the players and his inner-circle of confidantes thought about him.
For the final seal of approval, Michael organised a meeting at his place with Warren and some of the senior players. Warren has a very dry sense of humour and when he walked into Michael's house, there were half a dozen footballers waiting for him. He said, `This is the first time I've ever been interviewed by the players.'
I took the liberty of asking him about his thoughts on the way we played and some of his plans. When I asked him why he wanted to get back into coaching, he said he wanted to win another grand final. The conversation even stretched into his past, including his grand finals with Canterbury, Balmain and Newtown, and a few colourful incidents he had been involved in. I even asked him what he could do to help me improve my game. `No trombones in the string section,' was his light-hearted response, telling me in no uncertain terms to stay out of the backs. But he did suggest a couple of relevant things to improve my game.
When Mick Hill wrapped up the meeting, I had the distinct impression that Warren Ryan would be our new coach. The official announcement came four days later. Within a few days of that news breaking, Peter Sharp was quickly snapped up to work as Bob Fulton's understudy at Manly in 1999 but he took over the top job early in the season when Bozo stepped down for personal reasons. I believe that Sharpy is destined to be a great coach. His track record in reserve grade, a tough competition to coach in because players are always coming and going, and junior representative teams speaks for itself. Working alongside one of the game's immortals in Bob Fulton, even for a few months, will have made him even better.

Warren Ryan's private war; Newcastle coach goes on the attack- Aug 11, 1999. 
THE festering feud between Newcastle Knights coach Warren Ryan and sections of the Sydney media flared again yesterday when he blasted News Limited's Newcastle-based correspondent, Barry Toohey, at the club's weekly press conference. In an extraordinary outburst, Ryan accused Toohey of 'mischievously misquoting or misrepresenting' him and supplying information to News Limited journalists who write anonymous columns in The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. Knights officials Ian Bonnette and Stephen Crowe had no prior knowledge of Ryan's intentions and, as the coach and journalist argued, they tried several times to direct the topic of conversation back to Friday night's crucial game against St George-Illawarra at the Sydney Football Stadium. Bonnette offered to mediate at a private meeting between Ryan and Toohey after the press conference but that never eventuated. Toohey replied to Ryan that the only time he wrote an article criticising the Newcastle coach was in his own column in last weekend's Sunday Telegraph. Toohey wrote about Ryan presenting the coach of the year award to Cessnock's Derek McVey at last Wednesday's Newcastle Rugby League annual presentation. 'In handing the award to McVey, Ryan virtually blamed the News Limited organisation for the fact he never won coach of the year in Sydney,' Toohey wrote. 'Many readers would no doubt be amazed to know Ryan is employed by the company as a columnist for the Brisbane Courier-Mail. It seems his public disdain for News Limited doesn't stop him putting his hand out for a cheque every week.'
The same item appeared in the anonymous Cross Word column in Monday's Daily Telegraph. Items in Cross Word and the Mr Walker column in The Sunday Telegraph have been critical of Ryan and the Knights at various stages of the year. Ryan has always maintained that he has a problem with senior News Limited sports journalists Peter Frilingos and Phil Rothfield, not the News Limited organisation. 'Now commonsense would tell you that if you didn't win an award and you thought you should have won one, then you'd be dirty on the people charged with the responsibility of adjudicating it,' Ryan said. 'That's just pure commonsense, so how you can link that with a criticism of an organisation as such to the fact that if somebody works for them in the capacity of writing a column and expects to be paid, I just can't see the relevance of that.'
Ryan was overlooked for News Limited's Dally-M coach of the year award during his successful reign at Canterbury in the mid-80s, when the Bulldogs won the 1984 and 1985 premierships and reached the 1986 grand final. Ryan said yesterday that a senior News Limited journalist admitted to then NSWRL general manager John Quayle that he 'failed in his duty of fairness and impartiality in the adjudication of those awards and used considerable influence on others in his organisation'.
Toohey said later that he was disappointed Ryan chose to bring their difference of opinion to a head at a press conference. 'I said to Ian that I'd be happy to meet with him privately and I offered to do that early in the year but he (Ryan) didn't want to,' Toohey said. 'The only thing I'm sorry about is him using a press conference to have a go instead of talking to me privately about it. Two weeks ago he refused to answer a question I asked him just because of something in a Mr Walker column which I didn't write. That's when I started taking things personally. When he had a crack at the NRL show last week, I decided to write something and I wanted it to appear under my name.'  Ryan said he chose the press conference to criticise Toohey because 'I take umbrage at having what I say distorted. 'Those distortions are in the public arena and public insults are never expunged by private apologies.' 
Ryan appeared on The Footy Show earlier this year and spoke about his disregard for certain journalists, even quoting sections of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (Australian Journalists Association) code of ethics to make a point. The NRL fined the Knights $10,000 after Ryan was involved in an altercation with Sydney Morning Herald journalist Roy Masters before Newcastle's game against Wests at Parramatta Stadium on April 5. Those distortions are in the public arena and public insults are never expunged by private apologies.

Don't write us off: Ryan;; Sep 1, 1999. 
KNIGHTS coach Warren Ryan is trying to eke out a psychological advantage from the fact that Newcastle have not beaten Parramatta this year.
Like it or not, the Knights are the underdogs of the finals and are given little chance of progressing past Saturday night's elimination qualifying final against the Eels at Parramatta Stadium. The Eels can afford to lose as they will survive for at least another week regardless, but the Knights have no such luxury. Ryan was full of admiration for Parramatta after their 18-8 win over Newcastle at Marathon Stadium in March and again seven weeks later when the Eels prevailed 29-22 at Parramatta Stadium. `But I wasn't very impressed with us on either occasion, so that's something up our sleeve,' Ryan said. `We can play a lot better than we did when we played them. How much better they are is in their control but I know full well that we are a much, much better side than the one beaten by them on our home ground earlier in the year. `We can play a lot better and they may be able to improve too, so our improvement has got to be greater than anything they've got.
`But if our passes stick, the chances we take are smart and we get the completions we're looking for, we're in with a much better chance than anybody outside our little circle probably gives us.'
Knights captain Tony Butterfield said the Eels had a point to prove in their previous encounters this season but the boot was now on the other foot.
Newcastle's 28-20 win over Parramatta in the 1997 finals, having trailed 18-0, and some big wins at Marathon in recent years had given the Knights the upper hand. `For a long time we were to Parramatta what Manly were to us. We'd beaten them on numerous occasions, particularly in that semi-final, and they had a point to prove,' Butterfield said. `They did that on both occasions during the season, although they were tight games, and we beat them in a very tight pre-season game. Butterfield said the Knights were maintaining an air of confidence, despite the losses to Auckland and Sydney City in the past two weeks. Within the squad everyone is still strong and tight and we believe in each other, and that's very important going into these end-of-season games,' he said.

Ryan's pre-match penalty nightmare came true; End of the road Inside League; Herald. Sep 6, 1999.
NEWCASTLE Knights coach Warren Ryan said his worst fears were realised by referee Steve Clark in Saturday night's 30-16 loss to the Eels at Parramatta Stadium. Clark punished the Knights 11-4 in the penalties, being strict in keeping them back 10m in defence, which allowed the Eels 50 sets to Newcastle's 33.
Ryan raised concerns in the media before the game about Clark being intimidated by home crowds after he needed a police escort out of Kogarah Oval last year when jostled and spat on by St George fans. `In all my years of coaching, I've never seen a team have 50 possessions, and that's what Parramatta had, and we had 33. That's a huge disparity,' Ryan said. `I was concerned about it prior to the game and you know I expressed concern so I'm not red-flagging or bleating after the event. You don't factor it in but if you talk to a press man prior to the game, you try to get a message to the guy that he might have some sort of Achilles heel. He's probably got very good reason to have it, given that he was given severe intimidation at Kogarah last season. I think there's a potential frailty there that ought to be addressed but it's a bit late now. I tried to have it addressed before the game but my worst fears were realised in an 11-4 penalty count.'
Knights captain Tony Butterfield prefaced his comments by describing Clark as `quite competent' but said communication was a little difficult. `I thought some of the penalties were fairly trivial. There might have been an off-side penalty where there was six inches in it, to relieve pressure on the team trying to come off their line.'

Knight of the long knives?; Club denies Ryan facing the chop; Illawarra Mercury. Dec 15, 1999.
Club officials have refused to comment on reports the Newcastle Knights are set to sever ties with coach Warren Ryan at the end of next season in the hope of enticing premiership-winning mentor Malcolm Reilly back to Marathon Stadium in 2001. Chief executive Ian Bonnette said Ryan only had a season to run on his contract but would not confirm the reports - even though a number of players and financial supporters were believed to have been critical of Ryan's performance last year. Newcastle finished the competition in seventh place but bowed out in the first week of play-offs after losing to Parramatta in the third qualifying final.
The result was well below expectations of a side that won the '97 title over Manly and finished joint minor premier with Brisbane the following year, both times under Reilly. "We certainly haven't had any discussions with him (Reilly), I doubt whether he'd get a visa," Bonnette said. "There's always those sorts of innuendos and rumours running around, really it's not something I would comment on. That's a matter for the board to decide, not myself."
Bonnette also could not be drawn on rumours Knights chairman Michael Hill was in favour of franchising the club in the near future. Meantime, Rabbitoh Craig Wing could be lost to rugby league if salary cap concessions weren't made for South Sydney players, his manager said yesterday. National Rugby League clubs have clamoured for the young star's signature since Souths' failed court action last week, but Wing's manager Steve Gillis said all contract negotiations were on hold until the NRL board decided whether concessions would be made for Souths players, or they would be exempt from the salary cap.

Old man of coaching will do it his way, as usual; League 2000 Feb 16, 2000. 
KNIGHTS coach Warren Ryan moves closer to retirement age tomorrow but I doubt that thought will spoil his 59th-birthday celebrations.
Last week it may have been different. Maybe if he had stayed a school teacher the former Hamilton Marist Brothers boy would have been counting down the days to qualify for the Commonwealth pension. Then again, under the Pension Bonus Scheme he could last until he is 75 or so before relying on handouts, such is his present fitness and enthusiasm. This time next year Wopsy could be lining up for his Seniors Card, travel concessions and Health Care Card. It would enable him to travel to matches on a $1 bus fare, ride between Sydney and Newcastle on the train for only $3 and get his prescriptions cheap. Then again, the 1962 Commonwealth Games shot putter could still be at the helm of the Knights, steering them towards a second straight premiership. There isn't really a retirement age for sporting gurus. But few last past normal retirement age because of the stresses and strains of a career in coaching sport. At one stage last week it seemed Wok could have been heading for an earlier-than-expected life of leisure, or to just continue casual work as a commentator on the ABC and newspaper columnist.
Turmoil within the Newcastle troops, reminiscent of the 1991 season when inaugural coach Allan McMahon marched out of Marathon Stadium, had the media smelling another blood letting. Macca took the easy way and blamed the Media for his resignation after the players rebelled against his tough coaching techniques.
Wok took it on the chin as he has at every other club he has coached where turmoil is just second nature. His criticism of players, rugged training sessions, and the timing of video sessions seemed to have ruffled the feathers of some Knights players so used to being mollycoddled. But I doubt Ryan was to blame for the travel and seating arrangements for spouses and families at matches, which was another contentious point among the senior squad. The Newcastle-born veteran of six grand finals and two premierships (1984-85 with the Canterbury Bulldogs) survived and still has plenty of tricks to play and teach in his second season as Knights coach. He even seems more relaxed and serene a fortnight into the season than at the corresponding period last season. A continuation of the stunning form the Knights displayed in their 38-6 drubbing of defending NRL champions the Melbourne Storm would certainly keep him in that frame of mind.

Wok on planes, trains and his watermobiles; League 2000; 
NEWCASTLE Knights coach Warren Ryan might have to call on the club's major sponsor, Impulse Airlines, for a bit of help preparing the team for Friday night's clash with the Dragons at Marathon Stadium. Coach Wok wants an aeroplane hangar, or something the same size, to give the Knights squad some ball work, which under yesterday's weather conditions was near impossible. If the rain doesn't ease, the past 12 world surfing champions, who are special guests at Marathon Stadium before their exhibition at Newcastle Beach on Sunday afternoon, might be able to paddle their boards around the ground as well as the break.
The Knights are also having members of the Newcastle Breakers team as guests because of their gesture in postponing their match against Canberra Cosmos until Saturday night to avoid a clash. Those two surfing themes are appropriate given this week's weather. But Ryan isn't particularly perturbed by the wet conditions.
He said yesterday he could nearly `swim' the players to the game, such has been their preparation over the first seven rounds of the competition. His planned ball-work session after pool exercises yesterday was shelved, with the players doing some skills work in the gym. `We are seven games in now and that was a very tough game in the heat against Penrith and tough physically for our blokes. `I know it is raining and it is no intent to humour you, but I could probably swim them to the game,' Ryan said. `What you really need is something like an aeroplane hangar where you have got sixty-eight metres of width. It doesn't matter about the length, you need the width to practise the movement of the ball.'
If a hangar at Williamtown is not available, there are probably a few similar-size buildings at the BHP complex, or even Goninans across the road from Marathon Stadium, that could be utilised. Not pounding the hard turf in daily training sessions could be a blessing in disguise with a five-day preparation for what is certain to be an energy-sapping surface on Friday night. St George-Illawarra are probably in the same boat, with facilities in Sydney just as drenched as in the Hunter Valley.
The Dragons had an extra day off after beating Auckland last Saturday and former Knights coach David Waite is certain to have the players revved up to repeat last year's 26-12 result. 

Wok, Chief deny rift; Pair play down half-time dressing room banishment; Herald. Mar 29, 2000.
NEWCASTLE Knights coach Warren Ryan and former captain Paul Harragon insist there is no problem between them after Ryan dismissed Harragon from the dressing-room at half-time of last Friday's game at Marathon Stadium. Harragon, working with Channel Nine's commentary team for the game between the Knights and the Dragons, was asked to leave so Ryan could speak to his players in private. The 31-year-old former NSW and Australian prop, who now works for several television and radio stations, still works in a promotional role for the Knights and is a regular visitor to the Newcastle room before, during and after games.
`There was a slight misunderstanding but there's no problem there,' Harragon said. Ryan described the incident as `very minor' compared to `some stories I can tell you about things I've done in the past. I just wanted to speak to the team on my own, which is the coach's prerogative,' Ryan said. `Other times I've told the entire medical staff and all the trainers, give them what they need and get out because I want to talk to them on their own. Coaches sometimes do that but I haven't done that yet in Newcastle.'

Wok's tyranny ruffles feathers but gets results; Herald. Apr 29, 2000.
IT appears Newcastle Knights coach Warren Ryan has a problem handling high-profile people. That goes for media personalities as well as the gifted players he has associated with in his two decades in the game at the highest level. His clashes with Tommy Raudonikis, Steve Mortimer, Jason Taylor, Roy Masters and Peter Frilingos are well documented. Now there appears to be a list of Knights first graders again upset by his style. Reports of a conflict at training this week with five-eighth Matthew Johns and on-going murmurs of discontent from some unnamed first-grade players about his boots-and-all style of diplomacy can only erode the club's camaraderie. But the team are not there to have fun among mates. They are paid well to do a job under the guidance of the coach. It happened when the players wanted original coach Allan McMahon to change his style back in 1991. McMahon went. Coincidently, a day after the supposed blow-up with Johns, Ryan admitted he was probably looking forward to retiring at the end of the season. Maybe Ryan and Johns haven't been hitting it off as well this season as they appeared to last year. Johns seemed to be one of his ardent supporters, even at the stage when club chairman Michael Hill was forced to call a meeting to clear the air of player discomforts. Unfortunately Johns was not considered for the captaincy when Tony Butterfield was suspended for three weeks. It went to Bill Peden but was offered to Andrew Johns on his return for the Sharks game. Matthew, as regular stand-in in previous years, did not seem to come into calculations.
Matthew only needs to watch the tape of his last two performances to understand why Ryan might not be his biggest fan at present. He has handed in two shockers and that is what cost him a Test jersey. But Ryan, now rising 60, was one of the first to be at Johns' house when he missed selection for the Australian Test team.
Ryan came back to his home town of Newcastle with a reputation of being difficult to deal with. In the 18 months since he arrived, apart from an opening `serve', I have found him polite and positive. This season he has even seemed more relaxed and comfortable with his position. He has a job to do to accomplish what the Knights supporters expect, and that is to produce a winning side. He has done pretty well so far. If winning games means treading on well-heeled toes and egos, so be it.

Knights deny feud reports;; Apr 29, 2000. 
NEWCASTLE Knights coach Warren Ryan and five-eighth Matthew Johns arrived together at training yesterday, insisting a disagreement between them on Tuesday was blown out of proportion. Ryan and Johns exchanged heated words at training at Empire Park on Tuesday afternoon after a misunderstanding over a training drill. Ryan, who has confirmed he will retire at the end of the season after completing his two-year contract with the Knights, believes the incident was exaggerated because of a feud with several Sydney journalists. The dual premiership-winning coach will rack up his 400th first grade game tomorrow and is on target to become the longest serving coach in the history of Australian rugby league later this season. `I'm wondering if that gang in Sydney were a bit disturbed that some people were writing favourably about the milestone and they had to take some gloss off. I don't know; I wouldn't have a clue,' Ryan said before yesterday's training session at Marathon Stadium. `... I wouldn't worry about it. It happens at every training session. I'll blow up about some mistake perhaps and it will be rectified. My catchcry is, that's why we come to training. It was a bizarre occurrence the other night. We couldn't hear one another. I won't go into the details about it but we're quite all right about it.'
Johns said he and Ryan hoped the `unfortunate' incident could have a positive effect on the rest of the team. `Things like this, disagreements, happen all the time in the run of the year,' Johns said. `We live in each other's pockets so much, the players and staff, so it's certainly going to happen from time to time. `The thing with me and Warren, he's said to me sometimes he gets fairly distant and that sort of stuff. I suppose it comes with having a high-pressure job like he has and unfortunately, things came to a head on Tuesday. `I heard Warren say on radio today that things like this test you and make you stronger. Me and Warren had a yarn about it and hopefully that's what it's going to do for this team.'

Truth behind Wok's successor - Herald. May 3, 2000.
NEWCASTLE Knights CEO Ian Bonnette made an interesting statement at yesterday's weekly press conference. He said the Knights' process for a new coach would be the same process as 1998, when they did not advertise the position but expected quality applications. My recollection of the past two appointments for the Knights' coaching position is that they were head-hunted by the club chairman of the day. Terry Lawler went all the way to Hong Kong to secure Malcolm Reilly, in a secret deal which he revealed to the Knights' board as they were preparing to interview the final three applicants, and Michael Hill did a ring-around to inform his fellow directors of the Warren Ryan appointment. So why should it be any different this time.
Hill, the dominant force at the top and behind the scenes since the club was formed, still holds the whip hand. If, as expected, Hill is named the new NRL chairman later this month to replace Malcolm Noad, he will not have to relinquish his positions with the Newcastle club. The NRL post is unpaid and not fulltime.
At present he is also president of the Knights Leagues Club and chairman of the International Sports Centre Trust. And again he will have Ryan as his main adviser, as he was two years ago when the former Novocastrian Commonwealth Games shot putter-turned league supercoach nominated himself. Ryan was also the unofficial adviser to the Knights when inaugural coach Allan McMahon and his assistant David Waite, Ryan proteges, were appointed. Ryan could not take the job back in his city of birth because of commitments with Canterbury and then Balmain. He came out of a five-year semi-retirement to take the job last year and will happily return to commentating on ABC and writing newspaper columns to keep his involvement in the game he loves. Ryan has given the Knights plenty of notice to find his replacement. He told the club last week he was retiring at the end of the season, a decision he had made last Christmas, which had been confidential to only a few close associates at the Knights. `I was grateful for the club appointing me to the position of coach six months before my tenure began and I feel it only fair that my successor have the same opportunity to prepare for what is admittedly a big responsibility here in Newcastle,' Ryan said.
His announcement certainly opens a Pandora's box with high-profile names already being bandied about as `certain' appointments. Bonnette's statement that he felt there was no need to rush into recruitment negotiations or to re-sign players coming off contracts also added intrigue to the league roundabout. Players such as Andrew and Matthew Johns probably will not sign a new contract until they know who is coaching the team. A new coach probably will not take the job until he knows the Johns brothers and a few other present Knights players have been re-signed. Such off-field activities certainly take the heat off the recent performances of the team.

Ryan anoints Hagan as his successor; Herald. May 17, 2000.
ARISE Sir Michael Hagan. You are the anointed one. Well, at least that is the way it seems after King Wopsy put forward your nomination as his successor yesterday. After all, Warren Ryan has been the Newcastle Knights' adviser on coaches for three of the four appointments in the club's 13-season history.
His endorsement for Hagan came out of the blue yesterday at the weekly press conference. Almost as an aside, as the meeting petered out awaiting the arrival of NRL CEO David Moffett, Ryan sprang his surprise announcement in support of his assistant coach. `I've got Hages doing a few extra things at training to assist me,' he said. `I'd like to think that Michael could establish some sort of opportunity to be considered for next year's job. The board think he's a very worthy candidate.' 
Asked if the Knights board had actually asked for advice, the 59-year-old veteran, only a few months off retirement, shook his head. `I'll give them my opinion but it's up to them if they want to ask me,' he said. `They have done in the past but whether they want to do it again (is up to them).'
He then made reference to Hagan, a former Knights captain and Queensland State of Origin five-eighth, following the same path as Newcastle's inaugural coach Allan McMahon. Ryan wasn't available to come back to his home town when the Knights joined the premiership in 1988. He was coming to the end of his successful run with Canterbury when the Knights were admitted, then parted company for Balmain. Instead he recommended his proteges McMahon and David Waite. They each had a period as head coach of the Knights before Malcolm Reilly guided the team to the premiership in 1997 during his four-year term. Ryan's sudden public comment on the subject may be a warning to the Knights administrators, already under stress and strain from the poorly timed Matthew Johns saga, to quickly appoint the coach for next year. When Ryan announced publicly his retirement plans a month ago, the appointment of a new coach should have been the club's priority, not telling Matty they didn't want him. After all, the new coach might want to have some input into the team he coaches, not just be given a side the chairman, board of directors and CEO want to put on the park. Hagan is an excellent choice, brought up under the Ryan-style of coaching at Canterbury, polished further with Graham Murray at the Hunter Mariners and given his own chance originally with the first division at Canberra and now back at Marathon Stadium. Until now, Ryan doesn't appear to have included Hagan in a lot of the first-grade work. Hagan has had to settle for supplying players to the top grade, trying to win matches with a patched-up first-division side, and acting as director of timekeeping for the interchange bench. He has proved himself at that level and as he did on the field, should be just as adept at proving his coaching skills in top class. It is now up to the Knights officials to make the next move quickly.

Wok denies influence;; May 31, 2000. 
NEWCASTLE Knights coach Warren Ryan denied yesterday that he had any input into the retention of players for next season or was involved in talks about not retaining five-eighth Matthew Johns. `Nil,' Ryan said in answer to a question on his input into retaining players next year. `I haven't got anything to do with it,' he said. `I didn't have anything to do with the players that were here when I came here so I'm certainly not having anything to do with the ones who'll be here when I leave.'  Ryan said his only involvement was a personal approach to NRL boss David Moffett about salary-cap concessions for long-serving players. `I stated a long time ago if the two Johns were ever plucked by predators from Newcastle, it not only hurts the Knights and the supporters and also hurts rugby league and is a retrograde step for the game itself,' he said. `But I do feel sorry for the father (Gary Johns). He is not thinking rationally and is just striking out at everybody. It's a pity, really.'  Ryan also said he did not know what incentives Knights players had written into their contracts. `If I knew a player had to play another game or two games to get a huge incentive payment, I wouldn't like to be thinking that if I drop him I would cost that bloke a lot of money,' he said. `So I don't involve myself in that because you can then select fearlessly and very honestly.'

A mind of his own; Uncanny insight the basis of Ryan's record run; Herald. Jun 8, 2000. 
WARREN Ryan will become the longest-serving coach in the 93-year history of rugby league when the Newcastle Knights play Canberra at Bruce Stadium on Sunday. WARREN Ryan will become the longest-serving coach in the 93-year history of rugby league when the Newcastle Knights play Canberra at Bruce Stadium on Sunday. Ryan will notch game 406, surpassing the previous mark of 405 set by league immortal Bob Fulton. Ryan has called last drinks on a career spanning 17 seasons. To date his shout has included two premierships with Canterbury, six grand finals and 10 finals campaigns. His final drink may be the most satisfying a premiership with the Knights. But regardless of the outcome, he will call it a night and rejoin his family in Sydney at the end of this season. It will be his second retirement, but this time there will be no nightcap. Controversy seems to have followed Ryan at every club he has worked for, but there is no doubting his coaching genius. By season's end his games tally will be up near 420, depending on how deep into the finals the Knights travel. There is every chance his record will be broken. Tim Sheens and Wayne Bennett are the most likely successors. But Ryan's legacy will remain. Such has been his influence, he forced officials to change the rules in the mid-1980s. Current first-grade coaches Chris Anderson (Melbourne), Wayne Pearce (Tigers), Steve Folkes (Canterbury), Andrew Farrar (St George-Illawarra) and Graham Murray (Roosters) have the Ryan imprint. Add his likely successor at Newcastle, Michael Hagan, and the likes of Phil Gould and David Waite and there is bound to be an indelible Ryan mark on the game for years to come. Ryan has seen many developments in the game and believes the greatest occurred way before his time as a coach when the four-tackle rule was introduced in 1967. `I think the game has improved enormously,' Ryan said. `It has evolved, more or less out of necessity, just in my coaching lifetime.'
Here are some of Ryan's thoughts on the big changes he has seen. The 10m rule`Under the five-metre rule it got to the stage where you could not play any attacking football. With Canterbury in the mid-80s we got so proficient at defending, because of the rules, that defence had taken over the game and something just had to be done. `By the third consecutive grand final my side played in, there were no tries scored. They won the first two and then lost a tryless grand final to Parramatta 4-2 (in 1986). `It had to develop, defence had become too dominant for attack. They had to open the game up otherwise the spectacle was too dour.
So the game was done a favour.' The spiral pass`Technically, the next step in the game's evolution was the introduction of the spiral pass. Whether it was Wally Lewis in Queensland or the Canberra Raiders or both simultaneously, it opened up a whole new world of rapid transferance of the ball in attack over wider distances. `Canberra perfected the art of edge-of-the-field attack back in the 1980s. To negate that, of course, along came slide defence. The deep, angled attack that Canberra had with Mal Meninga, Gary Belcher and John `Chicka' Ferguson, with Ricky (Stuart) and Laurie (Daley) shooting it out to them on a big, deep backline angle, that would not work now because the defence pushes across in front of them. `Whenever there is an advancement in attack there is a defensive mechanism that springs up to try and negate that, And vice versa. Now we have an attack where the side with the ball stands flat and addresses the opposition and attempts to get rapidly over the advantage line before sliding defenders can deal with them. Melbourne won a premiership based on flat attack and there are now defences being applied to combat that.' The replacement rule`The unlimited-interchange rule took away the fatigue factor. It enabled big, powerful front-rowers to be used in short bursts. `That will be addressed next season with the introduction of the rule of four replacements and 12 interchange-movements.
`And teams will have to adapt accordingly.' The athletes`Players are bigger, faster and stronger. Full-time professionalism has been the major contributor to that. `The athleticism of the players has improved markedly. Their physical attributes have improved with the advent of structured weight training and correct diet.
`Some of the big front-rowers have survived because of the interchange rule but that may change. There will always be a place for the big, skilful front-rowers but they will have to work harder to carry the load for bigger sections of the game. In fact, every player is going to have to train harder.' The future`The game will expand. The present format will last for a few more years but I think they will take it back to the nation. There will be teams in Adelaide and Perth and they will need another in south-east Queensland. I can not foresee any major changes to the game itself. The game is brilliant. Changes are never issued for the sake of change. They evolve out of necessity, either by an exploitation of the rules or a dominance in attack or defence. The rule-makers are slow to implement change. They are reactors and real changes have to be reactions.'
`I think the game has improved enormously. It has evolved, more or less out of necessity just in my coaching lifetime.' Warren Ryan

Wok can afford to be choosy; Jul 4, 2000. 
NEWCASTLE Knights coach Warren Ryan is a whiz with numbers and statistics but even he will have to work a miracle to squeeze all the worthy candidates into his 17-man squad for Friday night's game against Parramatta at Parramatta Stadium. The Knights' stocks are soaring after they produced their best form of the season in last Friday's 46-12 disposal of the Sydney Roosters. And with David Fairleigh, Timana Tahu, Clinton O'Brien, Robbie O'Davis and Darren Albert back in the selection pool, back-rower Ben Kennedy is now their only senior player still unavailable through injury. Kennedy, who is recovering from torn ankle ligaments he sustained playing for NSW in Origin III, is still several weeks away from returning. Ryan said it was a healthy situation in which to be just a month out from the semi-finals, and would allow players returning from injury to prove their fitness in first division. `It can force your injured blokes to get some footy under their belt and prove that their injuries are okay,' Ryan said. That will be the case for O'Davis and Albert, who will not be considered for first grade as they take their first steps back from long-term foot injuries. `With their injuries, if they break down they'll need operations and will be out for the year so we'll have to see how they go in second grade,' Ryan said. `If they come back and their injuries hold up alright, we'll consider them again next week. They expected it and it's good that they understand that.'
The return of Tahu from a one-game suspension, and Fairleigh (hip) and O'Brien (hamstring) from injury, means some in-form players will be omitted when Ryan names his team today. Tahu's return to the wing will push Adam MacDougall to fullback and Daniel Abraham back to first division. O'Brien still has to prove his fitness this week but Fairleigh will be back after missing the past two games. Just who slots in where will remain a mystery until later today but bench forwards Paul Rauhihi and Troy Fletcher are the likely candidates to drop back to first division. Fairleigh will probably return to the starting side in the second row, pushing Steve Simpson back to the bench. O'Brien could have some difficulty shifting Matt Parsons from the starting front row. Parsons' dominant performance against the in-form Roosters on Friday means O'Brien might have to settle for a place on the bench alongside Simpson, Glenn Grief and Peter Shiels. Ryan could even elect to push Shiels back to first division for some game time and keep Rauhihi in the top squad after Rauhihi's powerful efforts in recent weeks.

Get on with the job; Ryan tells Knights to forget hard-luck stories; Jul 11, 2000. 
NEWCASTLE Knights coach Warren Ryan wants his players to forget about perceived injustices of the past and concentrate on the hurdles ahead of them, starting with Friday night's game against the Sharks at Marathon Stadium. Ryan said the high-tackle charges handed out by the NRL yesterday against Parramatta's Jason Smith and Daniel Wagon vindicated his criticism of referee Tim Mander after last Friday night's dramatic 22-18 loss to the Eels at Parramatta Stadium.
Smith's NRL career is almost certainly over as he faces a suspension of between seven and nine games, unless he is exonerated by the judiciary. Wagon will be out for two games if he pleads guilty or is found guilty. Both players were reported for tackles on Knights fullback Adam MacDougall in the opening 23 minutes.
`The whole point of it is, we get a bloke whacked and belted and those players have duly been rounded up but it doesn't help you during the course of the game,' Ryan said. `The charges against these players and their likely suspensions justifies my complaint on behalf of the Knights on Friday night. If they'd have been exonerated and we'd have been screaming for nothing, it would be different all together. `But my view is that their likely suspensions have justified that the Knights had every reason to complain after the match about how Adam MacDougall was being treated out there.'
The Knights believe refereeing decisions in games against the Roosters, Dragons and Eels have virtually cost them six premiership points this season and clear-cut second place on the NRL table. But Ryan said there was nothing to gain from the players contemplating what might have been, and they were now concentrating their energy on finishing as high up the ladder as possible. `If we look back and start thinking about things like that, our minds aren't on the job,' he said. Despite being in a three-way tie for fifth at the moment, the Knights believe wins in their last three games will go close to securing second place, a home play-off game and a guaranteed life in the first week of the finals. We've just got to get on with what's in front of us,' he said. `That's all we can do. We can't go back and get what's gone. We've just got to concentrate on the game in front of us, that's where we're at, and I'm pretty sure the players can do that. They know the state of play ... there's two points separating team two to team nine, so our aim has to be to win all three, starting with the Sharks on Friday night. It would just be nice, if there's any sort of shade of odds, to see the Knights get it. We're overdue for some luck in that regard.'

Wok fumes over Buderus knockout; Jul 24, 2000. 
DANNY Buderus will have to defy doctor's orders if he is to take part in the Knights' last home game of the season on Sunday. Buderus was knocked out in the 70th minute yesterday when he was tackled high by Wests Tigers replacement Ciriaco Mescia. `What I can't understand is that he was carrying the ball, so either the linesman or the referee didn't see what happened,' Knights coach Warren Ryan said. `On the replays on the big screen it was pretty clear that he got clobbered high. `You can't get knocked out being hit on the shoulder.'
Knights club doctor Peter McGeoch has advised the hooker to have this week off. `He was knocked out for about 90 seconds; he is still a bit vague,' McGeoch said. `It's highly unlikely he'll play next week, but the good news is that he has no neck injury.' 
The trip to the land of the unknown was a new experience for 22-year-old Buderus. `I've never been knocked out before and I can't really remember too much of it,' Buderus said. `They told me I'm out for next week but I'm keen to play. I'll have to wait and see.'
The Knights have no strict policy on players missing a match following a head knock, but McGeoch will be taking no chances. `There's always exceptions and I guess if someone has a short period of being knocked out and came to fairly quickly, they might not need a week off,' McGeoch said. `But my feeling with Danny is that he will need a week off.'
While Buderus is contemplating a week on the sideline, it was Ben Kennedy's first week back on the job yesterday. The State of Origin second-rower was taken from the field after 52 minutes of the first-division clash with Western Suburbs at Campbelltown, his ankle almost passing the test. `It was seven weeks today since he did the damage to his ankle and by nine weeks he should be right,' McGeoch explained. `His ankle is still pretty sore but he was happy with the way it went.'  The Newcastle first-division side lost 44-20 to Wests, but it was just another step along the road to recovery for Kennedy. He was forced to endure a pain-killing injection before the game.

Proud families witness teary farewell; Jul 31, 2000. 
KNIGHTS coach Warren Ryan described yesterday's scenes at Marathon Stadium as the most emotional farewell he had ever seen in rugby league. One couple suffering mixed emotions before the match were Gary and Gayle Johns, parents of departing Newcastle Knights legend and club life-member, Matthew Johns.
`It is a sad day but we've got to try to make it a happy one,' Gary Johns said as he nursed Matthew's son, Cooper. `It's been pretty emotional with the club not offering him a contract. I still believe the club are wrong in what they've done but we're here to support Matthew and really have a good day.'
The proud parents broke with tradition and went to see their 29-year-old eldest son yesterday before the game. Gayle gave her boy a kiss as she fought to hold her emotions in check when he left for the match at Marathon Stadium. `It is very hard on everyone and I think it will be very tough for Andrew when Matthew is no longer here at the club,' Gary added. Gary and Gayle both agreed that their proudest moments were when both sons were selected to play State of Origin for NSW in 1995, and when the pair lined up for Australia. `Those moments were a big thrill for us, but the grand final in 1997 probably stands out more than any,' he said. At the end of the match more than 25,000 fans stayed to pay tribute to Johns and retiring captain Tony Butterfield. `It's a credit to him and it's a credit to the people of Newcastle as well,' Butterfield's emotional father Jim said after the match. Butterfield's mother, Patricia, was at the game along with Butterfield's brothers Paul and John, and his sister Julie. His youngest brother Grant had work commitments. `But I wouldn't be surprised if he's here somewhere,' Butterfield senior said.

Waite-Reilly role reversal really ironic in light of Knight times; Feb 28, 2001. pg. 46 
THE irony of David Waite's appointment over Malcolm Reilly as Great Britain's coach hasn't escaped many, especially the vast army of supporters in Newcastle, where Waite preceded the Englishman as coach of the Knights. Reilly frankly admitted in his book that with Newcastle he'd been in the right place at the right time and had learned a great deal. In fact, he said if only he had known when he coached Great Britain what he knew at the end of his time with the Knights things might have been different. If he meant that the Poms would have beaten Australia, he's entitled to his opinion. But whether he realised it, he was paying Waite quite a compliment. Things like technical detail, smart strategy and, probably more obvious than all, the sheer hard yakka of physical training had somehow managed to elude English club football. Reilly, the tough, skilful lock with a killer instinct to match his English predecessors in the lock-forward trade, Derek Turner and Vince Karalius, was, from all reports, a coaching softie. His inheritance at Newcastle though, when he replaced Waite, was a well-schooled, very smart group of players with a seasoned, iron- hard pack led by the ultimate competitor, Paul "The Chief" Harragon. A number of questions will always remain unanswered. Would Waite have achieved the same results had he been allowed to remain in charge?
Could Reilly have done the developmental groundwork himself, then won with the team?
Or, for that matter, would the Knights have beaten the Broncos of 1997 irrespective of who coached them?
Waite proved he had special qualities when he repaired a broken St George club and took them to the 1996 grand final against Manly. The Saints were in disarray with chief executive Geoff Carr sacked for enraging the Kogarah mob. He had tried to merge with the Roosters. On top of that, coach Brian Smith had "walked" at the end of season '95 muttering that the club had "the smell of Newtown about it". Well, unlike Newtown, St George didn't disappear. They merged with, or took over, Illawarra. Take your pick. But after a turbulent start to the season, in the first year of the amalgamation, the Dragons were in the grand final up against Melbourne Storm. Coach Waite, with his assistant Andrew Farrar, had somehow managed to coax, cajole and soothe two half-teams to the main event.
In England, Reilly's coaching had taken a turn for the worse at Huddersfield with some humiliating losses. Leeds, coached by Graham Murray, who had been a virtual outcast when he coached the Hunter Mariners in Newcastle, beat Huddersfield by more than 80 points. Mighty Mal, the erstwhile Newcastle hero, had become villain on his home soil. The irony of this wouldn't have been lost on the astute but good-natured Murray. Sacked from club coaching after a merger, Reilly has now quit his job as national under-18 coach in protest over Waite's appointment. Apparently Mal couldn't see the funny side of the role reversal -- him doing spadework for Waite. Common sense suggests that Waite wasn't appointed by the officials entirely off their own bat. A decision like that could be political suicide.
The English players realised, when Waite was a World Cup adviser, that he had more to offer than the locals. Thus the seeds of his appointment were sown.
There is of course, a potentially comical sidelight to it all. If the Poms are duly flogged by the Kangaroos, they'll be able to attribute the entire blame on Australians.

Knights drink from the cup of passion; WARREN RYAN LEAGUE 2001. Herald. Oct 3, 2001.
IT'S a funny thing about premierships: the longer you go without winning one, the longer you go without winning one. The Sharks are all too familiar with the theory. 
`Ding-dong, the witch is dead,' Jack Gibson said when Parramatta won their first title in 1981. They'd been on the trail since 1947. But coach Brian Smith's private witch is still very much alive. And to Michael Hagan and his troops well done! 
The explosive and near-perfect first half reduced the Eels to mere spectators at their own funeral. If the Parramatta forwards thought they'd developed a game where nobody had to run hard, they came to the wrong ground to display it. They were given an age-old lesson about grand-final forward play. One significant difference surfaced in the lead-up week. Not one Knight failed to mention Newcastle's passionate supporters and how much the players felt indebted to them. 
I can't recall one Parramatta player doing it, and therein lies the marvellous advantage of a home-grown team's emotional attachment to their fans. It might have taken 14 years for Newcastle to knock off a unified comp, but a significant stepping stone was that marvellous grand final of 1997, one of the greatest games of football ever. The fire that was kindled in the region back then has never died. The faithful have waited patiently hoping for more, and it was delivered in a stunning five-try display, four of which were scored by the three back-rowers. That Parramatta managed to get within six points of Newcastle at the finish seemed irrelevant. The Knights never looked like losing, despite the fact that Andrew Johns missed three attempts to insulate the win with a seven-point margin. 
Apart from the financial windfall, grand final victories have many benefits not the least being the attraction of playing for the club. Like the Broncos have done north of the Tweed, every kid in the Hunter Valley who pulls on a boot will entertain the hope of one day playing for Newcastle. Parramatta half Jason Taylor has rightfully enjoyed a marvellous year of media exposure for his pointscoring accomplishments, during which time one particular Sydney scribe was at pains to point to difficulties Taylor had with three former coaches. Well, the football gods came to exact their dues on grand final night, and Taylor got some exposure of an unpleasant kind. Predictably, the scribe who waxed lyrical about Taylor at the expense of his former coaches was unavailable for comment. What the three former coaches knew Brian Smith now has tattooed on his memory forever. And so Newcastle celebrate, and celebrate, and celebrate. But I hope somebody wakes up in time to pour Newcastle's five Kangaroos onto the plane. The touring party didn't throw up too many surprises, but Mark Well, that's it for this year. See you in the footy season next year.

Attitude the key to continued success KNIGHTS 2002; WARREN RYAN. Herald. Mar 12, 2002.
THIS season's grand final day of October 6 is a long, long way down the road. The players can't afford to focus on anything but the game right in front of them, yet the Knights' faithful can be forgiven for savouring the juicy prospect of two titles in a row. Parramatta have been installed as favourites, but that tag won't be quite as big a burden as the crown worn by the premiers. Everyone will want Newcastle's scalp. As difficult as it is to win a premiership, it's harder to defend it. Not only do teams gear up to try to lower your colours, they gear up in an effort to measure their own prospects. You are the yardstick. I can understand why the bookies have Parramatta as favourites. They ran away with the minor premiership last year, posted the best attacking figures of all time and had the best defence in the league. 
They have big, young, mobile forwards and have strengthened in the off-season by adding Canberra half Andrew McFadden and Cronulla five-eighth Adam Dykes, who might prove to be the buy of the year. Whether the Eels got stage fright in last year's grand final (I won't mention the word choke; they bristle at that), or were just too slow out of the blocks, doesn't matter much now. The fact is that Newcastle's blockbusting first half, with only one error, was just too good. 
The Knights haven't made any significant strengthening moves. They will rely on young Knights to step up when injuries open holes in the ranks. This is a commendable long-term policy but not always a winning one. Consider a Knights team without Ben Kennedy. What a gain he was. Even when a team wins the premiership, some effort should be made to strengthen them for the following year. Competition for positions is an important ingredient for success because self-interest is one horse that is always flat out. Where there is no challenge, there is an opening for complacency with those who aren't self-motivated. 
And let's not forget the Broncos. Gorden Tallis will be back. They'll miss Wendell Sailor, but if Allan Langer plays - and plays well - the problems that plagued them last year will evaporate. Comparing Andrew Johns and Allan Langer serves no useful purpose, mainly because Joey's career still has a good deal to run. 
But league statistician David Middleton has supplied some figures in any case. 
Johns, in his 168 matches, has put the ball over the line 54 times, which puts Langer marginally ahead on personal strike-rate. But the number of tries this pair of champions have created for team-mates is incalculable. All the great halves have steered their teams to at least three premierships since limited-tackle football began in 1967, which suggests that the Knights, with Johns at the steering wheel, still have some joy ahead of them. Halfbacks in the three or more club are: Bobby Grant (Souths 68, 70, 71); Johnny Mayes (Manly 73, Easts 74, 75); Steve Mortimer (Canterbury 80, 84, 85); Peter Sterling (Parramatta 81, 82, 83, 86); Ricky Stuart (Canberra 89, 90, 94); Allan Langer (Brisbane 92, 93, 97 (SL), 98); Andrew Johns (Newcastle 97 (ARL), 2001). So remarkably, there are still some things that Andrew Johns hasn't done yet. Something that I think will be a crucial factor in the Knights campaign this year will be the performances against the Eels. 
It is vital that Newcastle never let Parramatta up for air. Newcastle have the luxury of an opener against the depleted Northern Eagles at Gosford, then a visit in round two by North Queensland. If that doesn't open the bank account handsomely, we'll know the boys have dined out too long on their premiership success. 
If the Knights have demonstrated an Achilles heel, it would be in the area of endurance or second-half wobbles. Too many times the Knights have let teams climb out of the tomb when they've had them dead and buried. So how hard have the Knights prepared for the defence of their title? 
Serious challengers will be banging on the castle walls, particularly if there is a hint that the Knights are under-done. There is a small gap between confidence and complacency, and disaster awaits those who cross it. The Knights have the talent to win it again but it will take more than just talent. For back-to-back titles, their toughest opponents will be themselves. knight bite On the road again: The Knights travel to Auckland on Easter Monday to wrestle the Warriors then face back-to-back away games in Brisbane and Melbourne in rounds seven and eight. knight bite Danny Buderus is nine games away from reaching the 100-game milestone for the Knights. Of the current squad, the next closest player to triple figures is Sean Rudder (82 games).

Message to Knights: don't neck yourself LEAGUE 2003; WARREN RYAN. Herald. Newcastle, Aug 15, 2003.
IT'S happened. He's out. Gone for the year. Have you got it, team?  It's over to you. Can you handle it? 
Just last week in this column, if I can re-run a thought by you: "Johns's overwhelming control of the Knights' game leaves them with a control vacuum when he's not there. Everyone revolves around his game as if they're just extras in his movie. "It was a strength, but it has become an Achilles heel." 
Boy! How quickly prophesies can become fact. The question now is: What are the rest of you going to do about it? 
Can all you extras make a decent movie? 
Cast your minds back to last year when you were up against the full-strength Roosters in the preliminary finals of week two. Joey was gone, and I offered these thoughts: "This will take some thinking through by the Knights. They have to forget about Andrew Johns. "Unfortunately he isn't going to be there. It's an excuse for failure, no doubt about it. "But I hope the region's agenda is tougher than that. It certainly won't be on the players' minds when they hit the field. 
"It won't help the team, either, if Newcastle's entire following continue to wring their hands in grief. Michael Hagan and his players don't need to be softened for the kill." Well, last year, in that preliminary final, the Knights lost Matt Parsons early, yet that depleted Newcastle line-up played Rooster tactics against the Roosters, kicking deep and attacking the Chooks with stinging, fast-moving defence. The Knights were level at the 60-minute mark. The proof was right there for an hour. 
It can be done. It's history now, but what might have been if Sean Rudder hadn't been cut down by Anthony Minichiello when, with 20 minutes to go, Newcastle looked certain to go six up. Craig Fitzgibbon's intercept for a length-of-the-field try on the next set was the killer. The point is that the Roosters didn't beat Newcastle in that game through constructive attack of their own making but by capitalising on malfunctions that surfaced in the Knights' attacking game in the last 20 minutes. You know, the old rush-of-blood stuff. There's a clear message there from last year: Adopt the "beat them at their own game" strategy. 
And there is no side more vulnerable to an early kick and long chase than you know who. That's right the Warriors. What an opportunity you've got tonight. Last year, the Roosters annihilated the Warriors 44-0 in round 24. Not by doing anything significantly different from rounds one to 23, but their tactics were so effective against the big Kiwis it highlighted how good their strategic territorial warfare was. Swift dummy-half running and ultra-quick play-the-balls, with an occasional early kick when the runs were effective. The big bazookas were worn out trying to swat the steppers then backtrack deep to rejoin a set that was nearly over. 
Michael Hagan won't have any trouble with the blueprint. It's the mental toughness that has to be stoked up. Stick to the script and put the Warriors through 80 minutes of territorial hell. The confidence will steadily grow, and the crowd will be the biggest asset. The rest will take care of itself, providing penalties aren't offered as an escape route. It's a bit rich thinking the Newcastle team, dripping with current internationals and Origin reps, can't seize the moment. Kurt Gidley in the No.7 jumper is the way to go. He's not Andrew Johns, but then again he doesn't have to be. Nobody else has an Andrew Johns, have they?

Ryan appointed coach of Bears -  May 25 2004 
Former premiership-winning coach Warren Ryan has been appointed coaching director of the Central Coast Bears franchise as it bids for inclusion in the National Rugby League. Ryan, who coached NRL sides Canterbury, Balmain and Newcastle, will be responsible for appointing coaching and playing staff during the club's foundation years, Bears' chairman Russell Tate said in a statement.

Ryan gives evidence in McCracken case - February 16, 2005
Former first grade rugby league player and coach Warren Ryan has told a court that Stephen Kearney clearly lifted Jarrod McCracken in the tackle the former Wests Tigers player says ended his career. McCracken is suing, Kearney, Kearney's then club the Melbourne Storm and Kearney's teammate Marcus Bai in the NSW Supreme Court for more than $750,000 in damages over the tackle on May 12, 2000. The former New Zealand captain says the spear tackle was intentional and done with intent to cause injury. Mr Ryan was called as an expert witness to give his opinion on the tackle. He said it was clear from a video of the tackle that Stephen Kearney lifted McCracken by grabbing hold of one leg. "He's lifting him, otherwise how would a sixteen-and-a-half stone man end up in the air?" he said. When counsel for Kearney and Bai, Robert Sheldon, suggested that it was merely his clients' momentum that caused McCracken to become airborne, Mr Ryan could not be swayed. "You can't change my opinion, that's my opinion ...," he said. "You're trying to turn a lifting tackle into a non-lifting tackle." 
Mr Sheldon also put it to Mr Ryan that the tackle was not intentional but merely happened in the "classic heat of the moment in rugby league circumstances". 
"This is anything but classic rugby league," Mr Ryan said. Mr Ryan said it was also highly unlikely that Kearney would not have known of Bai's presence when he joined him in the tackle. It's about his 6,000th front on tackle," Mr Ryan said. "He's aware of Bai." 
At the time of the incident, McCracken was on a two-year contract for the 2000 and 2001 seasons on a fee of $300,000 a year. "By reason of the injuries sustained in the subject tackle, the plaintiff was prevented from returning to playing professional rugby league football and his employer, Wests Tigers, terminated its playing contract with the plaintiff," according to his McCracken's statement of claim, tendered to the court. McCracken said earlier in the hearing that he would have continued his professional rugby league career, either in England or the NRL, if he had not been injured. The loss of his career also caused McCracken to suffer from depression, the court was told.