Lowes looks to be throwing hat into the ring

So did Schofield and Goulding but not so much Paul Anderson and Wane possibly. Look at how that's worked out.

My argument falls down in 2 quick words though: 'Lee' and 'Radford'

Don't think we are talking of the same qualities. I would certainly have put Wane down in his playing days as a potentially a better coach than Schofield and Goulding.

Great players are sometimes good coaches. Mal Meninga always seemed to do OK, for instance. Brian Clough, from another sport would be an example. Kenny Dalglish too, arguably. But they do seem to be the exception.

Ellery Hanley is an interesting case. His coaching career seemed to end for reasons not entirely related to his ability to coach a team (I'm actually not altogether sure why it ended).

I'm not sure there's a single formula to define what qualities make a great coach. As such it isn't all that easy to predict which players will manage it.

All good coaches have something in them that is clear.

You might see a more of "great" players we see today becoming coaches, than in the past. The problem with players like Schofield, Goulding, Crooks, is that they always had other influences, baggage that shouldn't be there. There was always extra baggage. With that you can not move on. Today's top players, and there are exceptions, in the main seem much more mature and keep the outside influences to a minimum.

For purest reasons i believe, he coaches / gets involved when he fancies it. Rather than doing something for the sake of it. Look how he came back out of no-where for the Cas gig.

(think he also has a few fingers in a few pies with business ventures)