The ability to achieve more than the sum of the parts, for example Ellery took Doncaster to promotion last season with a young, unheralded team which on a player by player basis was inferior to several others, including the Oldham team beaten in the decider.

Martin Crompton is doing a cracking job at Blackpool, building steadily from a seemingly hopeless position.

Mark Aston has done a consistently good job at Sheffield.

Martin Hall has always done a good job at various places.

In SL Brian McDermott is showing some potential.

jonh could have coached that team and that saying someting ,it coached its self

What about DaveO,hes a better coach than Jonh lol

Someone that dosnt lose the dressing room.

A good coach ?.....well there's too many points to raise, but given our current situation I would say a coach that wouldn't (if he were at all able to) field 6 props in the scrum and 7 second rowers......everywhere else

One who didn't think that 16 stones in weight (18 1/2 if you could possibly manage it) is the first prerequisite of a good Rugby League player.

given the threats via pm you have made i expected you to be having a pop on here sooner rather than later, still congratulations you managed a post without mentioning Mick Higham, congrats.

lets be honest and i know people do not like maurice,even though he got noble do you think he would still be here now if maurice was still in charge.

ok i started this thread but lets just say a good coach is hard to get

Good points raised here about coaches.

One glaring omission seems to be a history, or heritage with the club. For instance, Edwards is being touted as the prodigal son for Wigan RL by many on here, because of his passion for the club, but no one has suggested that this is important in being a good coach. Is a coach's history at the club therefore simply a red herring? Or possibly even a negative point?

Can anyone name a coach who has succeeded at their own club? Alex Murphy is probably the closest that Saints have had, but was nowhere near as successful as the likes of Millward or Anderson who have no particular passion for the club. Monie and Lowe had no passion for Wigan, but were both hugely successful. Cullen, I believe is passionate about Warrington, but did his passion get in the way of success?

Intelligance is key.

Knowledge of the game and knowledge of individual players and knowing what motivates individuals within a team to perform together in the most effective way possible.

Wayne Bennett is a superb example, not just because of what he has achieved in terms of silverware but also from how players talk about him.

Jim Sullivan, Des Hasler and Graeme West for a start.

Eavesway are pretty good but National Express offer better value for money over long distance.