Played Strong, Done Good

"WAITING for Cronulla to win a premiership is like leaving the porch lamp on for Harold Holt." Saddening it is to learn that the one man in Rugby League who could have put it that way - 79 year-old legend of the game, Jack Gibson - is battling Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Andrew Webster's excellent feature on the football genius hailed as 'Supercoach' - one with a wit drier than his desert namesake - is a must read. "He's not good," says wife Judy, sadly. Now confined to a nursing home, Gibson's absence from last week's ceremony to announce the 'Team of The Century' was noted by all. He was named coach. Webster relates how, despite illness, Gibson's sense of humour shone through during a visit by big gladiatorial Dragon, Norm Provan. "'We had good memories over the years, didn't we?' Provan said, tears welling in the eyes of the legendary former St George captain and of those present. Jack cracked the faintest smile, looked up and drawled a remark that only he could. 'Would someone peel this bloke off me'?"

The inscrutable coach with a Zen-like giftedness for reading his game and his players is now something of a cliche. We're used to the undemonstrative maestro whose talents for inspiration must be reserved only for initiates at the training ground, because they're sure as hell not discernible post-match in those grouchy mumblings to sports reporters. Sure, a few take the opposite approach - all gobbledegook and silver-tongued analysis. See, for example, Phil Gould. (The results of these two online polls accurately reflect just how much awe that inspires in NRL fans). Gibson, though, was the original Quiet Man.

About that magical Team of the Century, my own feelings are mixed. It's been received reasonably well, with perhaps only the decision to do the "unthinkable" - bench two of the Immortals - raising eyebrows. Despite revelations of his drug abuse, Andrew Johns made the squad. Steve Price answers critics of that decision - albeit while protesting way too much. The process was reasonably fair but exclusion must have been disappointing to contenders eventually bumped from this epochal A-Grade. Bozo a reserve? That had to hurt. Gibson's selection as coach, though, was beyond serious challenge. He was modernising the training manual and learning new things from such men as Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi long before Wayne Bennett came along. Gibson was in the commentary box when Mal Meninga missed a series of penalty goals during the second Ashes Test in 1984. When another attempt struck the upright, Gibson deadpanned: "He's getting closer." That's true of Jack now too, existentially. Benedicite.