From Dally M Medals and grand finals with both Canterbury and St George, to prominent coaching roles in England, France and Sydney, Michael Potter has been a constant presence in top-level rugby league for more than 40 years. Big League caught up with the former fullback and current cog in the Bulldogs’ coaching team.
MICK, YOU’VE BEEN BACK AT THE BULLDOGS FOR A FEW YEARS NOW, AS INTERIM HEAD COACH AND NOW NSW CUP COACH AND NRL ASSISTANT. THE BULLDOGS ARE RIDING A BIT OF A WAVE – IT MUST BE A GOOD PLACE TO BE AT THE MOMENT?
Yeah, all of the staff and obviously the players have really built a solid culture, as far as their work ethic and just wanting to do well for the club and themselves. They’re doing a lot of things right on and off the footy field.
YOU’VE BEEN AT THE COALFACE AS AN NRL HEAD COACH AT WESTS TIGERS, AND CANTERBURY IN A CARETAKER CAPACITY. HOW DO YOU FIND THE DIFFERENCE IN YOUR ROLE AS ASSISTANT, WITHOUT THAT PRESSURE OF BEING THE CLUB’S FIGUREHEAD?
The pressure on the head coach is there every week – it’s scrutiny from media, it’s scrutiny your members and your other fans, from the board and from your family. To be still around that environment [as an assistant] is great and just see how [Cameron Ciraldo] is going with that pressure – having experienced it, it’s pretty daunting – and he’s going very well. He’s also got ‘Gus’ (Gould) there that he can lean on whenever he needs to. So there’s quite a few people that are supporting ‘Ciro’ and he’s doing a great job.
GOING BACK TO THE START OF YOUR PLAYING CAREER, YOU WERE A 20-YEAR-OLD ROOKIE DALLY M MEDALLIST, NSW ORIGIN REP AND GRAND FINAL WINNER WITH THE BULLDOGS IN 1984 – QUITE AN INCREDIBLE INTRODUCTION TO THE BIG TIME…
It was an awesome season that. It was one where I was just lucky enough to be in a team that was very good, in only my second year of grade. I rode the wave on the back of [my teammates], though. They were very good defensively and Warren Ryan was a fantastic coach – I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I was very lucky to be recruited by the Bulldogs back then.
AFTER ANOTHER GRAND FINAL WIN IN 1985 YOU ENDURED A WRETCHED RUN WITH INJURY FOR SEVERAL YEARS – WERE THERE TIMES WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU MAY NOT MAKE IT BACK TO YOUR PEAK?
I had a couple of broken ankles and a knee reconstruction three years on the trot, so subsequently Canterbury thought that was probably one too many injuries to keep me there. So they let me go and I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity with St George [in 1989].
The Dragons took a punt on me and I didn’t have an injury for five years there, so that was fortunate. It’s just the way rugby league is. I would have to loved to stay with the Bulldogs after six years there, but they had to weigh up what’s best for the club.
YOU WON A SECOND DALLY M MEDAL WHILE PLAYING WITH THE SAINTS IN 1991 – THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A REMARKABLE FULL CIRCLE MOMENT, TO BE AT A DIFFERENT CLUB AND PUT ALL THOSE INJURIES BEHIND YOU TO PICK UP ANOTHER PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD?
I was playing a little bit of five-eighth at the start of the year then went back to fullback later in the season. So it was a mixed bag for me that that year, but I was enjoying having Brian Smith as a coach – he always challenged you to do better and increase your skill, just get better as a footy player every session.
So I really appreciate him coming on board, the game was getting more and more professional. And obviously more and more pressure to get better – you could see all the other teams were accelerating. There was a change from leather to synthetic balls in the late-1980s and that really changed the game dramatically with tackle technique and ball-carrying ability. There was a lot of skill development very quickly and Brian Smith was all over that, trying to get that skill acquisition into all the players.
THE TWO SEASONS THAT FOLLOWED WERE BITTERSWEET FOR ST GEORGE: TWO GREAT CAMPAIGNS THAT ENDED WITH GRAND FINAL DEFEAT TO BRISBANE – INLCUDING THE LATTER IN 1993 AS CAPTAIN WHEN YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT YOU WERE A FAIR CHANCE OF KNOCKING OVER THE BRONCOS…
Well I thought we were lucky to make the 1992 grand final. We had a 4-0 win over Illawarra Steelers [in the preliminary final] where they bombed a couple of tries, so we were fortunate. We came into that grand final a little bit under the weather playing against a Broncos team with a lot of State of Origin stars and we couldn’t match them.
In ’93 I thought we were a good chance, but the thing that turned the game, I think, happened in the first tackle. Jason Stevens ripped the top of his thumb off, I don’t know how it happened but I can remember him spinning out of the first tackle and showing me his thumb – it was horrible. So our main front-rower was out in the first minute of the grand final.
YOU PLAYED FOR NSW IN YOUR FIRST SEASON AND BROKE BACK INTO THE COUNTRY ORIGIN TEAM IN THE EARLY-1990s, BUT YOU WERE OVERLOOKED FOR HIGHER HONOURS. WAS THAT FRUSTRATING WHEN YOU WERE REGARDED AS THE COMPETITION’S FORM FULLBACK AND NSW AND AUSTRALIA OFTEN PICKED NON-SPECIALISTS? DID AGE COUNT AGAINST YOU AT THE SELECTION TABLE?
I’m not sure. I wasn’t the fastest player in the premiership – I had reasonable speed, but not top speed like Ricky Walford and those guys. I had good, solid skill, but I was probably an overachiever to be fair. I’m very happy with where I got to. It would have been lovely to play for Australia, but I was grateful to represent my state that one time, which again I thought was probably an overachievement.
AFTER A YEAR IN RETIREMENT, YOU WERE LURED TO PERTH FOR THE WESTERN REDS’ FIRST SEASON. DID THEY DO THE HARD SELL OR DID YOU HAVE ITCHY FEET TO HAVE ONE LAST CRACK?
I retired after the ’93 grand final but I thought I probably had a bit more to offer. I knew [Reds coach] Peter Mullholland from my school days, so he was at me for the whole year to come over. I kept myself in shape, just in case, and in the end he wore me down.
I thought it would be a bit of an adventure, Perth’s a nice place to be and I had two great years there. The people were great, the climate’s really good and it’s a great place to raise your family.
HOW DID YOUR MOVE INTO COACHING COME ABOUT?
I got a phone call from Matthew Elliot, who was originally at St George, and he was over in Bradford with Brian Smith, who had moved across to England by then. Brian was coming back to coach Parramatta, so Matthew rang me to ask if I would like to come over and help coach Bradford.
He said, ‘I’ll give you a week to think about it’. And next thing I’m on a plane heading to Bradford – so I went from 35 degrees [in Perth] to about five degrees at the end of ’96 – and I did three years over there. And then it was a few years back with St George lower grades, I was reserve grade coach and assistant coach with Nathan Brown. I then got an opportunity at Catalans to start that club [in 2006], so that was another culture shock.
