Michael Potter

Michael Potter (born 24 September 1963) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who most recently served as the interim head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL), and a former professional rugby league footballer. He was previously head coach of Super League clubs, the Catalans Dragons, St Helens, the Bradford Bulls and NRL club the Wests Tigers. As a player, he was a New South Wales State of Origin representative fullback, playing his club football for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (with whom he won the 1984 and 1985 premierships), the St George Dragons (whom he captained, and won the 1991 Dally M Medal with) and the Western Reds.

For other people named Michael Potter, see Michael Potter (disambiguation).

Michael Potter
Personal information
Born (1963-09-24) 24 September 1963
Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height176 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight82 kg (12 st 13 lb)
PositionFullback
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1983–88 Canterbury Bulldogs 80 14 0 0 56
1989–93 St. George Dragons 100 14 0 0 56
1995–96 Western Reds 21 1 0 0 4
Total 201 29 0 0 116
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1990–92 Country Origin 3 0 0 0 0
1984 New South Wales 1 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2006–08 Catalans Dragons 89 41 3 45 46
2009–10 St Helens 68 49 0 19 72
2011–12 Bradford Bulls 58 25 3 30 43
2013–14 Wests Tigers 48 17 0 31 35
2022–23 Canterbury Bulldogs 14 5 0 9 36
Total 277 137 6 134 49
Representative
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2016–17 Fiji 8 5 0 3 63
Source: [1][2]

Early life

Potter was born in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.

Playing career

Bulldogs

Canterbury signed Potter while he was still a student at St. Gregory's, Campbelltown. He made his first grade debut in the round 18 match of 1983 against Eastern Suburbs coming in for the injured Neil Baker. There were 3 referees used in this match when the appointed referee, Mick Stone was injured. He was replaced by the reserve grade referee, Lionel Green, who subsequently was replaced by the Third Grade referee Paul Miller. This was Potter's only game of first grade in 1983. In only his second year of first-grade, Potter became the first fullback to win the Dally M Player of the Year award.

He is a member of Canterburys' 1984 Premiership winning team in their 6–4 win over Parramatta. A second premiership followed when Canterbury defeated St. George, 7–6 in the 1985 Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Potter broke his leg in 1986 and struggled to regain his form at Canterbury.

St. George Dragons

He signed with the St. George Dragons in 1989 and later became team captain. In 1991, Potter won his second Dally M Player of the Year award. He played fullback for the Dragons in the 8-28 Grand Final loss to the Brisbane Broncos in 1992.

Michael Potter's good form for the Dragons in the back half of the 1992 season saw him in contention for Australia's World Cup Final squad as incumbent Aussie fullback Andrew Ettingshausen was unavailable because of injury, as were Gary Belcher and Dale Shearer. However, the size of the loss to the Broncos may have cost him his chance with Balmain's Tim Brasher and Newcastle's Brad Godden selected for the fullback role instead.

The following season Potter was captain of St. George in their 6–14 loss to Brisbane in the 1993 Grand Final.

Potter retired at the end of the 1993 season.

Western Reds

Potter returned to playing rugby league, and signed to play for one of the four new teams introduced for the 1995 season, the Western Reds, going on to play 21 games for the Perth based team before retiring for good at the end of the 1996 ARL season.

Coaching career

Following his retirement as a player in 1996, Potter started his coaching career as assistant coach for the Super League team, the Bradford Bulls, alongside Matthew Elliott. He remained there until 1999 when he took over the coaching position for the New South Wales Under-17 squad, coaching them to consecutive wins over Queensland.[3]

Potter coached St. George Illawarra's Premier League side for four years before being appointed in February 2006 as head coach for the French rugby league team the Catalans Dragons, succeeding Steve Deakin.[3] Potter coached the team to the 2007 Challenge Cup Final and in 2008 was named Super League coach of the year.

Potter succeeded Daniel Anderson as head coach of St Helens at the beginning of the 2009 season.[4] He coached St Helens to the 2009 Super League Grand Final defeat by Leeds at Old Trafford.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] In May 2010, he announced that he would be leaving St. Helens at the end of the 2010 season. In July 2010 Potter signed a two-year contract to return to Bradford, this time as head coach, commencing in 2011. Despite the club being placed in receivership in 2012, the team was on the verge of making the semis as Potter remained as unpaid coach. "I think I served above and beyond what I needed to do there," Potter said. "I felt obliged to do that. It has made me a better coach. The reasons I want to coach aren't financial but because you love the game."[17]

In October 2012, NRL side West Tigers confirmed that Potter would be the head coach for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. With papers reporting that he had been endorsed by the club's players, Potter said, "I am very happy to be here, there's not many jobs like this. I have served a long apprenticeship and I think I am ready."[18]

After much speculation during the 2014 season, following reports of miscommunication between him and the playing group, as well as continued poor results on the field, it was announced on 17 September 2014 that Potter would not be extended as a coach.[19][20] He had completed two seasons as their coach. He later said, "I found it to be a different club to any club I’d been with. It was a political hotbed. I knew the first day I went in there it was going to be a tough gig. I went in there to coach, not be a politician. It was conflicted."[21]

Potter spent a large part of 2015 coaching the Fiji Under-20s side, and was an assistant coach with the New South Wales under-16s team. In November, it was confirmed that he would be joining the Newcastle Knights as an assistant coach under Nathan Brown.[22][23]

In 2016, along with his role as assistant coach at the Newcastle club, Potter became the new coach of the Fiji national rugby league team on a deal to the end of the year that would see him coach Fiji in the 2016 Pacific Test against Papua New Guinea, with the Fiji National Rugby League and Potter, at the end of the year, to discuss extending that into the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.[24] In 2018, Potter stood down from his role as coach of the Fijian national team.[25]

On 2 November 2018, Potter was announced as an NRL Development Coach at the Parramatta Eels.[26] In 2020, he became head coach of NSW Cup side, Mounties. On 18 May 2022, Potter was made interim coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs after Trent Barrett stood down as head coach for the remainder of 2022.[27]

Fiji coaching record
Opponent Played Won Drew Lost Win Ratio (%)
 Australia 1 0 0 1 00.00
 Italy 1 1 0 0 100.00
 New Zealand 1 1 0 0 100.00
 Papua New Guinea 1 0 0 1 00.00
 Samoa 1 1 0 0 100.00
 Tonga 1 0 0 1 00.00
 United States 1 1 0 0 100.00
 Wales 1 1 0 0 100.00
TOTAL 8 5 0 3 62.50
World Cup record
Year Round Position GP W L D
Australia/New Zealand/Papua New Guinea 2017Fourth-Place4/145410
Total0 Titles0/15410
Pacific tests
Year Round Position GP W L D
2016 Melanesian CupRunners up2/21010
2017Runners up2/21010
Total0 Titles0/22020
Other Test matches
Year Round Position GP W L D
2016Winners1/21100
Total1 Win1/11100

References
  • Alan Whiticker & Glen Hudson (2007). The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players. Wetherill Park, New South Wales: Gary Allen Pty Ltd. p. 438. ISBN 978-1-877082-93-1.
  • Phil Wilkinson (August 2007). "Legend Q&A". Rugby League Week. No. 22. pp. 22–23.

Footnotes
  1. Rugby League Project (player)
  2. Rugby League Project (coach)
  3. "Dragons Appoint Potter" (fee required). AAP Sports News (Australia). 24 February 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2008.
  4. "Potter to quit Dragons for Saints". BBC. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  5. "Rhinos Take Super League Title". Sky News. 11 October 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  6. Burke, David (11 October 2009). "Smith's Crisp". The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  7. AFP (11 October 2009). "Leeds makes it Super League hat-trick". ABC News. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  8. AAP (11 October 2009). "Leeds claim third successive Grand Final". nrl. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  9. Linfoot, Ben (10 October 2009). "Grand Final: Leeds Rhinos 18 St Helens 10". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  10. Correspondent (12 October 2009). "Potter refuses to blame video ref". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  11. Fletcher, Paul (10 October 2009). "St Helens 10-18 Leeds Rhinos". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  12. "Third time unlucky as Saints fail to halt Rhinos' charge to title". Liverpool Daily Post. 12 October 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  13. "Sinfield hails winning culture". The Daily Mirror. 11 October 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  14. Stewart, Rob (12 October 2009). "Lee Smith targets place in England rugby union team after Grand Final victory". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  15. "Sinfield hails historic title win". BBC Sport. 11 October 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  16. "Leeds Rhinos fans in homecoming welcome". Yorkshire Evening Post. 12 October 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  17. Andrew Webster (25 October 2012). "Mick Potter may have just entered rugby league's version of the ninth circle of hell". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  18. Brad Walter, Emma Partridge (25 October 2012). "Happy Tigers get their man as Potter embraced by stars". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  19. Wests Tigers dump Mick Potter for 2015, end months of speculation his contract would not be renewed, Fox Sports Australia, 17 September 2014
  20. Time's up as Wests Tigers decide to axe coach Mick Potter and punt on David Kidwell, Fox Sports Australia, 26 July 2014
  21. Michael Chammas. "A crisis of identity: The real tales from Tiger town". Sydney Morning Herald.
  22. Michael Carayannis. "Ex-Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter set to join Nathan Brown at Newcastle Knights". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  23. "Nathan Brown Says Sione Matautia Must Find a Single Position for Newcastle". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  24. "Mick Potter named Fiji Bati coach". asiapacificrl.com. 13 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  25. "Fiji seeking new coach after Potter steps down". nrl.com. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  26. "2019 football staff update". 2 November 2018.
  27. "Canterbury appoint Mick Potter as interim coach for rest of NRL season". www.abc.net.au.
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