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Hello Sport

All Talk Preview: Joey Turns Down NSW Coaching Role

24 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: Why did Joey turn down the NSW coaching role?

0.031 - 22.433 Dylan Borland

You are listening to the Hello Sport Podcast. Punters and dribblers, we had the great and glorious and beautiful and handsome and amazing Danny Badiris and Andrew Johnson potty out this Sunday, 6 a.m., all talk. Thought I'd give you a little taste, a little preview. We asked Joey about coaching.

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22.733 - 41.822 Dylan Borland

I know he's kind of come out and he said, nah, I'm not doing it, but he actually went a bit deeper on this. Betsy gave his thoughts. We offered to bribe him, tried a bunch of different things. So have a listen. Enjoy. Thanks again to the boys for coming on. But this is us doing our bit for the state of New South Wales, so you're welcome.

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42.443 - 63.871 Dylan Borland

Obviously, we were talking a bit about Loz there earlier on, and from what is being reported, he is stepping away. from the coaching of the side at the end of this series. I haven't heard it officially announced, but, like, that's sort of what it seems to be. I'm not going to ask directly because you've already said no. Part of me would. Your brother threw you under the bus.

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64.653 - 69.121 Joey Johns

Part of me would. But that would be incredibly selfish because it's a huge job.

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69.181 - 70.663 Dylan Borland

So what do you mean selfish?

Chapter 2: What insights does Joey provide about coaching responsibilities?

71.124 - 74.409 Dylan Borland

Because you'd like a party, you'd like to do it, but it's too much of a task.

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74.429 - 95.58 Joey Johns

Well, I've never coached. I've got no ambitions to be a coach, never. And the knock on laws is he's not experienced in the use of the bench. Now, in that pressure cooker in the coach's box, and look, he had coaches around. He had Matt King and Brent White and Boyd Cordner. But in that pressure cooker –

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96.438 - 120.97 Joey Johns

There's no way in the world I would be prepared to be calm and clear to make a decision like that. It's just, you know, you cannot – if we're going next year and Loz doesn't go on, it's just crazy if you're going to punt on a bloke who's never done it. He doesn't know what he's going to do. Yeah. And, you know, tactics-wise, I'd be fine. But then you've got to manage 20 players.

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120.99 - 142.103 Joey Johns

You've got to manage, what, 15 starts. Yeah. You're going to laugh but I have trouble managing my own life on occasions and that's true. And once again, but if I was going to do it, it would be a selfish decision. And another thing, I work at Channel 9 and I like to think I'm pretty straight shoot. I'll tell it as it is and sometimes I have to say it about the club I love in Newcastle.

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142.564 - 150.677 Joey Johns

Sometimes I have to say it about New South Wales and unfortunately it makes the water murky because sometimes

Chapter 3: How does Joey feel about the pressure of coaching in the Origin arena?

150.657 - 159.209 Joey Johns

If I've got to coach this bloke in two weeks or, you know, during camp, if I'm calling a game and someone's not aiming up, then it complicates my job.

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159.229 - 169.564 Dylan Borland

Yeah. And I'm not – and I completely appreciate where you're coming from. I'm not trying to sell you on getting in there. Although we did on the podcast yesterday say that we'd buy you a limousine just for the whole – I wouldn't drive you in there.

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169.684 - 177.495 Matthew Johns

And we're going to sort all your meals and we're going to do your washing and we're going to get you a masseuse whenever you want to. It would make for great theatre. We're not trying to convince you.

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177.535 - 201.747 Joey Johns

No, we're not. If I had to say, look, You need an experienced person who's been around coaching for a while and the one that stands out to me would be Trent Barrett. Now, Baz didn't have great success at Manly, all the Bulldogs, but at those times both clubs weren't in a great position. No. You have a look who he's been assistant coach and he's done the attack for is Penrith back in the day.

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202.208 - 202.348

Mm-hmm.

203.037 - 210.217 Joey Johns

And the Broncos last year. So he's got experience there. I think he'd be ideal. I don't know if you'd want to do it, Ed.

210.377 - 213.025 Dylan Borland

That's where it was going to be my next question because I've heard your name tossed around.

Chapter 4: What are the challenges of transitioning from player to coach?

213.045 - 214.529 Dylan Borland

Would that be interesting at all?

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214.549 - 231.78 Matthew Johns

Well, I reckon it's – When you're a career coach, and this is where Joey's probably come from as well, when you're a coach, you're a coach. You're a career coach. And it's difficult just to go from saying, you know, the greatest player ever to in the media to I'm going to be the greatest coach ever. That's a hard transition to do that. And there's a lot going into it.

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231.8 - 242.477 Matthew Johns

You've got to have your tool sharp, I guess you could say. And I'm in the industry. I definitely have been in the industry for a long time. But I still haven't made that decision whether or not I want to be a full-time coach as in I'm a career coach.

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242.457 - 245.466 Dr. John Deloney

Has Billy Slater not shown that like it's possible?

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245.607 - 249.86 Matthew Johns

I reckon there's a career coach there. Yeah. Billy's quite different.

249.98 - 266.976 Joey Johns

But he went in with no experience. Billy's quite different in a way that – We haven't played for a long time and the game involves some changes. But also, personality-wise, Billy's very thorough and prepared. Well, I suppose you are too, Beds.

Chapter 5: How does Joey view Laurie Daly's coaching situation?

266.996 - 274.472 Matthew Johns

Well, he's been consulting for – Billy's been consulting at Melbourne since he's retired, don't forget. So he's always been in, you understand, in the modern game. Yeah.

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274.452 - 296.858 Joey Johns

And people say, oh, you get good people around you. Mate, if your fucking nuts are on the line, it's fucking your decision. I'm not listening to this bloke, this bloke or this bloke. I'm picking the team on my fucking own and I'm deciding how we play and I'm picking the players. how to play that style, not the other way around where I'm picking the best players to play this certain style.

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297.359 - 306.601 Joey Johns

You've got to be clear how you want to play. So if you're clear how you want to play, you pick the players who can implement that style of play and that's going to be the challenge of the next play.

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306.661 - 326.093 Matthew Johns

And there's both of us probably at night go, oh, geez, it'd be great. And I'm sure you're laying there at night going, I could do this. And then that other voice might pop up. The other voice might pop up and go, don't be stupid. Don't be stupid. And that's the part of coaching and making a decision, I guess. And yeah, there's, I've always loved to been involved, but-

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326.073 - 343.519 Matthew Johns

Walking out after that game one, I heard 70,000 people screaming New South Wales as we got away with that game one victory. And it just reinforced the passion that these colours have, the jersey, that the blue jersey has. And with that comes a lot of scrutiny around everything.

Chapter 6: What does Joey think about the importance of coaching experience?

343.94 - 350.73 Matthew Johns

And you've got to be ready for it. And if you're not in that world and want to be in that world, it's a hard one to really not eat you up.

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350.812 - 357.632 Dr. John Deloney

To that end, how do you think Laurie's handling it? Because obviously he's like an ornament of the state. He's one of the all-time greats.

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357.916 - 358.817 Joey Johns

Well, it's difficult.

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358.897 - 372.915 Dr. John Deloney

He's sort of – he's come back into a difficult sort of scenario where we haven't had success, or at least last year we lost. So – and this year's up for – sort of up for grabs still. Like how do you reckon he'd be handling that pressure and scrutiny, you know?

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373.296 - 393.404 Joey Johns

Well, it's difficult. Once again, he's not used to the pressure cooker of being in that coach's box. I can imagine it's nearly debilitating. Yeah. You've got mean things happening. And you can see Loz in the box. You know, everyone else is sitting down. He's standing up and just, you know, he's wound up that much. I really feel sorry for Loz because he's a great fella.

393.764 - 401.556 Joey Johns

He's been one of our greatest players and one of our greatest captains. I just – I'd love to see us win for him.

Chapter 7: Who does Joey suggest as a potential replacement for Laurie?

401.717 - 420.531 Matthew Johns

Yeah, 100%. And I spoke about before around, you know, that action-based player – That is Laurie Daly. I'll follow him. I think anyone would follow him to do anything. And that's the challenge of coaching, I guess, is going, right, I'm going to get these guys to follow me and hopefully that's going to happen in minute one as soon as they walk through that door in game three.

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420.691 - 426.482 Joey Johns

There's a moment that stands out for me playing with Laurie in 96. I don't know if you blokes can pull up clips and put them on this.

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426.85 - 429.855 Dylan Borland

We actually get the NRL is yet to allow us to play.

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429.955 - 454.036 Joey Johns

So in 1996, 1996 where we won 3-0, Laurie was playing left centre and I was doing that thing with twos where I played hooker and defence but halfback and attack. So all you fuckwits who say I played all those games at hooker, I didn't play the games hooker. Played hooker in defense and halfback in attack. Yeah, shut the fuck up. Shut up, fuckwits. Shut the fuck up. Just that number nine on you.

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454.056 - 466.037 Joey Johns

So anyway, they kick for touch and they kicked off. They kicked for touch and got the ball in early. So we get back and we retreat on the defensive line. By the time I turn around, Andrew G is just charging at me.

Chapter 8: What are the implications of coaching decisions on player performance?

466.017 - 481.595 Joey Johns

So I sort of set to tackle him and all of a sudden Loz comes from outside in and hits him with his shoulder charge and it's still the most ferocious noise I've ever heard on the field. And he just ironed, absolutely ironed GG out.

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482.136 - 488.784 Dylan Borland

And that's the thing, you feel bad with Laurie where it's like – because obviously there's – it's been such like a time since he played.

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489.024 - 489.865 Matthew Johns

Yeah.

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489.845 - 497.299 Dylan Borland

It's not that he's sullying his reputation. That's far too extreme. But it's like you're almost – he's not – he's – Clouding what he was potentially.

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497.319 - 509.541 Joey Johns

It's clouding what his achievements as a player because – I don't reckon. Not guys who play with him. No, no. No, no. We're talking about the punter on the street. The dead shit. But people have got to look back. Yeah. And go and look on YouTube and go and have a look at the 96 –

509.977 - 520.753 Joey Johns

Game one at the SFS, it was early in the game, and the way Laurie came from outside in and just smashed Gigi, I was like, fuck, this is how you play Origin. Yeah, right.

521.795 - 542.042 Matthew Johns

Sorry, you go. There's a lot of good coaches in there that are full-time at their clubs, you know, so – You know, supporting Laurie is our big thing, you know, to get this job done and that's through everyone that's played for the Blues, that's through all captains that have played for the Blues, like they're there to support and really want Laurie to get this job done and, you know,

542.022 - 560.243 Matthew Johns

That's really important that we do. We get around him and I think it's been hard to see getting ripped apart because it does happen. I've seen it with Freddie. Freddie's got the Brad Fittler medal, things like that. It happens that people just shred people and it's the origin arena and you've got to be willing to jump into that.

560.523 - 579.571 Joey Johns

The players have to take some responsibility. That's right. Like God loved Tommy and everyone loved Tommy. There was training sessions. He didn't turn up. He wasn't there. We'd train in the morning, come back, and there'd be a Bentley out the front of Coogee, our spiritual home, and we'd go in and him and John Singleton would be on the piss.

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