It's never nice predicting someone to fail in their job, but, sometimes, head coaches are just not up to the job. Laurent Frayssinous and Keiron Cunningham both lost their jobs at Catalans and St Helens respectively midway through the season in 2017, with Tony Smith departing Warrington at the end of the year. And, though Rugby League is a far cry away from football in the respect that there is nothing like the merry-go-round in managerial positions, some just fail to make their mark at a club or they just simply cannot stop the decline in performances, forcing the board to act.
Here is the one manager that could be walking a very thin line in 2018.
Steve McNamara
Though Wigan boss Shaun Wane must perform in the upcoming season to quell any of the current hostility surrounding his managerial position at the Warriors, Steve McNamara faces a tough ask in 2018 to revive Catalans' fortunes.
Catalans Dragons parted ways with long-serving boss Laurent Frayssinous in late May 2017 after a dismal run of form. The French head coach was in his fifth season with the Dragons, but, results in recent years had not hit the standards that outspoken chairman Bernard Guasch had come to expect. The French side had finished seventh in 2015 and sixth in 2016 but had started the 2017 season in shocking form, winning just five out of 14 matches to leave the Dragons outside the top eight and languishing near the foot of the table.
Then, after a few weeks under assistant coaches Jerome Guisset and Michael Monaghan, Guasch appointed former England head coach Steve McNamara in mid June. Despite working only as an assistant coach for the past three-and-a-half years, McNamara was given the head coach position at Catalans, penning a two-and-a-half-year deal.
It was a risk for the Dragons; McNamara has hardly set the coaching world alight and, in danger of facing the Middle 8s at the end of the season, it was a risk that barely paid off.
Lack of improvement
When a new coach appears on the scene there is often a bounce in results, however, with McNamara, even that bounce didn't come.
In the last five games of the regular season, the Hull-born McNamara won just once - a 40-36 home victory over Leigh. And, even in the Qualifiers, McNamara could only steer his chargers to four victories from seven, resulting in the Dragons having to endure the painful Million-Pound Game to secure their Super League survival after a fifth-placed finish.
Though Catalans managed to overcome Leigh 10-26, it was hardly a victory to celebrate. McNamara scraped his side through by the skin of his teeth. And, little has changed in the off-season to inspire optimism amongst Dragons' fans that the former Bradford boss can take the French club back into the top eight. McNamara's signings leave a lot to be desired; Lewis Tierney, Antoni Maria, Samisoni Langi and Benjamin Jullien are not exactly world-beaters, whilst the departure of Richie Myler, Krisnan Inu, Justin Horo and the retiring Thomas Bosc will leave a huge dent in the Catalan side.
If results do not go the Dragons' way at the beginning of the season, McNamara could find himself the second victim of a sacking in just under a year by the Catalan board. Put it this way, McNamara has a very difficult job to do; the Dragons are in a slump and this slump could just prove to be too much for him to overcome.