‘It’s for the people who come behind me’: Ronald Griffiths wants to inspire more Indigenous coaches after landing NSW Cup role

Two-time NRLW premiership-winning coach Ronald Griffiths hopes his push towards an NRL role can help break down barriers and inspire the next generation of Indigenous men and women into potential leadership roles.

Griffiths confirmed on Thursday that he had accepted a role to become Newcastle’s NSW Cup coach for the next three seasons after he guided the women’s side to consecutive titles in his two years in charge.

The Indigenous All Stars coach and former Wests Tigers assistant was one of six Indigenous head coaches in the NRLW this season, but that progress has yet to filter through to the NRL.

It’s why Griffiths hopes to one day return to the NRL and inspire others to follow in his footsteps.

“There’s an underrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander coaches, so for me, I don’t want to be the one who gains the most out of what I’m doing now,” he said.

“It’s for the people who come behind me.

“I grew up in a rugby league family with a father who coached and was good at his craft, but those opportunities were never afforded to him.

“So for me to one day possibly fill that role in the NRL would be a lifelong dream come true and would be a proud moment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to see an Aboriginal man coaching an NRL team.”

Griffiths returned to training on Thursday a month after winning his second NRLW title with the Knights.

It was an incredible stint given Newcastle didn’t win a game in their inaugural season, which is why Griffiths said it was “so hard” to leave knowing that they can contend for plenty more titles.

“I spoke with the club prior to the grand final, and it was probably the Friday after the grand final having spent countless hours talking with my wife and the family about the next part of my career,” he revealed.

“There was a part of me that wanted to go again (with the NRLW team) and try to win another premiership, but there was another part of me that thought I needed something else for my personal development.

“This job allows me to coach for a longer period of time and it might not have still been here in 12 months’ time if I didn’t take it.

“There were a lot of different factors why I took it and it wasn’t clear cut because I learnt so much being in charge of this program and I made some wonderful connections with people and we had some marvellous success.”

While it was an incredible 2023 for the Knights in the NRL, with Kalyn Ponga winning the Dally M Medal having led his side to the finals, it was another tough season in reserve grade where they finished second last.

The Knights haven’t played finals footy in NSW Cup since 2017, with Griffiths outlining his plan to help make them competitive again.

“The big thing from our perspective is that we haven’t achieved much success for a while,” he said, ready to replace Michael Monaghan.

“People will often tell you that it’s the hardest job to coach at this level because while you don’t have the day-to-day pressure of being an NRL coach, there are other things like not knowing your roster until the end of the week, and even that can change on the day of the game.

“I’ve got some really clear things that I want to do, and one of them is to challenge the guys who come in from the local league and keep them engaged with what we’re doing the whole year and then send them back to their club as the best version of themselves.

“Conversely, the guys that aren’t playing first grade, I want them to burn that they’re not playing in the NRL and I want them to play like that and make sure that they don’t spend too long in NSW Cup because they’re playing and training so well.”