Tim Sheens
Personal information
Born	30 October 1950 (1950-10-30) (age 59)
	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Position	Prop
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1970–82	Penrith Panthers	166	11	0	0	33
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1984–87	Penrith Panthers	98	43	4	51	44
1988–96	Canberra Raiders	219	148	3	68	68
1997–01	North Queensland	105	28	4	73	27
2003–	Wests Tigers	172	79	0	93	46
	Total	594	298	11	285	50
Representative
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1991	City Origin	1	0	0	1	0
1991	New South Wales	3	1	0	2	33
2006–08	City Origin	3	2	1	0	67
2009–	Australia	3	2	1	0	67
As of 1 November 2009
Source: Rugby League Project

Tim Sheens (born 30 October, 1950) is an Australian rugby league football coach and former player. He currently coaches the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League and in 2009 was appointed coach of the Australian national team, the Kangaroos. He has won four premierships as a coach and broken the record for most top-level games in Australian rugby league history and has also had a spell as New South Wales' State of Origin coach.

As a player, Sheens was a prop forward with Sydney's Penrith Panthers in the 1970s and 80s before he retired and became their coach. He then coached the Canberra Raiders to successive premierships before moving to the North Queensland Cowboys and later the Wests Tigers.

[edit] Playing career

Tim Sheens was educated at St Dominic's College in Penrith but spent his last two years of school at St Gregory's College, Campbelltown, where he was the school captain and first-grade rugby league captain in 1968.^[1]

Sheens had a lengthy playing stint with Penrith, playing 166 first grade games as a prop from 1970–1982 and scoring 11 tries. Sheens was soon coaxed out of retirement though, playing one season with the Campbelltown City Kangaroos in 1983, captaining that club to the Group 6 Rugby League premiership that season. In October, 2006, in recognition of his contribution as a player, Sheens was named as one of the Penrith Panthers "Team of Legends".^[2]

Tim Sheens' brother, Bob, was also a first grade NSWRFL player.

[edit] Coaching career

Although his first ever game as first-grade coach was a 24–12 loss to St George, Tim Sheens has a track-record of reforming under-performing teams to premiership victory. He brought Penrith to their first finals series ever in 1985 and he coached the Canberra Raiders to their first premiership in 1989, a feat he repeated in 1990 and 1994.

However, Sheens' time with the North Queensland Cowboys (1997-2001) was less successful and, after board discussions, a period of stress-leave and while News Limited launched a take-over of the club^[3], he resigned from North Queensland on May 25, 2001.^[4]

In 2002, Sheens accepted the coaching position with the Wests Tigers for the 2003 season, replacing Terry Lamb. The feat of the Wests Tigers winning the 2005 Grand Final against the Cowboys has been largely attributed to Sheens.

Sheens has coached four premiership winning teams, making him second only to Wayne Bennett among current coaches. Sheens was awarded the Dally M Coach of the Year in 1984, 1990 and 2005.

In December 2007, Sheens' contract with the Tigers - due to expire at the end of the 2008 season - was extended to 2010.^[5]

[edit] Milestones

Sheens was the first coach in the NRL to reach the 500 games milestone. Sheens reached this mark on 2 April 2006, while with the Wests Tigers and celebrated in style with a win over Melbourne Storm.^[6]

On 20 April, 2008, Sheens coached his 550th first-grade game, a win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

[edit] Representative coaching

At the representative level, Sheens coached the 1991 A.R.L City Origin team to a 22–12 win over Country. In the same year, as coach of the NSW State of OriginA.R.L team, he led the side to a 2–1 series loss to Queensland.(In 1997 Sheens coached the N.S.W. super league side to a 23to 22 win over Qld in a Tri series competition involving N.S.W. Qld. and New Zealand )

Sheens returned to the N.R.L representative arena in 2006 when he succeeded Graham Murray as coach for City Origin, a post he retained in 2007 and 2008.^[7] In 2006, City lost to Country, 12 points to 10 but won in 2007, 12 points to 6. The 2008 match was a 22–22 draw, with City retaining the trophy.^[8]

In February 2009, Sheens was appointed coach of the Australian national rugby league team following the resignation of Ricky Stuart.^[9] Sheens coached the Kangaroos to their first win in his charge, defeating the Kiwis on 8 May, 2009.^[10]

[edit] Coaching record

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Profile at NRL.com
• Wests Tigers Official Site - current team
• Tim Sheens at The Rugby League Project

[edit] Succession information