🐇 Shaun McRae | Rabbitohs Coach #27

Full Name: Shaun McRae
Nickname: Bomber
Born: 21/12/1959 at NSW
Club Coaching Career: St. Helens 1996-98 (premiers in 1996); Gateshead Thunder 1999; Hull 2000-04; South Sydney 2005-06; Salford 2007-11
Representative Coaching Career: Scotland 1999-2000
Awards and Accolades: St. Helens Super League premiership winner (as a Coach) 1996

Shaun had a very strong coaching background which started with the Canberra Raiders from 1984 to 1995, where he was involved in varying coaching and training roles.

He then coached St. Helens for three years, taking the club to the inaugural Super League premiership victory in 1996, and successive Challenge Cup victories in 1996 and 1997.

McRae moved on to coach Gateshead Thunder in 1999, before spending the next five seasons at the helm of Hull FC, who finished as Super League semi-finalists in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

He came back home to Australia to coach the South Sydney Rabbitohs who won the wooden spoon in 2003-04.

In his first season as Rabbitohs coach they did rather well with nine wins and a draw and finished in thirteenth spot in 2005.

However, after losing senior quality players such as Bryan Fletcher, Ashley Harrison and Scott Logan, the Rabbitohs were always going to struggle in 2006 regardless of who coached them.

They won only three games during the season and received another wooden spoon.

McRae was asked to make way for Jason Taylor, who was seen as one of the ‘new breeds’ as a coach.

Shaun moved upstairs at the Rabbitohs as Director of Football but left the club at the end of 2006 because he felt he still had much to offer as a head coach.

In early 2007 he was installed as a clear favorite to succeed Brian Noble to become full-time coach of Great Britain, but Tony Smith got the nod instead.

‘Bomber’ then worked on Sky Sports with Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson, and on 11 June 2007 he took over from Karl Harrison at the Salford Reds.

The Reds were relegated from the Super League at the end of the season and McRae led them to triple success in the National League, winning the Northern Rail Cup, the League Leaders Trophy and the grand final.

They gained a license to be re-admitted to the Super League in 2009, and after being ill for most of the 2011 season the club announced they would not be extending his contract. Later that year he returned to Hull FC as Director of Rugby.

During his tenure as a coach, he also worked with the Australian, New Zealand, Great Britain and Scottish international squads, and along the way he has worked with some of the finest Rugby League coaches of the modern era, such as Bob Fulton, Tim Sheens and Wayne Bennett. He also coached the Scotland national side in 1999 and the 2000 Rugby League World Cup.