Super League’s top 10 coaches ranked by win percentage including St Helens CEO and Wigan Warriors icons

We’ve seen some very highly successful coaches over the years in Super League, with over 130 men taking charge of at least one game in the competition to date.

25 of those men have taken charge of 100+ Super League games, including three who will begin the 2025 campaign in the hotseat of a top-flight club in the shape of Leigh Leopards’ Adrian Lam, Catalans Dragons’ Steve McNamara and Wakefield Trinity’s Daryl Powell.

But who are the most successful coaches in Super League history based upon their win percentage?

We’ve found out and ranked the top 10 below…

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Ranked: The Super League coaches with the highest win percentage

To keep it fair, we excluded anyone with fewer than 20 Super League games as a coach on their CV.

But, in any case, no one in the top ten for win percentages had taken charge of fewer than 20 top-flight matches.

Without further ado, here is that ranking, with the coaches listed from the lowest win percentage to the highest…

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10. Mike Rush – 72.72%

Rush, who is now CEO at the Totally Wicked Stadium, has held pretty much every role at Saints. In March 2012, following Royce Simmons’ departure, he took on the head coach role until the end of the campaign and managed 16 wins in 22 league games.

That record is just about enough to see him squeeze into this top 10, with the Red V ultimately bowing out of the play-offs with a defeat at home to Warrington under his tutelage.

9. Graham Murray – 72.88%

The late Australian coach Murray, who died aged 58 back in 2013, took charge of Leeds for two seasons – joining the Rhinos ahead of the 1998 campaign and departing at the end of the 1999 season.

He won 43 of his 59 league games in charge, with the Headingley outfit beaten by Wigan in the 1998 Grand Final and then losing out in the play-offs the following year to Castleford.

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8. Brian McClennan – 73.03%

McClennan’s time in Super League was also spent in the Headingley hotseat. Now 62, he took charge of Leeds ahead of the 2008 campaign and departed at the end of the 2010 season, resigning to return to New Zealand and work as Auckland Rugby League’s Development and Coaching Manager.

The Kiwi won 65 of his 89 Super League games, beating St Helens in the Grand Final two years running before losing out in the 2010 play-offs to Wigan. During McClennan’s time in charge, the Rhinos also won the 2008 World Club Challenge and lost the 2010 Challenge Cup final.

7. Ellery Hanley – 74.28%

Great Britain legend Hanley, who remains one of the game’s most famous names today, took charge of St Helens ahead of the 1999 campaign. Despite numerous fallouts with the club’s hierarchy, the 63-year-old led his side to Grand Final glory, beating Bradford at Old Trafford.

He was eventually sacked after the opening game of the 2000 season though, so ended with a record of 26 wins in 35 league games.

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6. Daniel Anderson – 75.26%

Australian Anderson arrived at St Helens towards the back end of the 2005 campaign and didn’t depart Knowsley Road until the end of the 2008 season, winning 70 of his 93 Super League games at the helm.

During his time in charge, the 57-year-old guided Saints to a Super League title – in 2006 – as well as three successive Challenge Cups and a World Club Challenge. 2006 also saw him crowned the BBC Coach of the Year.

5. Michael Maguire – 75.4%

Canberra-born Maguire’s first head coach role came with Wigan, joining the Warriors ahead of the 2010 season. He would remain at The Brick Community Stadium for just two years, eventually resigning to take charge of NRL outfit South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Winning the Super League title with victory over Saints at Old Trafford in 2010, the same year Wigan won the League Leaders’ Shield, Maguire also guided the Cherry and Whites to Challenge Cup glory in 2011. He won 46 of 61 Super League games.

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4. Matt Peet – 75.58%

40-year-old Peet is the only current Super League head coach in this ranking. Taking charge of hometown club Wigan at the start of the 2022 season, he’s guided the Warriors to two successive league titles and two successive League Leaders’ Shields.

Also lifting the Challenge Cup twice and winning the World Club Challenge in 2024, Peet has won 65 of his 86 league games in charge to date.

3. Kristian Woolf – 77.46%

When Woolf took charge of Saints at the start of 2020, it was his first permanent head coach role in the senior club game having cut his teeth for years Down Under. He led the Red V to three successive Super League titles, as well as a Challenge Cup, before departing at the end of the 2022 season.

Also Tonga’s head coach, the Australian’s final game in charge of Saints was their 2022 Grand Final triumph against Leeds at the Theatre of Dreams. He ended with a record of 55 wins in 71 league games at the helm.

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2. Justin Holbrook – 81.25%

Only two men are able to better Woolf’s record, and one is his predecessor at Saints in fellow Australian Holbrook. The 48-year-old arrived at the Totally Wicked Stadium in May 2017 following Keiron Cunningham’s departure, and won 65 of his 80 Super League games in charge over the two-and-a-half years which followed.

After winning the League Leaders’ Shield in 2019, he bowed out with victory at Old Trafford against Salford in the Grand Final having been beaten in the Challenge Cup final by Warrington a few months prior. Holbrook left the club to take charge of NRL outfit Gold Coast Titans.

1. Graeme West – 86.36%

The coach with the highest win percentage in the competition’s history is a man our younger readers may well not even be aware of, with West spending just a few months in Super League with Wigan.

In charge as the summer era dawned in 1996, the Kiwi won 19 of his 22 Super League games at the helm of the Cherry and Whites, missing out on the inaugural Super League title by a single point to rivals St Helens. After Wigan lost their opening game of the 1997 campaign, a Challenge Cup tie against Saints, he was dismissed.

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