Dennis Moore with the Sunshine Coast Premiership Trophy
Sunshine Coast Rugby League Coach of the Year, Dennis Moore is justly proud of a playing and coaching career which began in the 1960s, and is still going strong.
The South Burnett product started his coaching journey at the same time as ‘super coach, Wayne Bennett, and, like Bennett, has coached in the NRL, and at State and International level, the highlight a five year stint as Manly-Warringah coach, Des Hasler’s right hand man, culminating in a premiership in 2008.
Moore is the first to admit he has not hit the same heights as Bennett, and that he has had to look for outside work, to supplement his coaching income.
“But it’s been fun,” he said. “I’ve met the best people ever, and wherever I go, I know I will run into friends I have made from rugby league. While I’m not rich financially, I’m rich in other stuff. I don’t want to be looking back at my bank account when I put my feet up. I just want to think of the journey.”
And what a journey.
He played rugby league at school in Kingaroy, and then joined the local club, the Red Ants, where he played under-17s and then first grade. In 1976, aged just 22, he coached Kingaroy’s Colts, while also playing First Grade for the club.
That kindled his passion for coaching, but, in the short term, he wanted to see how far he could go as a player. In 1977, with fellow Kingaroy youngster, Dennis Watt, he trialled with Brothers in Brisbane. Moore landed a contract, while Watt turned his back on the ‘big smoke’ to return to the bush to pursue a journalistic career, which ultimately led to executive posts in News Limited, and then Chairmanship of the Brisbane Broncos, and most recently, Gold Coast Titans.
Moore signed with Norths in 1979, before quitting Brisbane football in 1980, to play with Nambour All Whites in the Sunshine Coast League. He returned to coaching while contracted to All Whites, and in 1986/87 coached back at Kingaroy.
In 1988 he helped out former Queensland State of Origin halfback, Ross Henrick at Valleys in Brisbane, before taking on the job as coach of Queensland Newspapers Tigers, in the Second Division. In 1992, he was assistant coach to former Test prop, Dave Brown at Norths, with Moore and Brown having been teammates at Kingaroy.
In 1993, Moore returned to the Sunshine Coast and two years later was approached by Parramatta recruitment chief, Terry Fearnley to be a scout for the Eels.
Former Test prop, Ron Hilditch coached Parramatta in 1995-96, and then was replaced by Brian Smith, with Noel ‘Crusher’ Cleal the club’s new recruitment chief.
“‘Crusher’ phoned me for a chat, and I reminded him we had played against each other back in 1976, in the South Burnett,” Moore said. “He and his older brother, Les were contracted to Wondai, and ‘Crusher’ scored 50 tries that season.
“We hit it off straight away, and I worked for the Eels for another six or seven years, while coaching Wide Bay rep. sides, and Maroochydore. I would go to Sydney for Brian Smith’s ‘Coach the Coach’ weekends. He’s still the smartest bloke I’ve ever dealt with.”
Moore’s top recruit for the Eels was future Test centre, Willie Tonga.
“There was a Wide Bay coaching camp at Eskdale Park in Maryborough, on a really hot weekend, and while other blokes gave up, Willie never did,” Moore said. “He had blistering pace for a bloke of his size, and had magical hands. I watched him again at a carnival in Cairns, and then I rang ‘Crusher’ and told him to sign this kid. They told Willie he wasn’t fit enough, but he trained his arse off, and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Moore started applying for representative coaching jobs, and in 2002 landed the Queensland under-17s role. The following year he coached Queensland under-19s to a famous win over a New South Wales’ side which included Sonny Bill Williams, Michael Weyman, Michael Innes and Ben Creagh. Moore also coached the Junior Kangaroos at the end of the year, in matches against Papua New Guinea senior sides, in Darwin and Port Moresby.
At the end of the 2003 season, he joined Des Hasler’s staff at Manly, where Noel Cleal now operated as recruitment boss. Moore also scouted for Manly, and delivered the club its future skipper, Daly Cherry-Evans, as well as brilliant hooker, Matt Ballin, both Wide Bay boys.
“I had been working for Metro Ford in their spare parts division through the ’80s and ’90s, but they were bought out, and I was made redundant,” Moore said. “It was a tough time, and I didn’t know what the future held. There was interest from Penrith for a role there, when John Lang was coach, and I almost joined Peter Sharpe at the Northern Eagles.
“But I went from being unemployed to coaching in the NRL at Manly, and winning a premiership. They say it was an ideal balance, with Des (Hasler) the intense one and me the laid back one. Des liked to crack jokes, but (Head of Performance) Donny Singe would tell him to leave the funny stuff to us. The players liked to play jokes on Des. Glenn Hall got two ducks out of Narrabeen Lagoon and locked them in Des’s office. You can imagine the mess when Des arrived for work. The Stewart brothers (Brett and Glenn) taped up his car one day, so he couldn’t get in.
“What they say about Des being frugal is true. I would say he is as tight as a cramp. But he knows his stuff. Winning that premiership in 2008 was so special, after Melbourne Storm beat us in 2007. We got off to a bad start in 2008, losing three of our first five games. But then things clicked. It was especially sweet beating the Storm in the Grand Final.”
In 2009 Moore took on the job as coaching director at Manly-Warringah’s Queensland Cup affiliate, Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles, with Brandon Costin the coach. Wayne Bennett recruited Moore as Head Coach of the under-15s and 16s at the Queensland Academy of Sport and Moore also coached the Queensland under-18 Origin side.
Moore loves English Rugby League, particularly the Challenge Cup (knockout) competition, and it was a dream come true when he joined the coaching staff at Hull FC in 2010, as off-sider to Richard Agar. Dennis and his wife, Sandra, lived at Hessle, in the shadow of the giant Humber Bridge, and were part of a close-knit community, with Sandra working in a jewellery shop.
“The Hull fans said to me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t lose to (cross town rivals) Hull Kingston Rovers’,” Moore said. “The rivalry between Hull FC and Rovers is as intense as it gets. We beat Rovers in the home and away rounds, but they got us in the finals.
“I enjoyed our time in Super League, but it was not the level of professionalism I was used to at Manly. Sandra and I returned to Australia at the end of the season and we settled at Hervey Bay, after I took on a job as development officer for the Wide Bay region. I was in the job for two years, and at first, I really enjoyed it, because it was about improving coaching standards. I believe that if kids get good coaching, they will keep coming back. But the focus of the job changed from coaching the coaches, to statistics – the number of kids you inter-acted with at school clinics – stuff like that.”
Moore moved back to Brisbane and became operations manager at Norths Aspley Devils. When that role was shelved, he took on the job coaching Emerald Tigers in Central Queensland. A work opportunity took him to Gladstone, where he coached the Valleys club.
In 2020, he and Sandra moved back to the Sunshine Coast, and he was appointed coach of the Maroochydore Swans. Covid saw the 2020 season abandoned, and then when things kicked off again in 2021, tragedy struck when Maroochydore player, Dale Best died playing in a reserve grade trial. Maroochydore cancelled all their remaining trials, and when the season began, the players vowed to turn tragedy into a celebration of the life of Dale. They made the Grand Final, only to be beaten by Kawana.
In 2022 the club went through the season losing only one game, with the Swans defeating Beerwah in the Grand Final, 25 years after they last won a premiership, when Moore was also the coach. Moore was named Sunshine Coast Coach of the Year, and remains as Coaching Director of the Swans, as well as coaching the club’s women’s side. He also coaches the Sunshine Coast Falcon’s under-19 women’s side, and was in charge of the Coast men’s side in the 47th Battalion Cup carnival at Emerald.
Moore is also part of an exciting new venture, designed to provide top level coaching assistance, via a digital platform. It’s called CoachAI (Artificial Intelligence), and provides assistance, such as 12 months worth of training sessions, with drills explained.
There is nothing artificial about Dennis Moore. He is as down to earth as they come – a modest Australian, from the bush, with a great passion for Rugby League.
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Great story Steve about a top bloke. I was in Coach Moore’s 1976 Kingaroy Red Ants team and we’ve remained close ever since. He once replaced me at halftime even though I had four tries to my name. He wanted the ball spread wide from the play the ball, not dummy half darts and I paid the penalty for ignoring team instructions. Never did it again😀 Greg A