Trent Barrett

Not to be confused withTrent Bartlett.

Trent Barrett

Barrett in 2021
Personal information
Full name	Trent Barrett
Born	(1977-11-18)18 November 1977 Temora,New South Wales,Australia
Height	183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	94 kg (14 st 11 lb)
Playing information
Position	Five-eighth,Halfback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1996–98 Illawarra Steelers 45 30 0 2 122 1999–06 St. George Illawarra 154 47 0 5 193 2007–08 Wigan Warriors 60 26 0 5 109 2009–10 Cronulla Sharks 36 5 0 3 23 Total 295 108 0 15 447 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2003–05 Country Origin 2 2 0 0 8 1997–10 New South Wales 11 3 0 1 13 1997–05 Australia 15 7 0 0 28
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 2016–18 Manly Sea Eagles 73 29 0 44 40 2021–22 Canterbury Bulldogs 34 5 0 29 15 2024– Parramatta Eels 7 1 0 6 14 Total 114 35 0 79 31 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 2012–15 Country Origin 4 2 1 1 50 2014–16 Italy
Source: As of 27 May 2024

Trent Barrett(born 18 November 1977) is an Australian professionalrugby leaguefootball coach who is currently the head coach of theParramatta Eelsand a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

He was previously the head coach of theManly-Warringah Sea EaglesandCanterbury-Bankstown Bulldogsin theNational Rugby League(NRL). A formerAustraliainternational andNew South WalesState of Origin representativefive-eighth,he played during the 1990s and 2000s for theIllawarra Steelersbefore they formed a joint venture withSt. Georgeto create theSt. George Illawarra Dragons,with whom he won the 2000Dally M Medal.Barrett also had a two-season spell in theSuper Leaguewith England'sWiganand was named in 2007'sSuper League Dream Teambefore finishing his career back in Australia with theCronulla-Sutherland Sharks.After co-coaching the St George Illawarra under 20s side and coaching theCountry New South Wales rugby league teamfor four seasons Barrett started coaching in the NRL with the Sea Eagles.

Background

Barrett was born inTemora, New South Waleson 18 November 1977. He is a cousin ofAustralian rules footballersLuke BreustandJake Barrett,NRL footballerLiam Martinand Australian water polo player Anthony Martin.

While attendingSt Gregory's College, Campbelltown,he played for theAustralian Schoolboys teamin 1995.

Playing career

1990s

Barrett started his professional career in the1996 ARL seasonwith theIllawarra Steelers.

Within two years he had been selected to play his firstState of Originmatch.

Barrett was the stand-out player of the1998 Illawarra Steelers season,top scoring with 18 tries and winning the BHP Medal as player of the year.

His first season at the new joint-venture of theSt. George Illawarra Dragonswas marred by controversy as the incessant media hype over an alleged feud withAnthony Mundineand whether by playing out of position athalf-backwas affecting his form. He played at halfback inSt. George Illawarra's1999 NRL Grand Finalloss to Melbourne.

2000s

With the shock departure of Mundine fromSt. George Illawarrain 2000, Barrett was allowed to move back to his original position offive-eighthand he received theDally M Medalin 2000.

At the end of the2001 NRL season,he went on the2001 Kangaroo tour.

He scored 6 tries in 20 games in the2002 NRL season.

In 2003, while Barrett was captain of St George Illawarra, Nathan Brown who was the coach at the time famously slapped Barrett across the face in a tense sideline spray alongsideLance Thompson.Brown admitted many years later it was one of the biggest regrets in his coaching career but said he had moved on from the incident.

Following a Round 12, 2006 game against theNewcastle Knights,Barrett received a grade-five striking charge onNewcastle Knights'Brian Carney.The incident initially went unnoticed throughout the entire weekend but it is understood aChannel Nineproducer picked up the incident. Barrett was suspended for six matches, ruling him out ofDally M Medalcontention.

Barrett playing for Wigan in 2008

Barrett had two years left on hisSt. George Illawarra Dragonscontract, but a get-out clause enabled him to quit the club for a move to England. He signed a three-year deal with theWigan Warriorson 4 May 2006, despite their position at the bottom of theSuper Leagueand the threat of relegation to National League Division 1.

Barrett made hisWigan Warriorsdébut in a 16–10 defeat against Warrington at the JJB Stadium on 9 February 2007. In October 2007, Barrett was named as the Rugby League Players' Player of the Year but missed out on the "Man of Steel" although he had been tipped to be named.James Robyof St Helens received the award.

Barrett playing for the Sharks in 2010

Following a release from the final year of his three-year contract with Wigan, Barrett signed with theCronulla-Sutherland Sharksin June 2008, on a two-year deal, commencing in 2009.

He earned the five-eighth spot for the New South Wales team in the 2nd State of Origin match that year. In his Origin comeback, Barrett was charged following a reckless tackle onQueensland'sGreg Inglis,and as a result was suspended for two club matches. It did not, however, deter him from playing in the third and final Origin match in which he set up several tries asNSWdefeated Queensland in the dead rubber, Queensland having won the series with victory three weeks prior. Barrett announced his retirement on 22 July 2010.

Statistics

Representative games

• "Club:" Played 199 games for theIllawarra Steelersand the St George Illawarra Dragons
• Country:Played forCountryinCity vs Country Origin
• State of Origin:Played 11 games in total forNew South Wales
• International:Played 13 tests to date for Australia including the 2000 World Cup

Awards

• Dally M:Dally MPlayer of the Yearin 2000
• Super League Players' Player of the Year 2007

Post-playing

On 5 April 2014, Barrett was announced as the new head coach of theItalian national rugby league teamwhen previous coachCarlo Napolitanoannounced his departure after Italy's2013 Rugby League World Cupcampaign.He coached Italy in their World Cup Qualifying matches, whilePaul Broadbentcoached Italy in the minor European Championship competitions.

In 2016, Trent Barrett became the head coach forManly-Warringah Sea Eagles.In Barrett's first season as Manly coach the club finished 13th on the table and missed the finals. The following season, Barrett took Manly to a 6th-place finish on the table and qualified for the finals but were eliminated in controversial circumstances against Penrith in week one of the finals.

In 2018, Manly and Barrett suffered a horror year on and off the field with the club finishing second last and narrowly avoiding the wooden spoon. The club was also plagued with infighting and there were reported disagreements between Barrett and the Manly owners over lack of chairs and whose responsibility it was to provide them. Trent eventually supplied the chairs himself but the effort was too late to save the season.

On 22 October 2018, Manly announced that former two-time premiership-winning coachDes Haslerwould be appointed as the new Manly head coach for 2019 despite the fact that Barrett still had 12 months remaining on his contract and was not officially terminated by the club.

On 6 August 2019, Barrett spoke to the media and said that in some way he deserved credit for Manly's form reversal in 2019 which saw the club go from finishing second last in 2018 to contenders the following season. Barrett said "I’d actually like to think I left them well-educated, A few of the boys I got there like Siro (Curtis Sironen) were coming out of reserve grade, No one else wantedMoses Suli.He’d been punted by theWests Tigersand the Bulldogs, Tommy Turbo had only played five games when I started ".

Barrett's comments were later slammed online by the daughter ofBob Fulton,Kirstie Fulton took toFacebookand wrote "History will not be rewritten, no way. I sit back and watch and read people take credit for many things and it’s hard to digest at times because I know who has been and continues to be instrumental in driving a lot of the change behind the scenes but I won’t accept this at all. Is he kidding? His arrogance and ego nearly tore the place apart".

On 16 August 2019, it was announced that Barrett would be returning to Penrith as assistant coach toIvan Clearybeginning in 2020.

On 23 July 2020, it was announced that Barrett would be the head coach of Canterbury-Bankstown from 2021 onwards on a three-year deal. Barrett began his head coaching role with an opening round defeat against Newcastle. In round 2 & 3 of the2021 NRL season,Canterbury were kept scoreless by Penrith and Brisbane losing 28-0 and 24-0 respectively. This was the first time in the club's history they had been held scoreless in consecutive games.

In round 4 of the2021 NRL season,Canterbury were defeated 38-0 by theSouth Sydney Rabbitohsin the traditionalGood Fridaygame. Canterbury became only the second team in theNRLera to lose three straight games without scoring a point after Cronulla who achieved this in the2014 NRL season.It was also the worst start to a season by any team since Glebe in the1928 NSWRFL seasonwho managed to only score 12 points in their first four matches. In round 7 of the2021 NRL season,Barrett earned his first win as Canterbury-Bankstown head coach after the club snapped a six-game losing streak to beatCronulla-Sutherland18–12.

In round 16 of the2021 NRL season,Canterbury were defeated 66-0 by theManly Sea Eagles.It was Canterbury's third biggest defeat in their 86-year history.At the end of the2021 NRL season,Canterbury finished last on the table and claimed their sixthWooden Spoonafter winning only three matches all year.

On 16 May 2022, Barrett resigned from his role as head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Barrett finished his tenure with the second lowest win percentage of any Canterbury coach since the clubs foundation in 1935 with 15.2 percent, only inaugural head coachTedda Courtneyhad a lower win percentage with 12.5 percent.

On 18 August 2022, Barrett signed with theParramatta Eelsas an assistant coach, starting in 2023. On 20 May 2024, Barrett was named interim head coach at the Parramatta club afterBrad Arthurwas terminated from the head coaching position. Barrett took over Parramatta with the team sitting 14th on the table. In Barrett's first game as interim head coach, Parramatta would lose 42-26 against the bottom placedSouth Sydneyteam who were missing eight players and only had one previous win to their name before the match. The following week, he earned his first win in charge as Parramatta upset top of the table Cronulla 34-22.

External links

• Manly Sea Eagles profile
• NRL profile
• Trent Barrett Wigan Career Pageon the Wigan RL Fansite.
• Super League profile
• 2001 Ashes profile
• State of Origin Official website Rugby League Player Stats