Tim Sheens (born 30 October 1950) is an Australian professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
football coach and former player. Head Coach of the
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
national team between 2009 and 2015, he has also been the head coach of
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
(NRL) clubs, the
Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrit ...
, the
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...
, the
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
and the
Wests Tigers
The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...
. As a player, Sheens was a prop forward with Sydney's Penrith club in the 1970s and 1980s before he retired and became their coach.
Sheens returned to the Wests Tigers in 2021 as the Head of Football Operations.
He then coached the Raiders, taking them to victory in the
1989,
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
and
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
premierships. With the Tigers he won the
2005 premiership. Sheens also set a new record for most games in Australian rugby league premiership history and also coached the
New South Wales Blues for the
1991 State of Origin series
The 1991 State of Origin series saw the tenth time the annual three-match State of Origin series between the New South Wales and Queensland representative rugby league teams was played entirely under 'state of origin' selection rules. It was nota ...
. In June 2015 he accepted a role with
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
club the
Salford Red Devils
The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...
to become Director of Rugby leading to his eventual resignation as the coach of the Australian National Team in October later that year. In September 2016
it was announced that he would join then Super League club the
Hull Kingston Rovers
Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...
and he formally stepped down from his role at Salford Red Devils as they confronted Hull Kingston Rovers in the £1M Game relegation decider. Salford Red Devils won the game but Sheens confirmed his decision to coach Hull Kingston Rovers in 2017, in the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
.
It was announced that Sheens would return to the Wests Tigers in 2021 working in pathways, development, and talent identification. Sheens was later announced as the club's coach for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Playing career
Born to a well known rugby league family of the Penrith area,
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
, motto_translation = What you sow, so shall you reap
, established =
, type = Independent single-sex and co-educational comprehensive and specialist primary and secondary day and boarding school
, specialist = Agricultural sch ...
, where he was the school captain and First XIII captain in 1968.
Sheens had a lengthy playing stint with
Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrit ...
, playing 166 first grade games from 1970 to 1982 and scoring 11 tries. Starting his career as a backrower, he finished as a ball-playing prop.
In 1974 he was named as the Penrith Panthers' Player of the Year, but had his jaw broken in the inaugural
Amco Cup
The Amco Cup (subsequently known by various other sponsors' names including the Tooth Cup, KB Cup, National Panasonic Cup and Panasonic Cup) was a mid-week rugby league competition held in Australia between 1974 and 1989. The format was usua ...
final against Western Division.
By 1982, Sheens had played a club record 258 games in all grades, but was unable to come to terms with the club for another season. With 166 first grade appearances, Sheens was the most capped
Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrit ...
player until
Royce Simmons
Royce Michael Simmons (born 2 May 1960) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. A one-club man, he played as a for the Penrith Panthers in the NSWRL from 1980 to 1991, winning a premiership in his final season. ...
surpassed him in the 1989 season.
Sheens was soon coaxed out of retirement though, playing one season with the
Campbelltown City Kangaroos
Campbelltown City Kangaroos Rugby League Football Club is an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in Campbelltown, New South Wales. The club was formed in 1908, after a breakaway from the local Rugby Union club, 'The Walla ...
in 1983, captaining that club to the
Group 6 Rugby League
The Macarthur Division Rugby League is a senior Rugby league competition in New South Wales, Australia, administered by the New South Wales Rugby League. Formerly known as Group 6, the competition was, until 2019, run under the auspices of the ...
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".
Tim Sheens' brother,
Bob
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
* Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname ...
, was also a first grade NSWRFL player for
Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to:
Places
*Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India
*Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia
**Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia
Sports clubs
;Association football
*Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand
* Eastern ...
.
Coaching career
Penrith Panthers
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, before departing the club at the end of the 1987 season.
Canberra Raiders
Sheens coached the
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...
to their first premiership in 1989. In the post season he travelled with the Raiders to England for the
1989 World Club Challenge
The 1989 World Club Challenge (also known as the Foster's World Club Challenge due to sponsorship by brewers, Foster's) was the third ever and first official World Club Challenge match. 1989's NSWRL season premiers, the Canberra Raiders travelle ...
which was lost to
Widnes
Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464.
Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...
. He won further premierships with Canberra in 1990 and 1994.
North Queensland Cowboys
However, his time with the
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
(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, he resigned from North Queensland on 25 May 2001.
Wests Tigers
In 2002, Sheens accepted the coaching position with the Wests Tigers for the 2003 season, replacing
Terry Lamb
Terence John Lamb (born 15 September 1961), also nicknamed "Baa", is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. He played 350 games, with the Western Suburbs (1980–1983) and Canterbury (1984–1996).
Lamb was known for his su ...
. 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
The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the b ...
Coach of the Year in 1984, 1990 and 2005.
As NRL Premiers Wests travelled to England to play against
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
champions
Bradford Bulls
The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...
in the
2006 World Club Challenge. Sheens oversaw the Tigers' 30–10 loss.
In December 2007, Sheens' contract with the Tigers – due to expire at the end of the 2008 season – was extended to 2010.
On 3 May 2010, Sheens became the first coach in Australian rugby league history to reach 600 games. In 2011, Penrith Panthers offered Tim the job as head coach for the club. However, on 29 April 2011, Tim decided to stay coach for the Tigers and extended his coaching contract for until 2014. On 25 September 2012, after days of speculation about Sheen's future due to a poor recent season, the Tigers announced Sheens would not coach the team in the 2013 season, but offered him other roles at the club.
Salford Red Devils
On 23 June 2015, Sheens become director of rugby league at the English rugby league club
Salford Red Devils
The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...
.
Hull Kingston Rovers
In September 2016
it was announced that he would join
Hull Kingston Rovers
Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...
for season 2017 and beyond. In Sheens first year at the club, he coached the Hull Kingston Rovers in their promotion back to
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
campaign of 2017. After 2 years at Hull KR, Sheens was sacked due to poor league position, form and loss of 'the dressing room' (implying player support) on 5 June 2019.
Widnes Vikings
On 13 Oct 2020 it was announced that Sheens had resigned as club head coach due to a falling out with management over staffing
Return to Wests Tigers
It was announced that Sheens would return to the Wests Tigers in 2021 working in pathways, development, and talent identification. Sheens was later announced as the club's coach for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, with a succession plan in place colloquially known as the "Marshall Plan" (after the
US foreign aid program of the 1940s) to allow 2005 premiership hero
Benji Marshall
Benjamin Quentin Marshall (born 25 February 1985) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played at or .
He previously played for the Wests Tigers in two separate spells, St. George Illawarra Dragons, Brisbane Bro ...
to take over as head coach in 2025.
Representative coaching
At the representative level, Sheens coached the 1991 ARL City Origin team to a 22–12 win over Country. In the same year, as coach of the NSW
State of Origin
A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...
team, he led the side to a 2–1 series loss to Queensland. In 1997 Sheens coached the NSW super league side to a 23 to 22 win over Queensland in a Tri series competition involving NSW Queensland and New Zealand.
Sheens returned to the NRL representative arena in 2006 when he succeeded Graham Murray as coach for City Origin, a post he retained in 2007 and 2008. 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.
In February 2009, Sheens was appointed coach of the
Australian national rugby league team
The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian ...
following the resignation of
Ricky Stuart
Ricky John Stuart (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and a former rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
H ...
. Sheens coached the Kangaroos to their first win in his charge, defeating the
Kiwis on 8 May 2009.
He coached the Kangaroos in their successful
2013 Rugby League World Cup
The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013.
It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...
campaign. The Aussies conceded just four tries in the entire tournament (all to England in their opening match). He gave Australia revenge against New Zealand in the final after losing to them in the 2008 Final.
Sheens resigned as the Kangaroos head coach on 3 October 2015, to take up a full-time position as director of
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
club
Salford Red Devils
The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...
.
Combined Nations
On
25 June 2021 he coached the
Combined Nations All Stars in their 26-24 victory over
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, staged at the
Halliwell Jones Stadium
The Halliwell Jones Stadium is a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England, which is the home ground of the Warrington Wolves. It has also staged Challenge Cup semi-finals, the European Nations Final, the National League Grand Finals' Day, ...
,
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
, as part of England’s
2021 Rugby League World Cup preparation.
Coaching record
Representative record
Overall (Representative) Record
As of 4 May 2015
Footnotes
External links
Hull KR profileProfile at NRL.comWests Tigers Official Site– current team
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheens, Tim
1950 births
Living people
Australian rugby league coaches
Australia national rugby league team coaches
Canberra Raiders coaches
Combined Nationalities rugby league team coaches
Hull Kingston Rovers coaches
New South Wales City Origin rugby league team coaches
New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin coaches
North Queensland Cowboys coaches
Penrith Panthers players
Penrith Panthers captains
Penrith Panthers coaches
Rugby league players from Sydney
Rugby league props
Widnes Vikings coaches
Wests Tigers coaches