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 country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

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

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 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 joint-venture ...

. 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 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

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 humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

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 sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

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 w ...

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 Challen ...

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, where he was the school captain and First XIII captain in 1968. Sheens had a lengthy playing stint with Penrith Panthers, 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 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 player until Royce Simmons surpassed him in the 1989 season. Sheens was soon coaxed out of retirement though, playing one season with the Campbelltown City Kangaroos in 1983, captaining that club to the Group 6 Rugby League 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, was also a first grade NSWRFL player for Eastern Suburbs.

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

to their first premiership in 1989. In the post season he travelled with the Raiders to England for the 1989 World Club Challenge which was lost to

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form th ...

. He won further premierships with Canberra in 1990 and 1994.

North Queensland Cowboys

However, his time with the

(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. 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 be ...

Coach of the Year in 1984, 1990 and 2005. As NRL Premiers Wests travelled to England to play against

champions Bradford Bulls 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

Hull Kingston Rovers

In September 2016 it was announced that he would join

for season 2017 and beyond. In Sheens first year at the club, he coached the Hull Kingston Rovers in their promotion back to

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 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 following the resignation of Ricky Stuart. 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 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

club

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 ...

, 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 profile

Profile at NRL.com

Wests 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