Supercoach: The Life and Times of Jack Gibson

by Andrew Webster

Like most of the bouncers in town Bobby Lee was an aging boxer, but he was also as tough as they come. He was the muscle on the door at Thommo's, the illegal two-up game held in secrecy in Surry Hills in Sydney's inner city. It was owned by Joe Taylor—"The Boss," as everyone called him. In the early hours of May in 1951, Bobby Lee was shot five times. He didn't survive. Jack Gibson got his job. "Big Jack" was the original Supercoach, but before that he was one of the toughest men in Sydney. It was there for all to see as a brutal front-row forward for Easts, Newtown and Wests during the 1950s and 1960s. As a coach, he was a revolutionary, adopting methods from American football and innovating heavily in his own right to win back-to-back premierships with Eastern Suburbs in 1974 and 1975, and then three with Parramatta from 1981 to 1983—giving the Eels their their first ever premiership win. Yet behind his gruff exterior and his trademark kangaroo fur coat was a generous and warm family man, whose life was changed forever after the death of his son Luke from a drug overdose. With the cooperation of Jack's family and friends, and unprecedented access to Jack's scrapbooks, journals, and private photographs, Andrew Webster has written the definitive account of the Coach of the Century, Jack Gibson.

Genres: Biography

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2011

About the author

Andrew Webster is chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald. He has authored several books, ghost-written some others and covered Olympics and World Cups all over the planet. Andrew appears regularly on TV and radio.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Webster’s Supercoach: The Life and Times of Jack Gibson is an absolute triumph. Like most rugby league fans, I knew Gibson as an undisputed titan of the game—the mastermind who delivered five premierships across Eastern Suburbs and Parramatta. But Webster’s chronicle reveals just how much larger-than-life the man truly was beyond the silverware.
What blew me away was the sheer scope of his journey. Learning about his early years as an SP bookmaker from the 1950s onward adds a fascinating, raw layer to his story long before his coaching legacy was cemented. Tracking his career through his playing days across Easts, Newtown, St George, and Wests, alongside his nomadic coaching run with a myriad of clubs including Souths and Cronulla, paints a picture of a man constantly absorbing the game and refining his craft. You can directly trace the DNA of modern man-management—most notably Wayne Bennett’s philosophical approach to leadership—straight back to Gibson’s playbook. It makes total sense that Webster went on to write a biography on Bennett as well, chronicling the second true super coach of the modern era.
More than just a brilliant sports biography, it’s Gibson’s core philosophy on life and the simple things that matter that resonate most deeply. The way legends of the game speak in total awe of how he coached them and, more importantly, how he treated them as men is genuinely inspiring. His relentless drive to live life to the absolute fullest hit home for me as a powerful reminder of something I need to get better at doing myself. Webster has delivered an essential read for any sports fan, leader, or anyone looking to squeeze every drop out of life. Highly recommended.