{"id":550294,"date":"2026-04-25T17:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T17:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/550294\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T17:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T17:05:09","slug":"michael-cheika-makes-shock-return-to-coaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/550294\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Cheika makes shock return to coaching"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Cheika is firmly in the frame for the vacant head coaching role at St. George Illawarra Dragons after the club\u2019s split with Shane Flanagan earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>Cheika, who left Leicester Tigers at the end of the season, has been quietly building his rugby league credentials behind the scenes with the Sydney Roosters.<\/p>\n<p>But that stint looks set to be short-lived. The Roosters are already preparing for his departure, with the experienced coach eyeing a long-overdue crack at a top NRL job.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/channel\/AbYd2l05pp1bM_Ix\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Join RUCK\u2019s Instagram broadcast channel\u00a0<\/a>and get the latest rugby news straight to your phone.<\/p>\n<p>In the box seat<\/p>\n<p>Cheika\u2019s stocks have risen significantly since guiding Lebanon to the quarter-finals of the 2022 Rugby League World Cup, and he is now believed to be leading the race for the Dragons gig.<\/p>\n<p>The club is in desperate need of a reset, having failed to reach the finals for six straight seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Robinson backs Cheika<\/p>\n<p>Roosters head coach Trent Robinson has thrown his full support behind Cheika, insisting it\u2019s only a matter of time before he lands a top job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear\u201d Cheika has what it takes to be an NRL head coach, Robinson said, suggesting the next move lies with club bosses willing to take a chance.<\/p>\n<p>Still waiting for his shot<\/p>\n<p>Despite being repeatedly linked with NRL vacancies over the years, Cheika has yet to land the top job in rugby league.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s in stark contrast to his decorated career elsewhere, with success at international level with Lebanon in league and high-profile roles with Australia and Argentina in rugby union.<\/p>\n<p>Roosters link continues<\/p>\n<p>Cheika previously worked with the Roosters as a consultant in 2020 and has since returned in a specialist role focusing on the forwards.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with momentum building and a vacancy open, his long-awaited NRL opportunity could finally be within reach.<\/p>\n<p>EDITORS PICKS:<\/p>\n<p>LIVE TRANSFER BLOG:<\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/>\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Cheika is firmly in the frame for the vacant head coaching role at St. George Illawarra Dragons&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-550294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}