Graham Arnold joins South Sydney to mentor goalkickers

Former Australian national football team coach Graham Arnold has been hired by Wayne Bennett to serve as a kicking coach for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the 2025 National Rugby League (NRL) season in Australia. Arnold will begin work immediately, assisting Latrell Mitchell and other backup kickers to improve their kicking accuracy in his coaching capacity.

Mitchell had 33 successful kicks out of 46 attempts in 11 games last season, a 71.74% success rate, which is far below top kickers like Penrith's Nathan Cleary, who routinely exceeds 80%. Arnold has a high opinion of the Rabbitohs club and has a long and close relationship with Rabbitohs coach Bennett. He stated that Bennett had given him advice before he decided to step down as coach of the Australian national team last year.

Bennett, who has returned to the South Sydney Rabbitohs after coaching the Dolphins, is looking for improvement in all areas after the team finished 16th last season. He told Australian Associated Press (AAP) that Arnold was the right person for the key role. "Graham will work with our kickers. He knows his stuff," Bennett told AAP, "He is a good man and a very good coach. All of our kickers can improve. Latrell will be our main kicker this year, but the backups weren't great last season. Graham will work with the backup kickers too. He will take over our kicking program."

Arnold has a long history of helping NRL players improve their kicking skills. He is highly respected for his knowledge, and notably, some of the top kickers have sought his guidance. Former Manly captain Jamie Lyon sought Arnold's help during the 2013 finals series when his usually reliable kicking faltered in several games, including a 2-for-7 performance against Melbourne at the end of the season. After Arnold diagnosed that he was placing the ball too flat on the kicking tee and made some adjustments to his run-up, Lyon went 5-for-5 and 4-for-4 in the finals against Cronulla and South Sydney, respectively, before going 4-for-5 in the grand final against the Sydney Roosters.

Former Wests Tigers stars Brett Hodgson and Benji Marshall are also among the players Arnold has helped. Throughout his coaching career, Bennett has been willing to delegate responsibilities to those he trusts to improve his players. He recently appointed former Brisbane Lions star Daniel Rich as the kicking coach for the Dolphins. Rich has had a positive impact on the overall kicking skills of rookie halfback Isaiya Katoa.