yes they can. more often than not the coach of the year is the team finishing top, whats the point of that. Watson at the start of the season is the coach of a team expected to be battling relegation, they then make the grand final. Holbrook is the coach of the team expected to finish top and make the grand final which they have. clearly Watson deserves the award more than the Holbrook and should have won it easily.
wrong decision by a long way and sounds like very little thought gone into it.

They should've waited until after the GF. What if Salford wins the GF? And Holbrook goes home with only two LLS (a trophy that Saints used to ridicule in the past)?

I think what people are forgetting here is that the Coach of the Year award is voted for exclusively by the coaches of the Super League sides. So blame them if you feel the decision is wrong.

One thing that could perhaps be improved is that the voting was taking at the end of August. Salford's season was probably not quite so epic yet, they were probably about 5th at the time.

Holbrook himself alluded to this in his acceptance speech, saying that the votes were cast a while ago and that he thought the votes would be much different now.

I think if the vote was later then it's Watson that wins it. At the time it did take place, Holbrook was clearly the right choice.

End of discussion really.

It will only be "end of discussion" after we see what happens in the Grand Final at Old Trafford at the very earliest, and not a minute sooner.

Especially if the voting was just before the CC final.....

Holbrook has already won coach of the year, voted by his peers.

That really means it is the end of the discussion.

What will the game on Saturday contribute to the discussion of coach of the year, now already awarded?

Heard rumours on-line there was Salford fans chanting the name of their own coach as Holbrook received his award.

Highly embarrassing for them if true.

which of course in itself is ridiculous. its called coach of the season/year when the 2 most important months are missed off. how many times have teams come to the fore in the last weeks of the season - wigan have done it, leeds from 5th place, even cas

Holbrook was a deserved winner of the award