Hi VM, here is my understanding of the two roles from what I have previously been told.
Terry O'Connor is not responsible for identifying targets. He is however the main contact man for agents and clubs. If a player is becoming a free agent or if a club is looking to offload a player on a loan or from their contract early then they will contact TOC and let him know.
He in turn will then approach the coach and let him know and see whether there is any interest. Likewise the coach can always ask TOC to enquire after a player if they have a potential target. He is then responsible for negotiating on behalf of the club, looking after all the players administration with the RFL, British Government etc... In addition he is also responsible for trying to assist with anything that the player comes to him with problem wise. So this could be accommodation issues if they are from outside the local area or abroad, that sort of thing and also speaking to players about what they might do once their playing career is over and helping them to take courses etc which the club will help out with (time off from training one night a week etc etc) plumbing courses, coaching badges etc etc.
Paul Cullen is more involved with the coaching staff in terms of identifying potential targets in each of the teams. This is a fairly early doors type scenario but the coach may want the team to play in a way that requires certain types of players. He will obviously be responsible for looking at those players themselves and PC will also look around. He also organises meetings between the academy coaches and the first team coach to talk about the direction of the club to try and apply a more consistent approach between the way the teams play to try and assist with the development of the younger players so that in the future it will be an easier transition from academy team to first team. It obviously needs agreement between all parties involved. For example... let's say that we want to play a more fluid attacking style of rugby then a plan is put in place to try and have all the teams play this way so that the step up should be easier.
More importantly for us he is also our contacts man over in Aus and NZ. He is the man with the contacts out there including Joey Johns and means that it should put us in a decent position when trying to identify our quota spot signings and any marquee players. Cullen originally made contact with Lockyer and I believe that he is also very involved with the academy sides too.
The objective of having both these roles is to take some of the pressure and workload away from the coach so that they can get on with the coaching of the first team, analysing the opposition putting together videos etc...
Now.... with all that said... we didn't have a first team coach at the time of putting together the vast majority of this year first team and so in such a situation TOC and PC will have been responsible for making those signings being the 'rugby' people at the club.
These two roles will be particularly important when in SL and the coach has to coach a FT squad with the extra demands this places. They will actually benefit the club going forward as the support structures will help to entice new players along with the new training and development complex on Liverpool Road.
It'll come as no surprise that this is a familiar model used in Premier League clubs. One in particular actually.
HTH
