After 26 rounds of the NRL season, eight coaches must now try to navigate their way through the minefield that is the finals campaign in their quest to win the 2010 premiership.

A season dominated by the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal means there will be a new team holding aloft the NRL trophy at ANZ Stadium on October 3.

Veteran coaches Tim Sheens and Wayne Bennett have all guided teams to glory in the past and Manly's Des Hasler prevailed in 2008.

Gold Coast's John Cartwright and Penrith's Matt Elliott are yet to get off the mark in finals football, losing all of their games, and Canberra's David Furner is getting his first taste of the action as a coach.

However, it is Wests Tigers' Sheens and St George Illawarra's Bennett who hold the aces when it comes to winning grand finals, with 10 between.

And although Bennett leads the way with six successes, no-one boasts a better overall winning record in the playoffs than the Australia Test coach, who has tasted success in 17 of his 27 games - a 63 per cent success rate.

Former Canberra, Queensland and Australia fullback Gary Belcher who won two premierships under Sheens for the Raiders, said his former coach's approach is a simplistic but effective one.

"Tim's key was very much to keep us all focused on our roles and the games in hand, some players get caught up in the emotion and get all nervous and he just made sure he did his best to stop that," Belcher told AAP.

"He was really good at just getting the players to do the simple things and clearing their minds of any ideas they needed to do anything different to beat a team."

Belcher also played under Bennett for a year in the nation's capital and at State of Origin level, and was part of his coaching staff until 2005 and has seen his methods at close quarters.

Bennett has a 50 per cent success rate in finals, the same as another veteran in Sydney Roosters' Brian Smith.

Smith has yet to win a premiership, but Belcher believes the importance of the coach at this stage of the season cannot be underestimated.

"No successful team does not have a good coach, and one of the real keys for all these guys is ensuring the occasion will not get to their players," he said.

"David Furner has never coached in finals, but he played in plenty of them for the Raiders, and I think last week's game against Brisbane was good for them and for him.

"They tightened up in the second half and stopped playing their normal uninhibited game which makes them so dangerous. If you start doing that, you are gone - you can't change how you play in these sort of games."

Newcastle's 2001 grand final winning coach Michael Hagan believes all eight coaches will be trying to create an environment that is a normal as possible, something he admits is not easy.

"You will have the media frenzy and hype that surrounds these games to contend with, but as a coach it is your job to make sure things are no different," Hagan told AAP.

"I am sure all the coaches will be looking to their senior players to step up and help the younger guys.

"I always found it helpful to involve guys who had been there and done it and use them to work with the inexperienced players if they needed it.

"But the biggest thing for a coach is to recognise who is maybe struggling a bit and look out for them and I am sure all of the guys will be doing this."

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