It has been four years in the making, but a Rugby League Coaches Association has finally been established in a move welcomed by some of the biggest names in the game.

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga will be the foundation chairman alongside former NRL assistant coach Kelly Egan, with the Sydney Roosters’ three-time premiership-winning mentor Trent Robinson hailing the RLCA as a huge development.

“It’s (about) the wellbeing, the support of coaches. It’s nice to know that somebody is going to be there to look after you,” Robinson said at Rugby League Central on Wednesday.

“It’s (about) the education of the coaches coming in to the role and improving that.

“And you want to have an amazing collective voice for the game. We all have our individual voices that look after the clubs, but now we can have a collective voice for the betterment of the game – and that’s really important.

“That’s why we’ve taken some time, that’s why we’re standing here with the NRL and saying ‘we want our game to be better’ and we feel like we can add value to the game through the coaches association.”

The RLCA board also features former North Queensland and Gold Coast coach Neil Henry, who lauded the NRL for helping the code finally move into line with Australian Rules Football.

“The AFL have been the leaders in this for a number of years now,” Henry said.

“Certainly I’ve been down to Melbourne and talked to them about what they’ve got in place and they’ve had an association since 2002.

“So it’s great that we’ve now got one. It’s only small steps to start with but we’re looking forward to transitioning into something worthwhile.”

Offering support for discarded coaches at all levels will be one critical role of the association.

“When there’s personnel changes at clubs, there’s no real welfare provided,” Henry said.

“There may be some internal peer support, but we haven’t formalised anything before for coaches in the wellbeing space.

“Particularly for assistant coaches and emerging coaches, the younger coaches, when there’s a change at the top there could be a personnel change underneath as well.

“So we’re looking at a bit of protection there and a bit of advice. Tim Fuller, being our legal representative, a former player and a sports lawyer as well, certainly his services will be utilised.”