But a year on from becoming the first coach to ever be sacked at the Canberra Raiders, David Furner can laugh about it now.

"Head coaching reminds me of going to the fair and that game where you shoot air-rifles at the ducks," says Furner, who has revived his coaching career as an assistant to Paul Green at the North Queensland Cowboys this season.

"People pay their money, take their pot shots at you, but then you come that full circle and you're up again. You're up and down, over and over."

There's been plenty of shot ducks in the NRL and 2014 has been a big hunting season.

The latest sacking of Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter this week makes you wonder, who'd be crazy enough to be an NRL head coach?

Since Furner was sacked in August last year, seven more clubs have changed coaches.

Few have hit the refresh button completely, to bring in new blood. Matt Elliott was sacked from the New Zealand Warriors, replaced by his assistant and former Raiders deputy Andrew McFadden. Steve Price was punted from the St George Illawarra Dragons, succeeded by his assistant Paul McGregor.

But, more often than not, it's the same old ducks, circling and popping their heads back up, looking for another shot of their own.

Ricky Stuart left Parramatta to take up Furner's role at the Raiders, replaced by Brad Arthur, who had a small cameo as Eels coach in 2012.

Inaugural Gold Coast Titans coach John Cartwright moved on this year, replaced by Neil Henry, who'd been sacked by the North Queensland Cowboys last year. There's no point trying to explain who's been coaching the Cronulla Sharks in 2014.

In the ultimate reincarnation, Wayne Bennett will return to the Brisbane Broncos where he coached for 20 years. Bennett replaces sacked coach Anthony Griffin, with Bennett, in turn, replaced at the Newcastle Knights by the man he took over from in 2012, Rick Stone. Got all that?

What is even harder to understand is why some of these blokes brush themselves off and keep coming back.

Unceremoniously dumped by the Raiders last year, not allowed to see out the final three games of the season, Furner says he undoubtedly wants to be a head coach again, though he won't rush into the wrong job.

"Unfortunately it's the nature of the beast, the nature of the job, that there'll be more jobs coming up," Furner said ahead of Friday night's final with the Cowboys. "But at this time, it's still about working on my personal development as a coach.

"I love it. I've still got a passion for it, I enjoy football, I think I've got a good knowledge. I'd love to [be a head coach again]."

Elliott is now out of the game, doing some corporate consultative work with Sydney Uni. He was the first NRL coach sacked this season, five rounds into the comp. He was previously axed by the Penrith Panthers.

So he can empathise with any coach who loses his job, especially Potter, one of his best mates.

"My instant reaction is 'poor bastard'," Elliott says of any coach who gets the bullet. "But you sign up for that and when the results aren't there no one's going to go looking to see what level of support the coach is getting, what the injury rates are or where the club's at in its development.

"It's the modern world, it's convenient and easy, place the responsibility on the coach and let's make a change and see if it makes a difference. Inevitably the clubs that have had success in recent times are the ones that have strong leadership above coaches.

"I really feel for Mick because I know how talented he is as a coach, but what he got caught up in was certainly not in ability, he got caught up in having to deal with other stuff outside of coaching."

Don't mistake Elliott as bitter. He's the coach who infamously fashioned his necktie into a noose when the media predicted his end at the Panthers in 2008. He lasted until 2011.

"I love the game and the people who play the game, I'd still like to remain involved, whether that's a reality or not, who knows," Elliott says. "I played seven years in the NRL and coached for 20 years professionally, if that's what I get out of it, I've got no complaints. It's been a blessing. I owe the game 1000 times more than it owes me."

Elliott was an in-demand coach when he left the Raiders at the end of the 2006 season, turning down an approach from Newcastle to take a richer one at Penrith. Leaving Canberra is a decision he regrets.

"I left Canberra for all the wrong reasons and suffered from it, I haven't really admitted that," says Elliott, who admits money was a factor. "I stopped enjoying it. That certainly wasn't the Panthers' fault, the sole responsibility for that was me.

"I went through one phase of my coaching career after I left Canberra I lost the fun in footy. Coaches make bad decisions, too. I forgot that's what it's about ... It's supposed to be fun to play, to coach to watch."

So is it a case of really wanting to coach again, or just missing what you can't have? Would he be an assistant coach.

"I'd do that in a breath too, people have too much pride around that stuff," Elliott says. "You either love being involved in the game or you don't. If you're only prepared to be involved at one level maybe you need to do something else."

"I feel really well equipped to support an NRL coach, like a general manager's role or a CEO too. I just cringed when I said that. But I'd like to think I know what support a coach and a club needs."