Poor club planning kills coach
Stephen Kearney came to the Warriors feeling he deserved a second chance to coach in the NRL, but he never really got much of one.
His time as the Eels coach from 2011 to 2012 was a disaster, winning just 10 of 42 games, while his record with the Warriors was only slightly better and it’s tough to know how history will judge Kearney as an NRL coach.
There’s no doubting his success with the Kiwis, winning the World Cup in 2008 and the Four Nations in 2010 and 2014, and on the surface it’s easy to come to the conclusion he didn’t live up to those heights as a club coach and deserved his sacking.
But in reality, he wasn’t given much of a chance of success. He got the Warriors to the playoffs in 2018, his second year in charge, then just as he was finalising his squad for the following season, playmaker Shaun Johnson quit the club.
It’s debatable whether Johnson was the long-term future for the Warriors, but leaving then didn’t give the club any chance of finding a suitable replacement.
Going into this year with no big-name signing, it was clear that this wasn’t going to be a successful campaign. They have a roster that at best is a borderline topeight team and certainly not one that could challenge for the title.
The Warriors and Kearney paid the price for years of poor recruitment, losing players they should have kept, and signing average reserve graders.
But there was light at the end of the tunnel, because there were plenty of big-name players coming off contract at the end of the season. It was an opportunity for a start afresh. But Kearney won’t now be a part of that.
It must have been an awkward situation at Mount Smart Stadium over the past couple of weeks.
CEO Cameron George was the person who fought so hard for Kearney to be given a contract extension in February last year, when the then-majority owners of the club, Auckland Rugby League, didn’t want to offer him it.
George has always been loyal to Kearney and has instantly dismissed any notion that his job was in danger, either publicly or off the record.
But Kearney’s position became less secure when Mark Robinson and Rob Croot from Autex Industries took over total control of the club late last year.
Both are savvy businessmen and wanted success.
Brian Smith, the general manager of football, was surprisingly sacked at the end of last season. He was the person responsible for planning the club’s future success.
But it seemed Kearney had a ready-made excuse for the team having a poor season, with the players based in Australia. However, sources told Stuff at the beginning of the season that Kearney’s job wasn’t as secure as it appeared and the drive for success and willingness to make tough decisions, that also saw Johnson and Smith go, has also resulted in Kearney’s exit.
It’s a tough call. Kearney can only take so much blame for the poor performances.
He could only work with the players he had and frankly there aren’t enough of them up to it.
Let’s hope this isn’t the end of the road for Kearney as a coach.
George has the drive and tenacity to bring success, and right the wrongs from the Eric Watson era. It’s a shame that Kearney won’t be there.