Nathan Brown and the Warriors part ways as New Zealand great Stacey Jones acts as interim coach

Nathan Brown’s tenure as Warriors coach is over after the NRL club parted ways with the veteran mentor.

Brown met with Warriors officials on Tuesday morning, before they agreed to end his one-and-a-half-year stint as coach early after five straight losses.

New Zealand great Stacey Jones has been appointed on an interim basis, as the Auckland-based club start their search for a full-time replacement.

Brown had been contracted at the Warriors until the end of next year, but had already told officials he did not want to move back to New Zealand long-term and could not commit beyond that.

Ultimately though, the club’s poor start to 2022 and Saturday night’s horror outing against Manly meant officials decided to move the coach on faster.

“Nathan told us he had made a personal decision that for family reasons he wouldn’t be able to relocate to New Zealand as originally planned for the long term,” CEO Cameron George said.

“We fully appreciate his position and the call he has made.

“Given those circumstances we agreed we needed to make an immediate change.

“It’s tough for everyone involved but, in the best interests of the club, we felt we had to go in a different direction now.”

The decision leaves Brown’s career at a crossroads, having previously coached both St George Illawarra and Newcastle in the NRL.

Brown becomes the second coach to go this year, after Trent Barrett’s exit from Canterbury last month.

AAP

Posted 1h ago1 hours agoMon 6 Jun 2022 at 11:39pm