Departing Cowboys coach Paul Green responds to Brisbane Broncos rumours

Premiership winning Cowboys coach Paul Green has been heavily linked to the Brisbane Broncos having had strong ties to his former club.

Paul Green used to be the kicking coach at the Broncos.

Departing North Queensland Cowboys head coach Paul Green has expertly dodged the question of whether he would look to take on the Brisbane Broncos job if it was available.

But it hasn’t stopped the speculation that he’s being groomed to take the job if Anthony Seibold’s 10-game five win ultimatum isn’t satisfied.

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On Monday night, The Daily Telegraph reported that Green’s relationship with Broncos legend and board member Darren Lockyer could help him if he put his hat in the ring for top job in Brisbane.

It comes rapidly after Green had been under mounting pressure as his underperforming Cowboys had only won three of their 10 games this season to sit 12th on the ladder, continuing to suffer the long hangover since the retirement of league legend Johnathan Thurston.

The last season the club made the finals was 2017, when Michael Morgan took the side on a dramatic run from eighth to the grand final, with Thurston out through injury.

But the club has failed to return to those heights after the legend’s retirement, finishing 13th, 14th and currently in 12th over the last three seasons.

Paul Green quits as coach of North Queensland Cowboys.

Green, who was on Fox League’s NRL 360, sidestepped when asked about his Broncos ambitions.

“Today is not a great day to ask me about future coaching options, he said. “I did say in my press conference today ‘my future as a coach of the Cowboys has finished but my future as a head coach hasn’t finished’. I still have aspirations and goals that I will achieve as a head coach so when that may be, I’m not sure.”

He added that his greatest lesson as an NRL head coach was that “there are a lot of things that go into having a successful season and it‘s really important that you’re putting time into all those areas”.

Remarkably, the Cowboys in 12th are the highest ranked Queensland based team with the Broncos and Titans in 14th and 15th respectively.

He has already been heavily linked to the Broncos as the fallout from their seventh loss in eighth games.

The NRL 360 panel discussed claims from Broncos stakeholder Phil Murphy, who owns 22 per cent of the club, who told the Sydney Morning Herald that: “The whole team and those around it are impotent. There’s no leadership and direction. It’s like they’re all on valium”.

Paul Kent said: “I think Seibold is lost and I think we see why when we see how the club is operating — I think the club is lost”.

Paul Green finished his playing career with his final five games at the Broncos.

But Green tried to stay focused on his time in Townsville and said it had been a tough end to his Cowboys tenure, having known for almost a week but did not let his charges know before their spirited 22-10 loss to ladder leaders Penrith on Sunday.

“It’s been a pretty tough week to be honest, we sort of started a conversation about it last Wednesday, wasn’t really sure how the year was going to finish,” he said. “It was suggested that maybe I finish the year as coach, but once I started to think about it I didn‘t really think that was a good way forward for both parties. While I was determined to coach the team on Sunday, we thought it was probably best to pull up stumps today.“

Green said there had already been plenty of conjecture around his position and he didn‘t think it would be helpful for him stick around and allow some clear air.

Assistant coach Josh Hannay will take over as interim coach for the reminder of the season.

Asked why he didn’t try to battle his way out of the slump, Green said the writing was on the wall.

“I definitely am a fighter and I‘m certainly not a quitter, I would have been happy to continue but honestly in my heart, I didn’t think it was the right thing to do for the club and the team,” he said. “I think the less distractions this team has the better off they’ll be.

“It’s not going to be me taking them forward and navigating them through this period then I think what was best was to clear the air and take any sort of talk or conjecture or noise that potentially may happen if we have a loss. I just wanted to take that off the table and I think that was the best way to do it if I just stepped down immediately.”

Paul Green talks with Thurston.

Green also addressed his relationship with senior players with suggestions over whether there were rifts between himself and captain Michael Morgan.

“It was good, it was honest and I think it‘s always going to happen if you want to move forward particularly from a leadership point of view, you have to have honest conversations,” he said. “I think sometimes those conversations may have gotten out and were spun a particular way.”

Green said he removed himself from the situation but said he had a good relationship with his players, admitting it was “a tough day to say goodbye to all those guys”.

He then spent one-on-one time with each player with some emotional conversations.

Green said one of the issues came with the expectation on the side, which led to discussions of unrest within his ranks.

As for what he‘d do differently, “I would have put a little more time into making sure the staff dynamic was right and making sure that was operating well”. He added it wasn’t a problem but ”could have done better”, particularly around injuries.