Nathan Brown’s ‘head coaching days are over’ after Warriors sacking

Nathan Brown says his head coaching days are well and truly over after he parted ways with the struggling New Zealand Warriors.

Nathan Brown says his head coaching days are over.

Nathan Brown says his head coaching days in the NRL are over after he was sacked by the New Zealand Warriors on Tuesday.

Brown and the Warriors agreed to part ways effective immediately after he told the club he would not be willing to relocate his family to New Zealand for the long-term.

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With two other coaching positions now available at the Wests Tigers and Canterbury Bulldogs, Brown might have had another shot at being an NRL coach.

But when asked if he would be interested in either the Tigers or Bulldogs coaching jobs, a visibly relieved Brown said his head coaching days are finished.

“Look, the people I worked for at the Warriors are champion people and I told them my situation two weeks ago,” he told NRL 360 on Tuesday.

“I spoke to my family and my head coaching days are finished. I told them I am not going to appear at another club.

“I said, you decide whether you want me to stay for the rest of this year or not, but my head coaching days are over.”

Brown said he would like to move into a different area of rugby league and work in a mentoring capacity to help young NRL coaches “keep a job”.
“I’m going into another field in rugby league and I’m going to honour my word what I said to those blokes,” he said.

Nathan Brown looked a very relieved man. Photo: Fox Sports.

“I’m basically going to help some other coach keep a job, so that you blokes (media) stay off their back.

“That’s what I’d like to do. What that looks like I’m not too sure. But I’ve seen far too many coaches over my 20 years as a head coach basically get rissoled because the clubs have done a poor job and haven’t supported them.

“I have been lucky enough to survive. People like Trent Barrett and all these blokes are terrific coaches, but they coached teams that had bad rosters that weren’t organised properly.

“I would like to help a young coach survive. That’s what I’d like to do going forward, so my head coaching days are over.”

Brown had stints coaching St George Illawarra and the Newcastle Knights in the NRL, as well as St Helens and Huddersfield in the Super League.

He said his daughters telling him they were sick of moving cities and countries was the final straw for him to call time on his head coaching career.

“I can’t coach if my daughters aren’t prepared to move anymore so it is their fault as much as I love them,” he joked.

“But my head coaching days are done. I’m moving into a new field.

“I’m very grateful for the 20 years I had doing it.”

Nathan Brown’s head coaching days are over. Photo: NRL Photos

The Warriors are currently 14th on the ladder but Brown argued they were hit extremely hard by the effects of the pandemic and will start to show improvement in the next couple of seasons.

“If Covid didn’t come the Warriors would be in a great spot now, but Covid has been a hit for the club,” he said.

“To put it in perspective, the Warriors will play the Panthers in Redcliffe in two weeks and it will be 60 games the club has been away from home.

“It doesn’t matter what people say about allowances. There is no football in the country and it is hard to sign kids when you are not there.

“That’s been a hit for the club. The roster itself and the youth of the roster is very good. The areas the roster needed to improve is very good. The salary cap is in very good shape and going home is going to be great for the club.

“I honestly believe that in 12 to 18 months time the Warriors are going to give people plenty of things to talk about.”