All Blacks legend Steve Hansen joins Bulldog as club great Steve Price departs

All Blacks coaching legend Steve Hansen has joined the Bulldogs but club legend Steve Price has departed on a mixed day for the club.

Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is joining the Bulldogs

Canterbury legend Steve Price parted ways with the Bulldogs on Wednesday morning. By Wednesday night, his shock exit had been overshadowed by news that former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen was set to join the club in a consultancy capacity to work alongside coach Trent Barrett.

Hansen and Barrett struck up a relationship when the Canterbury coach spent a week in camp with the All Blacks after he was sacked by Manly two years ago. When Barrett secured a return to the coaching ranks, he sought out Hansen to inquire whether the legendary rugby union coach would be interested in taking a role with the Bulldogs.

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Hansen agreed to come on board and will act in a consultancy position that will result in him working alongside Barrett, the players and Canterbury’s executive team to help build culture and repair a broken club.

The extent of disrepair at the Bulldogs was highlighted on Wednesday when Price, a former captain who played more than 220 games for Canterbury, left his job as general manager of football.

Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen with his captain Kieran Read in 2019

Price refused to criticise the club, instead insisting his only hope was to see the Bulldogs regain their former glories.

“I came back to the club because of where we were situated and I just wanted to help as much as I could to get the club back to being great again,” Price said.

“There has been a lot of heartache over this period of time. I have had some tough chats with people I care about who aren’t at the club any more.

“I’m pretty proud of what I have been able to achieve since I have been back as a board member and general manager of football. I think the club is in a good position to make it back to those lofty heights.”

Hansen will help on that front given his track record in rugby union, where he was one of the code’s most celebrated coaches during eight years in charge of the All Blacks, a period in which he led New Zealand to the 2015 World Cup.

Bulldogs chief executive Andrew Hill said Hansen’s hands-on involvement would be flexible and dictated to a large extent by the trans-Tasman bubble. However, the plan is for him to initially be at Belmore twice a month before winding back his involvement to a needs basis.

Steve Price has left the Bulldogs. Picture: Brett Costello

“Steve is really keen to help and be involved,” Hill said.

“He said he was not doing it for the money. He said he was doing it for Trent and the club. He is keen to help out.

“Being able to bring Steve Hansen on board as a high performance consultant with the club is tremendous news for everyone associated with the Bulldogs as he is one of the most highly respected figures throughout all of sports.

“To be able to have someone with Steve‘s record and background work with our staff and players will be a great asset to our club.”

The Bulldogs have made some significant strides in recent months, strengthening their roster through the signings of Jack Hetherington and Kyle Flanagan.

They remain in the marketplace, targeting Melbourne and NSW winger Josh Addo-Carr and Penrith five-eighth Matt Burton as they look to bolster their squad for next season.

Addo-Carr is favoured to join the Bulldogs provided a deal can be done with the Storm while Burton has another year remaining on his deal at the Panthers and will be pursued by a host of clubs once he enters the final year of his deal on November 1.

It is understood Wests Tigers and North Queensland have Burton on their hit-list, the latter looking to replace half Jake Clifford who has requested a release so he can join Newcastle.

It may be that North Queensland sign Benji Marshall for 12 months and target another younger half for 2021 — Burton, Jahrome Hughes and Cooper Johns are among the playmakers that are under consideration.