Queensland Firebirds interim coach Lauren Brown quits one game into new job

Just one game after taking over as the Queensland Firebirds’ caretaker coach, Lauren Brown has sensationally quit the role at the crisis-ridden Super Netball club.

Interim Queensland Firebirds coach Lauren Brown has lasted just one game in the top job, stepping down just days after the axing of her former coaching partner Bec Bulley.

Brown took the reins for the Firebirds’ clash against the Mavericks in Melbourne on Sunday but was clearly conflicted about being in the role after close friend Bulley was sacked by the club last week.

The Firebirds released a statement on Monday morning confirming assistant Katie Walker would join the coaching team for the remaining four games of the season, working alongside Netball Queensland head of talent and development Roselee Jencke to prepare the team.

Brown led the team in the 73-61 loss to the Mavericks but told Fox Netball it was “not an ideal situation”.

“I really feel for Bec. I feel for the players, it’s not an ideal situation but we’ve passed that, we’ve banked it, we’ve (gone) day by day but just really excited to get out and play,” she said ahead of the match.

With Bec Bulley (C) and Lauren Brown (R) both gone, the Firebirds will be onto their third coach in the space of three games. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Brown confirmed she had spoken to Bulley following the decision.

“She is someone that I have a lot of respect for, so it’s pretty gut wrenching, I really feel for her and her family but we have to move on,” she said.

Brown could never have been expected to magically turn things around though and the playing group seemed as disjointed as they had all year, with the performance only magnifying the spotlight on the decision to axe Bulley with five weeks remaining in the season.

Despite the players and club rejecting the notion of a mutiny leading to Bulley’s removal less than halfway through a four-year deal, there remain plenty of questions around the timing of and reasons for the Firebirds’ decision, with former captain Kiera Trompf calling the club a “rudderless ship”.

Brown joined the club as an assistant last year just a week before the season after the originally appointed assistant Sara Francis-Bayman parted ways with the club.

Walker, a Firebirds player in 2007-08, has been working as an assistant coach with the Firebirds Futures in the Super Netball Reserves.

Originally published as Queensland Firebirds interim coach Lauren Brown quits one game into new job