Diary Of A Warriors Fan: Andrew McFadden Makes Way For Stephen Kearney
Ain't nothing wrong with being a really good assistant coach - beats sitting behind a desk.
While people across Aotearoa got their knickers in a twist about the NZ Warriors 2016 season, I enjoyed my time, bickin' back being bool in bewilderment. I can't be confused about passionate Warriors fans not being happy with another season of NRL mediocrity, nor can I be confused about jokers who don't follow the NRL in any great depth following like sheep and falling back on the classic jibes about the Warriors culture ... or their fitness.
I understand the disappointment to an extent.
Disappointment starts with expectation. Expectations were high heading into this season because the Warriors had picked up a few big signings in Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Issac Luke, which is understandable. Luke's not going to change a club or lead a club to Premiership glory, he's a top-tier dummy half who can contribute to at a very high level alongside other great players as he did with Greg Inglis and Sam Burgess at the Rabbitohs.
Tuivasa-Sheck on the other hand was coming off a record-breaking season, churning out over 200m nearly every game. Throw in plenty of tackle busts, tries and try assists just for good measure. Expectations should be through the roof of any team with Tuivasa-Sheck in it because he's on-par with James Tedesco, Matt Moylan and Cameron Munster as the NRL's very best fullbacks. With Tuivasa-Sheck at fullback, Luke would be unstoppable and not the other way around.
What has confused me a bit has been how expectations didn't change when Tuivasa-Sheck was ruled out for the season, hence there's so much disappointment. No Tuivasa-Sheck and two stop-gap fullbacks being rotated through such a key position, meant that my expectations for the Warriors changed dramatically. I was always willing to endure another season of mediocrity, safe in the knowledge that Tuivasa-Sheck will come back.
Another aspect of this expectation/disappointment combo, was that Andrew McFadden was in his first stint as an NRL coach. Scratch that, McFadden hadn't coached any first-grade footy before and had only got this gig because a coach with heaps of experience and various levels of success in Matt Elliott, was given the boot. Most young coaches are given the job with the knowledge that they'll have a few years to build the club and the roster how they want, they know they'll have faith shown in them.
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McFadden was thrown to the wolves and everyone expected him to be successful, at a club that has a horrible record of churning through coaches. To be honest, if you expected the Warriors to be successful under a coach who is still in the beginners stage of NRL coaching, you kinda deserve to be disappointed. A winning percentage of 45 percent in your first 62 games as a first-grade coach, ain't even all that bad.
I definitely had many issues with McFadden's coaching, however I was willing to ride with these because it was a bit silly to expect McFadden to roll out similar attacking plays to Craig Bellamy and Melbourne, or even a fellow newbie coach Paul Green (new to NRL coaching, not head coaching as he led Wynum to a reserve grade title) who has a certain Jonathan Thurston to bounce ideas off. McFadden was learning this stuff and while I could point hole after hole in how the Warriors were playing, I was happy to give McFadden a while to get acquainted with that level of coaching.
With that, I'm not too upset that McFadden has had to make way for Stephen Kearney. McFadden can now focus on being an assistant coach to Kearney - the very role McFadden came to Auckland to do under head coach Elliott, the very role McFadden did for two seasons with Catalan Dragons and the very role McFadden did at the Raiders for three seasons. McFadden has earned his stripes as an assistant coach, it's what he knows and what he does best.
I can't help but think that McFadden simply wasn't ready to be an NRL head coach and especially not with the Warriors, those who gave McFadden the job should cop some of that responsibility. Jim Doyle couldn't really come in and wipe away McFadden, he gave him some time to prove himself and has decided to cut his losses and bring in a more mature/experienced bloke to lead the club.
A few weeks ago, Chad Townsend appeared on Denan Kemp's Locker Room show and talked about how much he learned from his time in Auckland and more specifically from McFadden about playing in the halves. Now, McFadden has an opportunity to solely focus on specific aspects of coaching like working with the halves and McFadden can settle back down into a role that he came to Auckland to take.
That should excite Warriors fans because another reason why I'm not overly disappointed about 2016, is that there's a excessively talented wave of young players coming through who are suited to the needs of the club and most importantly; these lads are either on the fringe of the NRL or are now approaching their peak years of NRL production. There's powerful forwards with speed and footwork, we've got two gritty/rugged lads in Jazz Tevaga and James Bell, along with halves like Tuimoala Lolohea, Ata Hingano, Mason Lino and Chanel Harris-Tavita. The Warriors traditionally don't have such depth of young halves, now they do and they now also have McFadden slotting back into an assistant coach role to offer his guidance to that young group.
Kearney just feels like a good fit for the Warriors, especially with some Wayne Bennett guidance filtering through. More importantly, Kearney's appointment now allows McFadden to do what I reckon he does best and that's sit in the background and work specifically with the halves. I'm not complaining and I still think that the best years of the NZ Warriors await in the near-future.