By Sam Ackerman
He described the Warriors coaching role as his dream job just over a year ago. Now Brian “Bluey” McClennan's tenure has finished up anything but.
The search is on for the third Warriors coach in as many NRL seasons, after the club's shocking finish to 2012 cost Bluey his position.
McClennan wasn't looking for a scapegoat as his career reached its lowest point.
“I sit up the front; I lead it,” he says. “It comes down to me. That's the way it is.”
Yesterday he was told what he could feel coming – the six-game losing streak not good enough for the Warriors’ owners and its board.
“The results over the past two or three weeks especially made the outcome today inevitable,” says Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah.
“I can understand where they're coming from,” says Bluey. “The results haven't been good enough, and that guts me because I’m not used to this.”
After last year's grand final McClennan couldn't conquer what he calls the burden of expectation – eight wins in 22 games not helped by a string of injuries and an inability to win the close ones.
“Had we had a couple more senior players play in some of those games, we would have held on and won. I think five of those games we lost by two points or one point.”
Assistant coach Tony Iro takes over for the final fortnight of the season and is putting his hand up to take the job full-time.
“It's a sad way to get an opportunity, but at the end of the day my job now is to get a couple of wins on the board,” says Iro.
So begins the wild speculation. The Warriors hope to choose the next coach before pre-season training starts in November.
“The club has the money to hire a coach that can win a competition,” says Scurrah.
The automatic link is Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney, who was in town for talks about working with McClennan.
“He hasn't put his hand up and said he wanted to apply for the role,” says the Warriors chief executive. “None of that was the reason he came over this weekend.”
Kearney says he doesn’t want to comment about the head coach position, but yesterday told 3 News he was open to a potential assisting role.
“There is an interest in coming across and helping the club out, but again there's a lot of thinks to consider,” he says.
Also mentioned former Warriors coach Daniel Anderson. He told 3 News he didn't want to speculate, but that coaching appointments move in mysterious ways.
Other names being lobbed up include former Kiwi David Kidwell and perhaps ambitiously his boss at the Storm Craig Bellamy, but he's on contract for next season.
The usually upbeat Bluey leaves with no regrets but admits he made mistakes.
“I'm a good person,” he says. “I've tried my best. It didn't work out. I've been there and had success before and I was gracious enough to cop that, so I've got to handle this bit too. It's a fine line between winning and losing.”
It’s a line the next coach will want to be on the right side of.
3 News