After twelve months of bunkering down in the Butterfield Street boardroom and defending the castle against a significant proportion of Queensland rugby stakeholders (read Reds Fans), the QRU has released Richard Graham from his contract. Effective immediately.
Between now and when a new Head Coach is appointed, assistant coaches Matt O’Connor and Nick Stiles have been appointed co-interim coaches.
Graham was controversially appointed by the Reds in 2012 as part of a succession plan for Ewen McKenzie. After two seasons in the top job and, what we are assured was a high-performance review and extensive international search, he was reappointed for the 2016 season despite only having a 28% win ratio. A move that upset a significant number of fans [and beggard belief – Ed.].
QRU CEO Jim Carmichael, also currently under-fire in his position, thanked Graham for his contribution to the Reds over his tenure.
“He has helped identify, develop and nurture many future stars of the Reds which fans will come to know and love in time as this young side reaches the potential we know it possesses.”
So what now for the ‘young side’?
Well, now the search is on again, with O’Connor and Stiles being invited to be “part of this open process” (read apply for the job).
“The QRU will commence a worldwide process to appoint a head coach for the 2017 Super Rugby season. It is likely that this process will take between 90 and 120 days once the QRU formally goes to market.”
If there are any rugby coaches out there that are interested in the job you might want to give your CV a polish and send it in.
How the ‘co-interim’ coaches will work is yet to be determined or seen. I will expect that as at the end of this year one or both will be gone. Remember the Brumbies post Jake White?
For all the fans out there, we can see a glimmer of light at the end of a deep dark tunnel. Only time will tell if it is actually the end of said tunnel or a ruddy great train bearing down on us.
