Staff Brian McClennan
- Thread starter WahsaurusRex
- Start date
- Coach Grade
- NRL Head Coach
- Date of Birth
- Feb 16, 1962
- Birth Location
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Nationality
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- Nickname
- Bluey
- Warriors Debut Date
- Mar 4, 2012
- Warriors Debut Details
- Round 1 vs Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Eden Park, Auckland
- Warriors Years Active
- 1995
- 2012
- Signed From
- Auckland Rugby League (Development Officer)
- Status
- Retired
- Rugby League Project
- https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/coaches/brian-mcclennan/games.html
NZWarriors.com
Arguably the greatest coaching failure in NRL history. Was the first coach in the games history to not see out a single season.
I remember Aussie media doing the predictable top 8 and Matty Johns said he thought the Warriors would be the shock exclusion. Baring in mind we had just played the 2011 GF a couple months earlier. His reasoning was that Bluey had never coached NRL at any level and would therefore be ill prepared for demands and rigours of this comp. There was wide spread ridicule from Warriors fans, this forum was no exception, of Johns incompetence as a league critic and obvious foolishness. Hindsight would prove Johns 100% correct.
There was also an interview by a former player that was amazed at Blueys preseason training. He showed up to preseason expecting to get absolutely flogged like usual but was instead given some mild exercises and was home by lunch. Can't remember if it was the same player but he said Bluey was a good coach but not across a season long campaign. He was a motivator for one off games or limited series but was out of his depth in the NRL.
Blame must lie squarely at Wayne Scurrah's feet for this complete balls up. First in letting Ivan Cleary walk and secondly for setting Bluey up for failure. This is why there must be a complete disconnect between front office and on field. We had that in 2011 by way of John Hart but his advice was completely ignored by Scurrah. That advice being to re-sign Cleary for 3 years.
I dont blame Bluey. He did his best with what he knew and is by all means a good coach. Just not at NRL...
I remember Aussie media doing the predictable top 8 and Matty Johns said he thought the Warriors would be the shock exclusion. Baring in mind we had just played the 2011 GF a couple months earlier. His reasoning was that Bluey had never coached NRL at any level and would therefore be ill prepared for demands and rigours of this comp. There was wide spread ridicule from Warriors fans, this forum was no exception, of Johns incompetence as a league critic and obvious foolishness. Hindsight would prove Johns 100% correct.
There was also an interview by a former player that was amazed at Blueys preseason training. He showed up to preseason expecting to get absolutely flogged like usual but was instead given some mild exercises and was home by lunch. Can't remember if it was the same player but he said Bluey was a good coach but not across a season long campaign. He was a motivator for one off games or limited series but was out of his depth in the NRL.
Blame must lie squarely at Wayne Scurrah's feet for this complete balls up. First in letting Ivan Cleary walk and secondly for setting Bluey up for failure. This is why there must be a complete disconnect between front office and on field. We had that in 2011 by way of John Hart but his advice was completely ignored by Scurrah. That advice being to re-sign Cleary for 3 years.
I dont blame Bluey. He did his best with what he knew and is by all means a good coach. Just not at NRL...
There were a lot of people saying Cleary would never win anything and McClennan is a winner. Back in 2011 their coaching experience would have been pretty similar. One 5 years in the NRL vs the other with local football, internationals and Super League. Now the experience is definitely in Cleary's favour as he's been coaching consistently since then. Thing there was a year or two off after his first stint at the Panthers.
Now Cleary has won not only won a premiership he's won 3. In a row no less. Hard to argue he's not a winner.
Those naysayers might argue their point was for at the Warriors. Well Cleary's time here was pretty consistent. Finals all but two years and those two can be explained due to starting on -4 points and the Sonny Fai tragedy. You can debate the type of football his sides played but the most important thing is winning enough games to get to the finals to compete for the big price.
2011 with 3 teams in the finals the club was at a high. It should have led to some good years. Instead for various reasons the club has been trying to fix the fallout from 2012.
The feeling around the club this year to me matched 2011. Hopefully they back it up next year and we continue to have a team/club we can be proud of.
Now Cleary has won not only won a premiership he's won 3. In a row no less. Hard to argue he's not a winner.
Those naysayers might argue their point was for at the Warriors. Well Cleary's time here was pretty consistent. Finals all but two years and those two can be explained due to starting on -4 points and the Sonny Fai tragedy. You can debate the type of football his sides played but the most important thing is winning enough games to get to the finals to compete for the big price.
2011 with 3 teams in the finals the club was at a high. It should have led to some good years. Instead for various reasons the club has been trying to fix the fallout from 2012.
The feeling around the club this year to me matched 2011. Hopefully they back it up next year and we continue to have a team/club we can be proud of.
NZWarriors.com
Home by lunch. Can't believe we didn't get more players wanting to come here. Players could tell their mates that you get some light practice in and then can spend some time with your family. No other club has you available to pick up your kids.
Bluey being out of his depth would have got worse as the season went on and the players become more sure of it.
A lot of the issues would have started early on. He was asked if they needed to sign anyone. He said he had the team to win it. I admire the confidence but any other coach if they were asked and given to go ahead to chase anyone they'd look to strengthen their squad. A lot would have noticed how inexperienced the squad would have been with all of the under 20s being promoted. Yes Webster said he liked the squad but he acknowledged the club had recruited well. We also did some recruiting after he signed on.
There was also an article in the pre season outlining McClennan's day. He'd get in early but that sounded more to get around the traffic. He'd work close to a 9-5 job and said he wouldn't be at the office late like other coaches. Most other coaches would work long hours when they take over to get everything sorted how they want it. Or during the season scouting their opposition.
All we got from 2012 and McClennan tenure is the Bluey's round meme.
More of a legacy than some of our other coaches who are just completely forgettable!
Intelligence wasn't a family trait.
NZWarriors.com
Not if they wanted to win a Premiership. Ever wonder champion Maloney turned down our offer to make him the games first million dollar man? What about Luck deciding to retire? Which club legend threatened to leave and finally got the club to fire Bluey mid season???
I probably should have used one of the laughing or WTF emoji's as I was taking the piss with the whole home by lunchtime as it sounds so ridiculous when every other club would have been having the players there for the full day a lot of the time.
This was around when you'd read articles about how some clubs would have the players on site for breakfast and lunch to control what they ate around training.
NZWarriors.com
Konnie? Probly not.
Ill go Mannering or Luck?
The tits up debacle that happened after 2011 was just staggering and impacted us for fecking a decade.
Obviously letting Ivan go was just absurd and started the free fall. Bluey was obviously out of his depth but management did him no favours as i recall getting rid of a tonne of experience for favour of mistakingly thinking an all conquering u/20s set up would immediately translate to NRL success.
From memory after 2011 we lost/let go Lance Hohaia, Brett Seymour, Joel Moon, Aaron Heremaia, Jeremy Latimore, Brett Seymour, Issac John and probably a few others and i think only recruited Nathan Freind? It correlated to losing something like 650 games of NRL experience........and we never really recovered from it with the revolving door of coaches that followed until......
......enter the Webmeister!
NZWarriors.com
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