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Warriors' general manager of football Brian Smith is leaving the club, with his exit expected to be confirmed this week.
While no one from the NZ Warriors would confirm this on Saturday, Stuff understands the 65-year-old Australian won't be at the NRL team any longer, with the club feeling they need to go in a new direction.
Smith came in during a period in the club's history when they were lacking top-level knowledge of how the NRL worked. But since his arrival in November 2017, there has been an influx of people with an understanding of the game.
It is not known why Smith has departed, but he recently did a lengthy interview with Stuff where he spoke about how excited he was about the new direction the club was going in with its player development.
Smith had come up with the idea of scrapping the club's under-20 team and replacing it with an SG Ball team instead.
The SG Ball is a New South Wales competition for under-18 players and Smith had convinced the Warriors board that the club would be better served with their recruitment and development by going down this path.
Smith had also done a complete overall of the football side of the club and had taken some of the administrative workload off head coach Stephen Kearney, to allow him to spend more time on improving the team.
Smith was also integral in getting recruitment genius Peter O'Sullivan at the Warriors.
It is believed Greg Boulous will step up to take care of some of the areas Smith was involved in.
But Smith isn't the only big name departure from Mt Smart Stadium.
Stuff understands Warriors reserve grade NSW Cup coach Nathan Cayless has switched to the Roosters. Cayless was only at the Warriors for one season, but had signed a two-year deal with the club.
Hie departure is due to him wanting to return to Sydney for family reasons.
The NSW Cup team will be coached by former Hull KR and Warriors first grade assistant coach, Justin Morgan, who had been assistant coach with the Warriors' women's team.
Alex Corvo has also left as high performance manager, with family reasons cited again. It is believed Corvo has been replaced by by Craig Twentyman, who had been working with the Wallabies.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/leagu...manager-of-football-brian-smith-to-leave-club
While no one from the NZ Warriors would confirm this on Saturday, Stuff understands the 65-year-old Australian won't be at the NRL team any longer, with the club feeling they need to go in a new direction.
Smith came in during a period in the club's history when they were lacking top-level knowledge of how the NRL worked. But since his arrival in November 2017, there has been an influx of people with an understanding of the game.
It is not known why Smith has departed, but he recently did a lengthy interview with Stuff where he spoke about how excited he was about the new direction the club was going in with its player development.
Smith had come up with the idea of scrapping the club's under-20 team and replacing it with an SG Ball team instead.
The SG Ball is a New South Wales competition for under-18 players and Smith had convinced the Warriors board that the club would be better served with their recruitment and development by going down this path.
Smith had also done a complete overall of the football side of the club and had taken some of the administrative workload off head coach Stephen Kearney, to allow him to spend more time on improving the team.
Smith was also integral in getting recruitment genius Peter O'Sullivan at the Warriors.
It is believed Greg Boulous will step up to take care of some of the areas Smith was involved in.
But Smith isn't the only big name departure from Mt Smart Stadium.
Stuff understands Warriors reserve grade NSW Cup coach Nathan Cayless has switched to the Roosters. Cayless was only at the Warriors for one season, but had signed a two-year deal with the club.
Hie departure is due to him wanting to return to Sydney for family reasons.
The NSW Cup team will be coached by former Hull KR and Warriors first grade assistant coach, Justin Morgan, who had been assistant coach with the Warriors' women's team.
Alex Corvo has also left as high performance manager, with family reasons cited again. It is believed Corvo has been replaced by by Craig Twentyman, who had been working with the Wallabies.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/leagu...manager-of-football-brian-smith-to-leave-club
