People are being a bit dismissive of the role of an assistant coach to try and make a point.
However, I will say this. If he had any ambition, there is no way that Kearney would be happy with an assistant role at the moment. Particularly given that he experienced the head coaching role.
Pou - Do you think he will be a head NRL coach again in the near future?
I know you asked Pou, but in my opinion, he will coach again.
I think Kearney had a number of things that didn't go right:
(1) He was inexperienced as a First Grade Head Coach;
(2) He eventually lost the players' respect (who can forget Reni's comments after he stood down?); and
(3) This squad is an enigma in terms of their psychology (nobody has been able to unlock their inner potential and give them that "steel" required to be a top team).
Tactically, he insisted on dumbing the football we played right down, and it was probably silly. But by the same token, I could see why he insisted on doing that - focus on the basics first, and when you have the basics right, then you can dazzle them.
However, he immediately recognised that we were struggling with our junior retention and talent identification, and he made some changes to address that.
Overall, his tenure was a failure, but I don't think that the Parramatta Eels were the ideal club for a rookie coach to begin their career at. We have been a basket case on and off the field for a long time now, and combined with the players' fragile psyches and Kearney's nice-guy attitude, he was practically doomed to fail here from the start.
That doesn't mean he'll be the greatest coach of all time in my eyes, by the way - it just means that I think he will coach again.