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Panthers assistant coach Andrew Webster has been identified as the man to help the Warriors move forward.
The Warriors have confirmed the appointment of Panthers assistant Andrew Webster as their new head coach.
The 40-year-old Australian will take charge from next season, Replace interim coach Stacey Joneswho stepped up in the wake of Nathan Brown’s mid-season departure†
“I’m excited and honored to become the head coach of the Warriors,” Webster said.
“I enjoyed my time in Auckland when I was last there and really looking forward to making it
it back home.
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† Former Warriors Assistant Andrew Webster Takes Over as Head Coach – Report
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“I feel we have a real opportunity to move the club forward and I can’t wait to get started in November.”
Webster will be known to Warriors fans, having started his NRL coaching career in Auckland as assistant to Andrew McFadden for two seasons from 2015 to 2017.
He left the Warriors to take an assistant role with Wests Tigers, where he served as interim head coach for a short time when Jason Taylor was fired three games into the season and lost both games in charge.
He then teamed up with Ivan Cleary at Penrith and helped them win last year’s NRL premiership. He still had a year left on his Panthers contract, albeit with a clause allowing him to leave to take on a head coach role.
Prior to the Warriors, Webster had stints as a player coach with the Connecticut Wildcasts in the US and as an assistant and academy coach with England’s Super League outfit Hull Kingston Rovers.
Warriors chief executive Cameron George said he was “absolutely excited” to bring in an “exciting coach” of Webster’s caliber.
“Andrew is a man well known at our football club, he spent some time here in ’15 and ’16” [as assistant]† Since then, he has been part of the Wests Tigers system and more recently the Penrith Panthers system as an assistant coach.
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Andrew Webster goes through a number of exercises with Shaun Johnson during his two-year stint in Auckland.
“He has had extensive training in the game well before that, both as a player and as a coach worldwide. Lately he has been able to work with Penrith Panthers as they won a premiership last year.
“He definitely comes with a great resume, he comes with a lot of energy. He believes in the football club, he believes in the schedule, he believes in what we’ve done behind the scenes with our development trajectories. And he’s delighted to be joining the club. come as our new head coach.””
George said the feedback to Webster from players and leading figures in the game such as Penrith coach Cleary has been “excellent” and helped convince the club that he was the right man for the job.
“He’s really developed into an exciting coach,” George said. “He has overseen their attack on Penrith for the past year and we are very pleased to have him join us.”
Webster’s appointment comes during a tumultuous week for the Warriors who saw the star fullback Reece Walsh returns to the Broncos on a three-year contract after being released from his contract early for personal reasons.
The club didn’t give the homesick Walsh permission to talk to Brisbane until they’d done so assured of the services of Charnze Nicoll-Clock City from Canberra.
The Raiders have agreed to release Kiwis international Nicoll-Klokstad from the final year of his contract on similar grounds so that he can be with his Auckland-based family.
Walsh confirmed his impending return to the Broncos on Instagram on Thursday, saying he was excited to “come home” and thanked the Warriors for “making all of this possible”.
The 19-year-old playmaker reaffirmed his commitment to the club for the remainder of the season, saying: “I’m still a Warrior for the rest of the year and every time I put on the jersey I play like one.”
The Warriors are currently in 13th place on the NRL ladder with just five wins from their 16 games. They will play against sixth-seeded Eels at the CommBank Stadium on July 15.
Last weekend, the Auckland-based outfit enjoyed a triumphant homecoming at Mt Smart Stadium after spending nearly three years in Australia due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tigers hit 22-2 to stop a run of seven games.