Shattered Reds coach Phil Mooney has lamented not receiving the chance to finish his contract and help orchestrate Queensland’s long-awaited rugby revival.
In a sad indictment, the Queensland Rugby Union is searching for it’s seventh Reds head coach in a decade after on Friday terminating Mooney’s three-year contract with a season still to run.
Mooney took over from Eddie Jones in 2007 but could only manage to lead Queensland to six wins and a draw from his 26 Super 14 matches in charge, resulting in two finishes in the competition’s bottom three.
“Queensland rugby is a place that I love and I love this team so I’d say I’m massively disappointed,” he said.
Mooney said he wished he was given the opportunity to see out his contract, even if the QRU decided to not to retain him for 2011.
“I always saw that next year was one where we were going to get better results so I really wanted to witness the further development of this team,” he said.
In 2006, former coach Jeff Miller was kept in the job despite Jones being appointed almost a year before the 2007 season.
But QRU chairman Rod McCall ruled out such an option due to the difficult environment it created at Ballymore, ending with a third last finish.
Former NSW Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie is among the leading candidates for the job after a QRU rugby committee of former Wallabies Tim Horan, Dan Crowley and Brett Robinson recommended that Mooney not be retained.
McCall said the QRU board then decided to look for an experienced new coach immediately to ensure the Reds were competitive in 2010 and well-placed to recruit and retain players in 2011.
Queensland have more than two-thirds of their current squad coming off contract next year when a new Victorian franchise is expected to be seeking players for when they kick off in the 2011 Super 15.
“We decided we had to act now, rather than delay the inevitable,” McCall said. “We cannot afford to stand in no-mans land.”
McCall and chief executive Ken Freer delivered the news on Friday morning.
“I don’t think it’s nice sacking people you don’t like, so it’s bloody hard to do it to someone who you do like and when it’s his dream (job),” a sympathetic McCall said.
“Phil is shattered. It’s obviously something close to his heart and he’s put a lot of his soul into it. He’s a proud and passionate Queensland Red and he’s taken the news pretty hard.
“(But) he was the leader of the program and the responsibility lays on him.”
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