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Laurie Daley won’t be the coach of the NSW Blues in 2018, as the NSWRL board decided on Friday not to offer him a new contract.
“I have spoken with Laurie and he understands the decision. He is obviously disappointed but he has enjoyed the journey and appreciated the opportunity,” NSWRL chairman George Peponis said.
“Obviously we thank Laurie for the significant contribution he has made over the past five years.
“He is a legend of the game and has done a tremendous job. He is the only New South Wales coach in the past 12 years who has won a State of Origin Series.
“We felt it was time to make a change. All aspects of the business will be looked at from coaching staff to team operations and personnel.”
The move doesn’t come as a surprise after the Blues performed brave new research in the field of making your fans just absolutely flat out hate life in the 2017 State of Origin series.
They recorded a barnstorming win in the first Origin match of the year that many pundits raced to call the beginning of a new victorious era for NSW.
Those calls were no doubt even stronger when they produced a golden first half in Origin 2, but a collapse in the second half allowed the Johnathan Thurston-inspired Maroons to clinch a series leveler.
The Blues might as well not have turned up to Origin 3. We certainly didn’t notice them if they did. In the space of a game and a half, their series went from a sure thing to their greatest humiliation.
Daley finishes his tenure as NSW coach having led them through five series, recording a series victory only once, in 2014.
Brad Fittler and Geoff Toovey are some of the names the Blues will no doubt consider as potential replacements, or perhaps Craig Bellamy if they are willing to consider a club coach.