Nathan Brown (rugby league, born 1973)

For the Parramatta Eels player, see Nathan Brown (rugby league, born 1993).

Nathan Brown (born 31 July 1973) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who was the Head Coach of the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s.

Nathan "Brownie" Brown^[1]

Personal information
Full name	Nathan Brown
Born	(1973-07-31) 31 July 1973 (age 50) Maclean, New South Wales, Australia
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	88 kg (13 st 12 lb)
Playing information
Position	Hooker
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1993–98 St. George Dragons 120 23 0 0 92 1999–00 St. George Illawarra 52 9 0 0 36 Total 172 32 0 0 128
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 2003–08 St. George Illawarra 151 80 0 71 53 2009–12 Huddersfield Giants 131 76 1 54 58 2013–14 St Helens 62 39 1 22 63 2016–19 Newcastle Knights 94 24 1 69 26 2021–22 New Zealand Warriors 37 12 0 25 32 Total 475 231 3 241 49
Source: ^[2]^[3]^[4] As of 3 June 2021

He played as a hooker for the St. George Dragons and St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League, also coaching the latter. He then spent time in the Super League coaching the Huddersfield Giants and St Helens, with whom he won the 2014 Super League Grand Final, before returning to Australia to coach the Newcastle Knights in the NRL.

Playing career

At the end of his debut season Brown played for the St. George Dragons in the 1993 Winfield Cup Grand Final loss to the Brisbane Broncos. He also played for them in the 1996 ARL season grand final loss to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. Brown played for the newly formed St. George Illawarra Dragons at hooker in their 1999 NRL Grand Final loss to the Melbourne Storm. He was forced to retire following a neck injury in a 2001 NRL season trial game.^{[citation needed]}

Coaching career

St. George Illawarra Dragons

Brown was appointed coach of St. George Illawarra for the 2003 season, becoming the youngest non-playing coach in years in the NRL at age 29. During his first season, at a match on Sunday, 13 April 2003 against Manly at WIN Stadium, a frustrated Nathan Brown berated captain Trent Barrett, Brett Firman and Lance Thompson on the sideline in the 53rd minute with the scores locked up at 12-all. Brown slapped Barrett across the cheek and grabbed the jerseys of Barrett and Thompson. The incident was seen by the crowd and other players on the big screen and proved a decisive turning point as Manly ran in five second half tries to win 38–12. After the match, Brown was apologetic to Barrett and was later fined $5,000 by the NRL.^[5]

On 19 July 2005, Brown was fined $10,000 by the NRL after claiming that referees are biased against St George Illawarra. Brown made the comments after his team were penalised 9-3 by the referees. Despite the penalty count, St. George Illawarra still managed to defeat Manly 36–10.^[6]

After finishing second in the 2005 competition, Brown's team lost the preliminary final to the eventual premiers, Wests Tigers. Following many injuries and team losses throughout the 2007 season, he was under pressure to keep his job heading into the 2008 season.

On 1 April 2008, it was announced that Brown would not coach St. George Illawarra in the 2009 season, which ended an association with the club that stretches back to the start of the joint venture. He was replaced by Wayne Bennett.^[7] on 18 July 2008 it was announced that Brown had signed a 3-year deal with Super League club, Huddersfield, the same club Tigers superstar Brett Hodgson joined.

Huddersfield Giants

In his first season at Huddersfield he took the team to the 2009 Challenge Cup final.

St Helens

He left Huddersfield at the end of the 2012 season to take control of St Helens.^[8] In his first season as coach, Brown guided St Helens to 5th place in Super League. However, they were defeated 11-10 by Leeds Rhinos in the play-offs stage of the competition.^[9]

In his second season, Brown guided St Helens to 1st place in Super League and victory in the Grand Final, after defeating the Wigan Warriors 14–6 at Old Trafford.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

Brown's side playing against a 12-man team for 78 minutes, after Warriors prop Ben Flower was sent off for punching Lance Hohaia in the second minute of the match.^[15] In October 2014, it was announced that Brown would leave the club to return to his native Australia, citing 'family reasons'.^[16]

Melbourne Storm

In February 2015, the Melbourne Storm announced that Brown had joined the club as a "coaching consultant". Based in Sydney, Brown worked on scouting assignments and provided specialist coaching for the club's hookers.^[17] On 9 September 2015, Brown signed a 3-year contract to coach the Newcastle Knights.^[18]

Newcastle Knights

The 2016 NRL season was Brown's first as head coach of the Newcastle Knights. In his first two seasons at Newcastle, Brown's side collected back to back wooden spoons, finishing last on the ladder. In 2018, after Newcastle defeated Brisbane, Brown claimed at the press conference that Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett was to blame for Newcastle's problems over the last few seasons. He went on to say "I just don’t think he needs to behave like that myself but the reality is when Wayne came to town if he thought with his big head rather than his little head, I wouldn’t have had to rebuild the joint,’’. Brown went on to apologize for his remarks a few days later.^[19][20]

In June 2018, Brown signed an open ended performance based contract with Newcastle and no set term but a payout agreement should the contract end.^[21]

In the 2019 season, the Newcastle club won their first game, lost their next five, then won five, before going back on a five-game losing streak.^[22] This prompted discussions between Brown and club CEO Phillip Gardner, resulting in a mutual agreement that Brown would not coach the Newcastle club in 2020, but would stay on until the end of the season.^[23][24] However, on 27 August, the Newcastle side announced that Brown would depart the club effective immediately.^[25]

New Zealand Warriors

On 7 August 2020, Brown was named as the new head coach of the New Zealand Warriors on a three-year deal. In Brown's first season in charge, the club finished 12th on the table and missed the finals.

In round 7 of the 2022 NRL season, New Zealand suffered their heaviest ever defeat losing 70-10 against Melbourne at AAMI Park.^[26][27] On 7 June 2022, Brown quit as head coach of the New Zealand club. Brown and the Warriors agreed to part ways immediately after he informed the club he would not be able to relocate his family to New Zealand for the long-term. Brown left the club sitting 14th on the table having lost their previous five games. Brown then confirmed to the media on the same day that his head coaching days were over. Brown went on to say "I spoke to my family and my head coaching days are finished. I told them I am not going to appear at another club. I said, you decide whether you want me to stay for the rest of this year or not, but my head coaching days are over. I’m going into another field in rugby league and I’m going to honour my word what I said to those blokes".^[28]

Parramatta Eels

In 2022, Brown joined Parramatta as the clubs elite pathways coaching director. On 21 November 2023, Brown stepped down from his role.^[29]

References

1. "BROWNIE: Rule changes forcing teams to play less like the Storm". The Roar. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
2. "Nathan Brown – Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
3. "Nathan Brown – Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
4. [1]^{[dead link]}
5. "No jusitfying infamous Barrett slap: Brown – Nine Wide World of Sports". wwos.nine.com.au. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
6. "Gus takes reins at Roosters; Stuart quits Sharks". National Rugby League.
7. "Bennett, Furner set for new roles". 13 July 2012. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
8. "St Helens appoint Nathan Brown as new head coach". BBC Sport. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
9. "Super League: Leeds Rhinos 11-10 St Helens". BBC Sport. 20 September 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
10. "St Helens 14 Wigan Warriors 6: Moment of madness from Wales international Ben Flower costs Wigan dear". The Daily Telegraph. London. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
11. "St Helens win Grand Final after Wigan's Ben Flower is sent off". The Guardian. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
12. "St Helens 14–6 Wigan Warriors". BBC Sport. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
13. "Super League Grand Final: St Helens 14-6 Wigan Warriors". BBC Sport. 12 October 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
14. Cartwright, Phil (11 October 2014). "St Helens v Wigan as it happened". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
15. "Super League Grand Final: St Helens 14-6 Wigan Warriors". BBC Sport. 12 October 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
16. "Nathan Brown: St Helens head coach to leave after Grand Final". BBC Sport. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
17. "Brown joins Storm as coaching consultant – Storm". Melbournestorm.com.au. National Rugby League. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
18. Robert Dillon (9 September 2015). "Newcastle Knights make it official, appointing Nathan Brown as coach". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
19. "Nathan Brown mends bridges with Wayne Bennett after stunning sledge". 9 April 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
20. "Newcastle Knights: 2017 season by the numbers". 12 December 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
21. "Coach Brown and Knights agree to contract extension". Newcastle Knights. 14 June 2018.
22. "Custom Match List – Rugby League Project". Rugby League Project.
23. "Statement on the future of coach Nathan Brown". Newcastle Knights. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
24. "NRL club's stunning coaching call". News.com.au. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
25. "Nathan Brown to depart Knights effective immediately". Newcastle Knights. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
26. "Warriors punished for costly mistakes in Storm's Anzac Day masterclass". wwos.nine.com.au.
27. "Storm's 'astronomical' spine hand Warriors a record-breaking reality check – 3 Big Hits". Australia: Fox Sports.
28. "'Head coaching days are finished': Brown flags new role as Warriors' 'biggest problem' revealed". Australia: Fox Sports.
29. "Brown to leave Eels coaching role amid Queensland move: Off-season Central". www.foxsports.com.au.

External links

• Newcastle Knights profile
• History of St George
• Nathan Brown

Preceded by Andrew Farrar 1999-2002	Coach   St George Illawarra Dragons 2003-2008	Succeeded by Wayne Bennett 2009-2011
Preceded by Kieron Purtill & Paul Anderson 2008	Coach   Huddersfield Giants 2009-2012	Succeeded by Paul Anderson 2013-2016
Preceded by Mike Rush (interim) 2012	Coach   St. Helens 2013-2014	Succeeded by Keiron Cunningham 2015-2017
Preceded by Danny Buderus (interim) 2015	Coach   Newcastle Knights 2016-2019	Succeeded by Kristian Woolf (interim) 2019
Preceded by Todd Payten (caretaker) 2020	Coach   New Zealand Warriors 2021-2022	Succeeded by Stacey Jones (caretaker) 2022