Knights chairman Brian McGuigan hopes the sacking of coach Rick Stone sends a clear message that everyone at the club is accountable for their performance.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Knights announced on Monday during a presentation about the club’s strategic plan for the next three years that Stone had been sacked with six games left in this season and another year remaining on the two-year deal he signed 12 months ago to replace Wayne Bennett.
Former Knights, NSW and Australian captain Danny Buderus, in his first year as one of Stone’s assistants, will take the reins on a caretaker basis for the rest of the season as Knights management begin the process to recruit Stone’s long-term replacement.
After only two wins from their past 14 games, most recently a record 52-6 loss to defending premiers South Sydney at ANZ Stadium last Saturday night, the Knights’ board of directors decided Stone’s position had become untenable.
“It’s an overall review that we are contemplating, not just the coaching, but also the players themselves because everyone in the team needs to be accountable ... the directors need to be accountable, and the management needs to be accountable,” McGuigan said.
“We are the representatives of this district, and we are proud of this district, so we’d better lift our game and get some results.’’
Knights directors spoke about the coaching position on a telephone hook-up on Monday morning, then chief executive Matt Gidley advised Stone of their decision.
Players were notified immediately after Stone was told, and Gidley plans to address them in person before training on Tuesday morning.
“Thi is something we’ve been speaking about for about eight weeks,’’ Gidley said.
“The team started well but the team’s been under-performing for a number of months now.
‘’We’ve been sitting and discussing what our plans would be if things didn’t improve, and what path we would take, but we all hoped things would improve and we could get to the end of the season and see some performances, and some effort in the performances that we require.
‘’Given recent performances, it’s fast-tracked things, so we’ve had to make some decisions.
‘’The board met this morning, we discussed it this morning, then we made the decision just after lunch with Rick.
‘’It was just the type of effort and spirit in the team which was clearly lacking. This is a difficult decision because Rick’s a great man, he cares deeply about the club, he works incredibly hard, and it’s difficult to make this decision.
‘’But if we’re going to sit here and talk about building quality teams and world-class teams, we need to keep ourselves accountable to that ... and start the process of looking out at the market and seeing what type of coaches are available, and be really clear about the type of coach we think we need moving forward to deliver on some of the things that are in this plan.’’
