Reds hit the panic button?
Queensland Rugby Union have made further developments in its ongoing review into their high-performance structure, increasing speculation over Richard Graham's position.
Graham's poor season in charge of the Reds has lead to a number of knee-jerk reactions by the QRU reshuffling their structures and appointing new positions.
The latest being an appointment of a committee to review the Reds.
As part of the root and branch review, which is now focused on the performance of the Reds, the committee will provide recommendations to the QRU Board at the conclusion of the 2015 Super Rugby season.
The committee will be chaired by QRU Board member Damien Frawley. The current CEO of Queensland Investment Corporation, Frawley has 26 years’ experience in major public corporations and is a former Queensland and Wallabies second row.
The QRU has also invited Australian Rugby Union non-executive Board member Dr. Brett Robinson to join the committee. Dr. Robinson, also a former Wallabies player and previous General Manager of the ARU’s High-Performance Unit, has been directly involved in a number of rugby high-performance reviews over the years on behalf of Australian Rugby.
As a friend of Queensland Rugby, QRU believes Dr. Robinson will bring a valuable independent focus to the review.
In the review, the QRU will be drawing on a wide-range of information from various sports worldwide and including, if required, analytical data from the ARU’s technical high-performance resources.
As this is a far-reaching review which includes long-term planning around the QRU’s existing elite pathway strategies as well as the Reds, an external consultant will assist the QRU with the terms of reference, framework and process.
Previous outcomes of the ongoing review have included the appointment of Brad Thorn as Reds elite development squad forwards coach, Damian Marsh as head of athletic performance and the re-signing of Nick Stiles as senior assistant coach.
In addition, in early May QRU announced the appointment of John Connolly as Reds coaching consultant. He has a specific role to assist coaching staff and game-day strategy, to work one-on-one with players and to support QRU General Manager of high performance Sam Cordingley with talent identification and ongoing list management strategies.
The QRU will further communicate on the recommendations of the review once they have been presented to the QRU Board in the second half of June.
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