Ewen McKenzie announced as Head Coach of Queensland Reds
Queensland Rugby today announced the appointment of internationally experienced coach and World Cup winning former Wallaby prop Ewen McKenzie as Head Coach of the QR Reds for the next three years.
QRU Chairman Rod McCall said McKenzie, 44, was selected following a thorough evaluation process and emerged as the most outstanding candidate for the role.
After serving as an Assistant Coach at state and Wallaby level, McKenzie took over as Head Coach of the NSW Waratahs and took them to the finals in three of his five years in the role. He recently returned to Australia after a stint as Head Coach of French club Stade Francais.
"Ewen has a proven track record as a Head Coach and as someone who can deliver a quality rugby program. He also gets results," said Mr McCall.
"We were fortunate that such a high quality candidate was available and can start preparing for 2010 straight away."
A Reds Advisory Group of former Wallaby and Reds players Dan Crowley, Tim Horan, Brett Robinson and Mr McCall thoroughly evaluated a number of candidates before making a recommendation to the QRU Board, which confirmed the appointment last night.
"Ewen was the outstanding candidate when matched against the strict criteria we had set out for the role," Mr McCall said.
McKenzie believes his experience in managing change probably counted in his favour and said he was looking forward to helping restore Queensland's rugby fortunes.
"It didn't take me too much research and talking to people to realise that there's some serious momentum about changing Queensland's fortunes," McKenzie said.
"So change is imminent and in that environment you can make some progress. I've always been interested and involved in managing change so it doesn't scare me, so it's not a bad time to be getting involved in what I think is a very strong union.
"Queensland is very strong structurally: it's got a great club competition; a lot of good juniors coming through; great facilities; great location. There's a lot of positives there. There's a few things that need to be worked on, but I see it as a challenge that can be conquered.
"It's a matter of making changes - not change for change sake, but targetting certain areas - and that's definitely the plan of the Chairman and the Board. I think my history in that area has probably been the reason I've been chosen for the job.
"Queensland has been very successful in rugby if you look at the fullness of history. In recent times we haven't been so great, but it doesn't have to be that way forever," McKenzie said.
"For Australian Rugby to be at its best, it needs Queensland to be doing well. It’s been said before that when Queensland Rugby is strong, Australian Rugby is strong.”
Mr McCall said now the Head Coach had been selected, McKenzie and the Reds Advisory Group would consider candidates for the role of Assistant Coach.
Ewen McKenzie Background:
A former Wallaby prop, Ewen McKenzie took up coaching after retiring as a player in 1997 and was an assistant to both Rod Macqueen and Eddie Jones at Wallaby level before succeeding Bob Dwyer as Head Coach of the Waratahs in November, 2003. He led the team to the 2005 Super 12 final in just his second year at the helm, while the Waratahs were also semi-finalists in 2006 and finalists in 2008. He was also involved in a coaching capacity with the ACT for three seasons and was Australia A coach in 2005.
He was appointed Head Coach of French club Stade Francais for the 2008-9 season, taking them to the semi-finals of the Top 14 competition, and was five matches into the 2009-10 season when the two parted company after a disappointing start.
As a player, Ewen McKenzie played 51 Tests across seven years for the Wallabies after first representing Australia in 1990 against France. He was a member of Australia's victorious World Cup squad in 1991. At state level he was capped 37 times for NSW between 1987 and 1995 and another 36 times for the Brumbies (1996-97), also playing in the 1997 Super 12 final. A product of Scotch College, Melbourne, he was the second Victorian born and bred to represent Australia after the great Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop.
