Although he is uncertain what his future holds, departing Reds head coach Brad Thorn said he was proud of his achievements with the team after he finished his coaching stint with a loss to the Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday.
The 48-year-old has been in charge of the Reds since the end of 2017 and although his side have been struggling in recent times, they put up a brave fight against the Chiefs.
Impressive performance in defeat
In a tight Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final, in which the outcome was in the balance until its closing stages, the Reds gave a good account of themselves before eventually suffering a 29-20 defeat.
When asked after the match what he would be doing now that his spell as Reds head coach has come to an end, Thorn told reporters: “I’ve been asked that a few times.
“I’m just going to have a bit of a break for three, four, five months, maybe. I’ve just been going flat out for a long time, even pre-coaching, as a player.
“I’ve got four kids, and in this role six years, your name’s out the front and there’s pressure around it. And I’ve always loved pressure, always leaned towards it, always loved a good cause. But it’s a fair amount of time, six years, isn’t it? It’s just time to take a breath and consider my future.
“It’s been an honour. I’ve been proud to represent my state in this role – I’m from New Zealand, but I grew up from the age of nine in Queensland.”
Thorn took over the Reds’ coaching reins after leading Queensland Country to a National Rugby Championship title in Australia in 2017.
The former All Blacks lock inherited a youthful Reds side and revitalised the squad after several poor performances and guided the team to a Super Rugby AU title in 2021.
They have struggled during the past 18 months, however, and only narrowly qualified for the 2022 and 2023 Super Rugby Pacific play-offs before bowing out in the quarter-finals on both occasions.
The Reds won just five matches and suffered 10 defeats in 2023 and Thorn bemoaned a high injury toll to his team during the season.
“We’ve got 11 regular contracted players out tonight… some good strike there and some very good test players,” he said. “No-one’s really talked about that, we don’t talk about it. This is the last game, so I’ll talk about it now.
“I had an old coach in the 90s who said excuses are for losers. That old guy’s still kicking along over in Brizzie at the moment.
“But you hear it from other teams, we’ve got all these losses, whatever. We’ve said nothing and no-one else says anything either.
Proud of his players
“There’s a lot of guys who’ve been playing club rugby, out there and fronting… so super proud of all those sort of guys.
“Across the team, everyone fronted. We got close, it would have been pretty special to come from eighth, but the Chiefs have been doing the business all year, are well-coached and are a very good side.”
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