The off-season is well underway now with plenty of teams heading back to actually start their pre-season training ahead of 2024, however there’s still movement among personnel and that’s seen ex-St Helens and Huddersfield Giants boss Nathan Brown depart his NRL role.
This time of year is usually when coaches are at their most secure and they begin planning for the upcoming campaign, however Brown has left NRL side Parramatta Eels on account of family reasons.
The ex-St Helens man will leave the club where he had served as the Elite Pathways Coaching Director to return to the Gold Coast, closer to his family.
Brown spent his entire career playing for St George Dragons, even playing in the teams first season as the newly formed St George Illawarra Dragons before going on to coach the side for over 150 games.
He then landed in Super League where he led Huddersfield initially before swapping the Red Vee down under for the Red Vee of St Helens, with whom he lifted the 2014 Grand Final as his side defeated Wigan Warriors 14-6 in a match marred by Ben Flower’s shock red card early on.
Brown left Saints after his win at Old Trafford for family reasons and they again see him leave a role, this time leaving the Eels with the club confirming the news via statement.
“Parramatta Eels Elite Pathways coaching director Nathan Brown will leave the Club and relocate to the Gold Coast with his family.”
Parramatta Eels General Manager of Football Mark O’Neill said, “It’s been an absolute pleasure having Nathan at our Club. He has brought an enormous amount of experience to our Elite Pathways program and helped accelerate the development of our players in those programs.
“We’ll definitely miss Browny, and we wish him and his family all the very best in their future and new life in Queensland,” said Mark.
The statement continued explaining: “Nathan joined the Eels in 2022 to lead a review into the club’s Elite Pathways program. In addition to his role as the Elite Pathways coaching director, Nathan was a coaching advisor for the NRLW team in 2023.
“Nathan played 172 NRL games and has coached 475 games in the NRL and English Super League after becoming the youngest non-playing coach in the NRL at the age of 29.”
Aged just 50 and with almost 500 games coaching experience there’s sure to be a job offer in the works for Brown but for now he returns home to spend time with his family, as he did almost a decade ago when he left St Helens victorious.
