Warrington Wolves will see assistant coach Steve McNamara exit the club at the end of the season, as he joins Hull FC to become their permananent head coach.
In quite a dramatic timeline of events, Hull confirmed following their derby day defeat to Hull KR at the beginning of April that John Cartwright would step down as head coach at the end of 2026.
An explosive interview from the Australian prior to the following game against St Helens saw that decision brought forward, and the round eight loss to the Red Vee would turn out to be Cartwright’s last game in charge.
Within those days and weeks, there were murmurings that FC had agreed a deal with Steve McNamara to become the club’s next head coach, something that the outgoing boss thought was ‘awkward timing’ and “could have been handled better.”
Those rumours came true and in 2027 McNamara will return to his hometown to become FC’s next head coach. Andy Last is in interim charge for the rest of the campaign whilst the former England boss sees out the season at Warrington.
Following an interview released on club social media channels, Richie Myler’s side of the story came to light about how the side attracted McNamara’s services.
Now, Warrington CEO Karl Fitzpatrick has given the lowdown on their version of events, and how his exit now puts a halt to their long-term plans of a future head coach.
“First of all, Steve’s been totally transparent, honest throughout,” Fitzpatrick said to Sky Sports’ The Bench podcast. “He informed us about the approach.
“We’re very disappointed to lose Steve. We had him actually ear-marked down to replace Sam at some stage, whenever that was going to be the case.
“We’re also not naive enough to think, a coach of Steve’s calibre and quality, that should an opportunity come available, that they would come knocking.
“Being honest, we didn’t expect it so soon to come around. However, that’s the situation.
“We had a grown-up conversation with Hull and both agreed on a compensation fee. Steve’s totally invested and focused on going out in style at Warrington.”
Warrington Wolves CEO explains Steve McNamara’s Hull FC move
Clarifying any doubts that McNamara could exit Wire before the season’s end, he said: “Absolutely not.
“Steve’s really important that he sees this season through and sees it out in the right way. He’s had a really positive impact on the club, a really positive impact on Sam as well.
“Don’t forget, Sam’s a young and relatively inexperienced coach. I’ve already seen the progress that Sam’s gained from working with someone like Steve, who’s a very good operator.
“But look, we’re disappointed that we’re losing Steve, but we understand the reasons why. I know he’s very driven to go out on the right note.”
Co-host Jon Wilkin asked the Wolves Chief Executive what the process around speaking to coaches from other clubs is, and if it is any different to speaking to players.
Fitzpatrick explained:Â “So, they should approach the club first. When you look at the operational rules…
“We were approached at some stage, yes. Look, I don’t want to throw Hull under the bus here, do you know what I mean? And they’ve got a relatively inexperienced CEO there as well.
“So they approached us and we arrived at a compensation fee that we thought was fitting for relinquishing Steve’s services.”
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