Nathan Brown (rugby league born 1973)

Nathan Brown

Personal information
Born	31 July 1973 Maclean, New South Wales Australia
Playing information
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	88 kg (13 st 12 lb)
Position	Hooker
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1993–98	St George Dragons	120	23	0	0	92
1999–00	St George Illawarra	52	9	0	0	36
	Total	172	32	0	0	128
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
2003–08	St. George Illawarra	151	80	0	71	53
2009–12	Huddersfield	131	76	1	54	58
2013–14	St. Helens	62	39	1	22	63
2016–	Newcastle Knights	9	1	1	7	11
	Total	353	196	3	154	56
Source: [1][2][3]

Nathan Brown (born 31 July 1973) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who is currently the head coach of the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League. He played for the St. George Dragons and St. George Illawarra Dragons, also coaching the latter, as well as coaching the Huddersfield Giants and St. Helens RFC, with whom he won the 2014 Super League championship, in the Super League. He primarily played as a hooker.

Playing career

At the end of his debut season Brown played for the St. George Dragons in the 1993 Winfield Cup Grand Final loss to the Brisbane Broncos. He also played for them in the 1996 ARL season grand final loss to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. He played for the newly formed St. George Illawarra Dragons at hooker in their 1999 NRL Grand Final loss to the Melbourne Storm. Brown was forced to retire following a neck injury in a 2001 NRL season trial game.

Coaching career

St. George Illawarra Dragons

Brown was appointed coach of the Dragons for the 2003 season, becoming the youngest non-playing coach in years in the NRL at age 29. During his first season, at a match on Sunday, 13 April 2003 against Manly at WIN Stadium, a frustrated Nathan Brown berated skipper Trent Barrett, Brett Firman and Lance Thompson on the sideline in the 53rd minute with the scores locked up at 12-all. Brown slapped Barrett across the cheek and grabbed the jerseys of Barrett and Thompson. The incident was seen by the crowd and other players on the big screen and proved a decisive turning point as Manly ran in five second half tries to win 38-12. After the match, Brown was apologetic to Barrett and was later fined $5,000 by the NRL.

After finishing second in the 2005 competition, Brown's team lost the preliminary final to the eventual premiers, Wests Tigers. Following many injuries and team losses throughout the 2007 season, he was under pressure to keep his job heading into the 2008 season.

On 1 April 2008, it was announced that Brown would not coach the Dragons in the 2009 season, which ended an association with the club that stretches back to the start of the joint venture. He was replaced by Wayne Bennett.^[4] on 18 July 2008 it was announced that Brown had signed a 3-year deal with English Super League team, Huddersfield, the same club Tigers superstar Brett Hodgson joined.

Huddersfield Giants

In his first season at Huddersfield he took the team to the 2009 Challenge Cup final.

St. Helens

He left Huddersfield at the end of the 2012 season to take control of St Helens.^[5] In his first season as coach, Brown guided St Helens to 5th place in Super League. However, they were defeated 11-10 by Leeds Rhinos in the play-offs stage of the competition.^[6]

In his second season, Brown guided St Helens to 1st place in Super League and victory in the Grand Final, after defeating Wigan Warriors 14-6.^[7] In October 2014, it was announced that Brown would leave the club to return to his native Australia, citing 'family reasons'.^[8] St. Helens then reached the 2014 Super League Grand Final in which they defeated Wigan Warriors 14-6.^[9]

Melbourne Storm

In February 2015, the Melbourne Storm announced that Brown had joined the club as a "coaching consultant". Based in Sydney, Brown worked on scouting assignments and provided specialist coaching for the club's hookers.^[10]

Newcastle Knights

On 9 September 2015, Brown signed a 3-year contract to coach the Newcastle Knights.^[11]

References

1. "Nathan Brown - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
2. "Nathan Brown - Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
4. "Bennett to coach Dragons from 2009"
5. "St Helens appoint Nathan Brown as new head coach". BBC Sport. BBC. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
6. "Super League: Leeds Rhinos 11-10 St Helens - BBC Sport". Bbc.co.uk. 2013-09-20. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
7. 12 Oct 2014 (2014-10-12). "Super League Grand Final: St Helens 14-6 Wigan Warriors - BBC Sport". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
8. "Nathan Brown: St Helens head coach to leave after Grand Final - BBC Sport". M.bbc.co.uk. 2014-10-03. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
9. Cartwright, Phil (11 October 2014). "St Helens v Wigan as it happened". BBC Sport (BBC). Retrieved 12 October 2014.
10. NRL. "Brown joins Storm as coaching consultant - Storm". Melbournestorm.com.au. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
11. Robert Dillon (2015-09-09). "Newcastle Knights make it official, appointing Nathan Brown as coach". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2016-03-12.

External links

• History of St George
• Nathan Brown