22 January, 2026, 3:58 pm Central - 30°C Rain

'It's been an honour': Ex-All Black Brad Thorn departs coaching gig a proud man

'It's been an honour': Ex-All Black Brad Thorn departs coaching gig a proud man

By Alipate Narawa
11/06/2023
Departing Reds coach Brad Thorn. [Image: stuff.co.nz]

Departing Reds coach Brad Thorn isn’t sure what his future holds, but does know "it’s just time to take a breath".

The former World Cup-winning All Black bowed out from his post following Saturday’s 29-20 Super Rugby Pacific quarterfinal defeat to the Chiefs in Hamilton.

While far from a fairytale finish to his six-year spell, it was at least a fitting, fighting, display for the renowned hard man of both rugby and rugby league to sign off on.

Aged 48 and with close to 100 Super games spent in the box, not to mention the seemingly endless playing career across both sides of the ditch, as well as in Japan, Ireland and England, Thorn has been going full noise for so long.

So what next for the man who, when in April announced he would be stepping down after this campaign, noted he had been “institutionalised” in professional sport?

“I’ve been asked that a few times,” he said soon after fulltime at FMG Stadium Waikato.

Thorn says he is just going to have a bit of a break for three, four, five months, maybe as he has just been going flat out for a long time.

It’s just time to take a breath and consider his future.

[Source: Stuff.co.nz]

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