Stephen Kearney

Stephen Kearney

Personal information
Full name	Stephen Peter Kearney
Nickname	Mooks
Born	11 June 1972 Paraparaumu, Wellington, New Zealand
Playing information
Height	191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	103 kg (16 st 3 lb)
Position	Second-row
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1991–9?	Randwick (WRL)
1992–94	Western Suburbs	46	6	0	0	24
1995–98	Auckland Warriors	79	11	0	0	44
1999–04	Melbourne Storm	139	20	0	0	80
2005	Hull F.C.	24	5	0	0	20
	Total	288	42	0	0	168
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1991	Wellington	7	0	0	0	0
1993–04	New Zealand	45	9	0	0	36
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
2011–12	Parramatta Eels	42	10	1	31	24
2017–	NZ Warriors	0	0	0	0
	Total	42	10	1	31	24
Representative
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
2008–16	New Zealand	42	23	1	18	55
Source: [1]

Stephen Peter Kearney, ONZM (born 11 June 1972) is a New Zealand professional rugby league football coach and former player. He is the head coach of National Rugby League (NRL) team, the New Zealand Warriors. Before this Kearney was the head coach of the New Zealand national team, with whom he won the 2008 World Cup and 2011 Four Nations tournaments. He also previously coached in the NRL for Australian club, the Parramatta Eels.

A New Zealand national captain and second-row forward, Kearney's club football career, which spanned from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s, was played for the Randwick Kingfishers, Western Suburbs Magpies, Auckland Warriors, Melbourne Storm (with whom he won the 1999 NRL Premiership), and Hull F.C. (with whom he won the 2005 Challenge Cup).

Playing career

A Kapiti Bears junior, Kearney played for the Junior Kiwis between 1989 and 1991, becoming the side's captain for the 1991 series against Great Britain. He made his senior debut in 1991 for the Randwick Kingfishers and also played for Wellington that year. Randwick lost the Wellington Rugby League Grand Final 6-14 to the Wainuiomata Lions.^[2]

Turning professional he moved to Australia to play for the Western Suburbs Magpies in 1992 in what is now the NSWRL Premiership. In 1993 he became the New Zealand Kiwis's youngest test captain, aged 21.^[3] He left the Magpies at the end of 1994, returning home to play for the Auckland Warriors in their inaugural season. At the end of that season he traveled to England to represent New Zealand in the 1995 World Cup. He missed the first test match against a re-unified Australian team in 1998 due to suspension.^[4] Kearney remained a Warrior until 1998, when he moved to Australia to join the Melbourne Storm. In the Melbourne club's second ever season Kearney played at second-row forward in their victory in the 1999 NRL Grand Final.^[5] Kearney was selected for the New Zealand team to compete in the end of season 1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament. In the final against Australia he played at second-row forward in the Kiwis' 22-20 loss.

Having won the 1999 Premiership, the Melbourne Storm traveled to England to contest the 2000 World Club Challenge against Super League Champions St Helens RLFC, with Kearney playing at second-row forward in the victory. In 2002 Kearney missed the series-deciding match against Great Britain as he had to rush back home to Melbourne to be with his sick five-year-old daughter, who needed emergency surgery.^[6] While captaining the Storm in 2004, Kearney became the first New Zealand footballer to play 250 Australian first-grade matches.^[7] He also played his last test match for the Kiwis in 2004, in a game that marked the debut of Sonny Bill Williams.^[8] Kearney finished his playing career with English club Hull in Europe's Super League competition, playing in their 2005 Challenge Cup-winning side.^[2]

Coaching career

In 2006 Kearney retired and returned to Australia to take up a role as assistant coach at his old club, the Melbourne Storm, under Craig Bellamy. In 2008 Kearney was appointed as the New Zealand Kiwis' head coach on a two-year contract.^[9]

Kearney (with assistant Wayne Bennett) coached the Kiwis to their first World Cup series win. On 22 November 2008, they defeated Australia 34–20 in the final, at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.^[10] Following this achievement, he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's Birthday honours list.^[11]

Kearney in 2008

For the 2010 Anzac Test, Kearney coached New Zealand in their loss against Australia. In the 2010 post-season Kearney was announced as Daniel Anderson's replacement as head coach of the Parramatta Eels for three years beginning in 2011. Shortly after that, he took the Kiwis to victory in the 2010 Four Nations final against Australia.

In 2011 he failed to coach the Parramatta NRL team to any success, with the Eels achieving just 6 wins and 1 draw in 24 matches, and only just missing out on the wooden spoon when they beat the Gold Coast Titans in the last game of the regular season.

Things didn't get any better for Kearney in the 2012 NRL season. With the Eels struggling in last place on the NRL ladder after 16 rounds, Melbourne Storm's inaugural coach, and two time premiership winning coach Chris Anderson was appointed as a mentor to Stephen Kearney to help him turn the club's fortunes around.^[12] However this did not eventuate as Kearney was eventually forced to resign only three rounds later on 20 July, after achieving only 3 wins from 19 matches in the season.^[13] He left the Eels with just 10 wins from 42 matches, for a modest winning percentage of 24 percent.

In October 2012 Kearney signed 2 years as Brisbane Broncos assistant coach from 2013.

In November 2014, Kearney guided New Zealand to their second Four Nations championship, defeating Australia 22-18 in the final.

In March 2015, Kearney signed a new deal to remain as coach of the Kiwis until the conclusion of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.^[14]

At the end of 2015, his 23 test wins as coach and five wins over Australia is the most out of any that has coached New Zealand in the past.^[15]

On 12 September 2016, Kearney stepped down from his role as coach of New Zealand after accepting to return to head coaching in the NRL as coach of the New Zealand Warriors on a three-year deal.^[16][17]

Kiwis coaching record

Opponent	Played	Won	Drew	Loss	Win Ratio (%)
Australia	20	5	1	14	25.00
England	10	6	0	4	60.00
Papua New Guinea	3	3	0	0	100
Tonga	2	2	0	0	100
France	2	2	0	0	100
Samoa	3	3	0	0	100
Wales	1	1	0	0	100
Scotland	1	1	0	0	100
TOTAL	42	23	1	18	54.76

Four Nations record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
England/France 2009	Third place	3/4	3	1	1	1
Australia/New Zealand 2010	Champions	1/4	4	3	1	0
England/Wales 2011	Third place	3/4	3	1	2	0
Australia/New Zealand 2014	Champions	1/4	4	4	0	0
Total	2 Titles	2/4	14	9	4	1

World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
Australia 2008	Champions	1/10	5	4	1	0
England/Wales 2013	Second place	2/14	6	5	1	0
Total	1 Title	1/2	11	9	2	0

Anzac Test
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2008 Anzac Test	Second Place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2009 Anzac Test	Second Place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2010 Anzac Test	Second Place	2/2	1	1	1	0
2011 Anzac Test	Second Place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2012 Anzac Test	Second Place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2013 Anzac Test	Second Place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2014 Anzac Test	Second Place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2015 Anzac Test	Winners	1/2	1	1	0	0
2016 Anzac Test	Second Place	2/2	1	0	1	0
Total	1 Title	1/9	9	1	8	0

Baskerville Shield record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2015	Second Place	1/2	3	1	2	0
Total	-	0/1	3	1	2	0

Other Test matches
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2008	Winners	1/2	1	1	0	0
2009	Winners	1/2	1	1	0	0
2010	Winners	1/2	1	1	0	0
2011	Second Place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2012[18]	Second Place	2/2	1	0	1	0
2013	Winners	1/2	1	1	0	0
Total	4 Wins	4/6	6	4	2	0

Legacy

In 2012 Kearney was named as one of the New Zealand Rugby League's Legends of League.^[19] He was also named in the Wellington Rugby League's Team of the Century.

References

1. RLP
2. Team of Century Week 8 Wellington Rugby League
3. Hadfield, Dave (3 November 1993). "Rugby League: Kiwis drop Freeman". The Independent. London.
4. Sterling, Peter (23 April 1998). "Out of this world". Newcastle Herald. Fairfax Digital. p. 3. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
5. Cockerill, Ian (3 October 1999). "Eye of the Storm". The Sunday Age. p. 4. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
6. "Sympathy from Brits" 22 November 2002 New Zealand City
7. "Rugby League: Test veteran first New Zealander to 250-match mark". The New Zealand Herald. 29 May 2004. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
8. SBW named to start for Kiwis, ONE Sport, dated 26 October 2013.
9. "New Zealand put faith in Kearney". BBC Sport. 11 February 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
10. "New Zealand humble Kangaroos in World Cup final in Brisbane". Fox Sports News (Australia). 22 Nov 2008. Retrieved 23 Nov 2008.
11. "Leading sports stars lauded". The New Zealand Herald. 1 June 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
12. "Chris Anderson to help Stephen Kearney at Parramatta Eels". The Australian. 29 Jun 2012. Retrieved 20 Jul 2012.
13. "My best not good enough: Stephen Kearney". The Daily Telegraph. 20 Jul 2012. Retrieved 20 Jul 2012.
14. "New contract for Kiwis coach Kearney". nz.sports.yahoo.com. 2015-03-27. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
15. "League: King Kearney looks to build lasting Kiwis empire". nzherald.co.nz. 2015-11-22. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
16. "Kearney new Vodafone Warriors head coach". warriors.kiwi. 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
17. "Stephen Kearney backs David Kidwell to take over Kiwis coaching duties". tvnz. 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
18. http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/kangaroos/australia-grind-it-out-in-second-half-to-win-18-10-over-new-zealand-in-townsville-test-match/story-fn2mcuhw-1226495026875
19. Kiwis Coach One of Three New Legends of League Named nzrl.co.nz, 30 October 2012

External links

• Kiwi Player Profiles: Stephen Kearney
• Stephen Kearney Player Profile at Hull
• Article on Kapiti Bears website: Stephen Kearney - a role model for young Rugby League players.