Warriors deny reports club is chasing Stephen Kearney

Is Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney set to replace Warriors coach Andrew McFadden.

Warriors managing director Jim Doyle has once again spoken out against rumours suggesting coach Andrew McFadden's job is under threat and denied the club has targeted Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney as his replacement.

Doyle reiterated his support for McFadden and again made assurances that he will be in control of the Warriors in 2016, after NRL360 correspondent Ben Dobbin last night claimed he "won't last the off-season" and that the club wanted Brisbane assistant coach Kearney to take his place.

"People just make stuff up. It's all just part of the game. So, no, I can assure you, we are not speaking to Stephen Kearney," said Doyle.

"We've said it 50 times already; Cappy [McFadden] will be our coach next year.

"We're looking to do whatever we can to get the right people around him to make sure we've got him getting success. And we're staying exactly on that charge."

The latest rumours come just a fortnight after reports former Warriors coach Ivan Cleary was set to leave the Penrith Panthers and return to the helm at Mt Smart Stadium.

Doyle backed McFadden but also stressed the need to find a mentor for him, and All Blacks assistant Wayne Smith has even been mentioned as a possibility in that role.

Doyle strongly denied that the club has been making moves behind the scenes to line up a potential replacement in case the Warriors' struggles continue next season, and said the suggestion that 'where there is smoke, there's fire' did not apply in this case.

"No, no. We are not investigating any opportunities for a head coach because we are focused on the one we've got," he said.

"So people can say 'where there's smoke there's fire' but people make stuff up.
"We've said it until we're blue in the face; we know exactly the head the coach we've got next year. We're comfortable with that, we're fine."

Dobbin told the NRL360 hosts, former NRL premiership winner Ben Ikin and journalist Paul Kent, that Kearney "dead batted" the Warriors rumour away. But Kearney told Dobbin, a Queensland-based correspondent, that he was committed to becoming an NRL head coach again.

The ambiguous nature of Dobbin's report was frustrating, and Doyle lamented rugby league's preoccupation with rumour and gossip, while accepting it is "a part of the game".

"How they would take that sort of comment to say that he's then coming to the Warriors and Cappy's not going to see out the offseason, it's just unbelievable," Doyle added.

"It's unfortunate that it is a part of the game. People who are in influential positions on radio and TV make comments, and it's just a comment that a friend of yours might make in the pub. But because they are on radio and TV it doesn't just stop at the pub, it flows through."

McFadden was today asked for comment but replied via text message saying: "I'm not going to comment on rumour."

Doyle was unconcerned what effect the continual speculation might have on McFadden, and said he knew that he had the club's backing going into 2016.

"No, I don't think Andrew's too fussed by these rumours. I talk to him every day and he knows exactly where he sits and he's got no problems whatsoever with it."