Super Rugby: Aussies want All Black legend as long-term coach

The Queensland Reds want former All Black legend Brad Thorn to be a 10-year coach at the club.

The Super Rugby franchise says that snapping a damning five-season cycle of failure will only be possible with long term-structures not the instability of four head coaches and myriad staff changes over that period.

Queensland Rugby Union chairman Jeff Miller said the alarm bells had been heeded over short-term fixes and pale results since the Reds last made the finals in 2013, reports news.com.

"We want Brad Thorn as a 10-year head coach but it's up to us to create the right high-performance environment for him to want to," Miller said.

"We are very supportive of Brad and the cultural change he has brought to the squad with some tough decisions.

"Having a team show strong levels of commitment and pride, as it has done, was a large part of his signing last year.

"It's disappointing the Reds offer so much yet have been up or down and the QRU wants to provide the right support to be consistently better."

Minds are opening to change already.

Miller invited Ireland's high-performance chief David Nucifora to address the QRU board recently and Scotland's director of rugby Scott Johnson is doing the same this week.

Closer ties to Rugby Australia spells "centralisation" and selling out Queensland rugby's autonomy in some minds yet Miller hosed down those inflammatory descriptions.

"You look at New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland and there are very successful alignments between the national and provincial levels for the benefit of both," Miller said.

"One thing Nucifora said was ''don't be afraid of strong alignment''.