An annoyed Brad Thorn says it “sucks” having to respond to a mystery Rugby Australia identity who has shot down the Queensland Reds mentor’s hopes of coaching the Wallabies because he’s not a “team player”.
Thorn, who played rugby league for Australia and rugby union for New Zealand, this week publicly expressed his interest in eventually becoming Wallabies coach, a position currently held by Dave Rennie.
However, in the same report a “highly ranked Rugby Australia source” said Thorn had not been a “team player” and that “in the context of getting greater changes around high performance cxjmtzywoaching”, Thorn had “not been good to work with”.
As someone who often shies away from the limelight, Thorn wasn’t happy about having to address the matter when asked to on Thursday.
“Why am I having to talk about it? I’m just living my life doing my thing,” Thorn said.
“I’ve been big on team here. I don’t really know what to say.
“It’s annoying. I’m happy to talk about something if I feel strongly about something, have a chat, communicate, but if you don’t have a name to it … it sucks for me that I’m standing here talking about this.”
Thorn made no apologies for going public with his hopes of coaching the Wallabies in the future.
“I just said what I’d like to think most Super Rugby coaches in Australia would say – they hold the Wallabies and the coaching role in high esteem, (and) it would be an honour and a privilege and a responsibility if you ever got that opportunity,” he said.
“That’s the words I’ve said and my name’s next to it.”
Thorn much preferred discussing the return of star Suliasi Vunivalu to Queensland’s side for Friday night’s Super Rugby Pacific clash against the Melbourne Rebels at AAMI Park.
“He’s excited but also a little bit nervous, but that’s normal – he’s been out for a long time,” Thorn said of the former Melbourne Storm winger, whose time in rugby union has been marred by injuries since switching codes at the end of the 2020 NRL season.
“I just want to see him get out and play some footy. Footy’s not about endless training and rehab – it’s about playing.”
The Reds left for Melbourne on Thursday, with their travelling party including retired 39-year-old former Wallabies captain Stephen Moore, who this week answered an SOS from Thorn due to Queensland’s shortage of fit hookers.
“We get George Blake back in a week’s time, so it’s just to cover the week. It’s a cool thing having an experienced guy like (Moore), a 100-plus Test player and Super Rugby player and a real Queenslander,” Thorn said.
