LONESOME COWBOY

Hannay confirms he’ll follow Green and ride off into the sunset

COWBOYS assistant coach Josh Hannay has confirmed he will leave the club at season’s end as he chases another firstgrade coaching opportunity at another NRL club.

Hannay, who revealed his impending departure yesterday, said he was open to following former Cowboys head coach Paul Green to another NRL outfit.

Hannay took over the head coaching role in an interim capacity after Green was sacked in July, and while Hannay harboured ambitions of scoring the Cowboys’ head coaching role into 2021, that job went to former Cowboys under-20s and assistant mentor Todd Payten.

“I think it’s important for

Todd to come in with his own people and put his own stamp on this club and this group,” Hannay said. “For me it’s a good time to look elsewhere and look for opportunities to continue to do what I love, but also to put myself in situations where I know I’m going to continue to learn and develop.

“It will be at another club in the NRL, and there’s plenty of opportunity out there. I love what I do and I’ll just have to take my talents elsewhere.”

Hannay’s team takes on the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night; a game which shapes as an opportunity for Hannay to make a further impression on what could be a prospective employer in the Broncos.

Green, who coached the

Cowboys for five years, has been heavily linked to the Broncos first-grade job following the departure of Anthony Seibold, meaning the possibility is there for Hannay to rejoin Green as part of an NRL coaching staff.

‘I think I said when I took his (Green’s) job, that he was a wonderful mentor to me and I said there will be a fan base somewhere in the competition that ends up with an outstanding coach,” Hannay said.

Hannay spent four years coaching at the Cowboys after a lengthy stint as a Queensland Cup coach with Souths Logan. He also played 150 NRL games for the Cowboys across nine years, playing in the 2005 grand final and for Queensland in two Origin games.