Brad Thorn: Reds head coach hits out at Rugby Australia criticism

Reds head coach Brad Thorn is frustrated by Rugby Australia’s (RA) comment claiming he has not been a “team player”.

The remarks from RA came from an unnamed source who, earlier this week, responded to Thorn being open to taking over the Australia head coach role from Dave Rennie following the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

The comments certainly dampen Thorn’s chance of succeeding Rennie in a country where he has been successful during his tenure with the Reds.

“In the context of getting greater changes around high performance coaching, Thorn has not been good to work with,” the source told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“He has not been a team player. A decision doesn’t have to be made now but he had better turn that around – and quickly.”

The former All Black was upset with the statement, particularly as the source of the statement remains anonymous.

“It’s always interesting when someone says something like that but if there’s no name to it – who am I talking to?” said Thorn.

“If someone close to me, my staff or my family were critiquing me in that way then it hurts, but who are you talking to?

“I’ve been big on team here. I don’t really know what to say.”

Thorn believes he is at no fault for throwing his name into the hat for the coaching role alongside Brumbies coach Dan McKellar.

“Why am I having to talk about it. I’m just living my life doing my thing,” he added.

“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 I’m standing here talking about this.

“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, it would be an