Canberra Raiders assistant coach Andrew McFadden will trade the cold winters of Canberra for those of Auckland in 2023 after he officially signed on to join the New Zealand Warriors' as the new general manager of recruitment, development and pathways in 2023.
The move also means current director of football Craig Hodges is leaving the club to pursue other coaching opportunities in Australia.
The Warriors are currently in the process of overhauling not only their coaching staff, but playing roster as well ahead of the club's permanent move back to the New Zealand city in 2023.
Coach Nathan Brown, who decided he couldn't commit to making the move across the ditch on a fulltime basis, has been replaced by Andrew Webster out of the Penrith Panthers' system, while a number of other players have or will also exit for the same reason, including Matt Lodge, Euan Aitken and Kodi Nikorima.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Luke Metcalf and Marata Niukore headline the arriving signatures for the 2023 campaign.
McFadden is a former Warriors coach and understands the system well, having been in charge of the team from 2014 to 2016.
He then went back to the Raiders - where he played 76 games as a player between 1997 and 2001 before also starting his coaching career - to become an assistant coach.
McFadden said he would be grateful to the Raiders for all the opportunities they had provided him.
โThe Raiders gave me the opportunity to start my career as a player and coach and theyโll always hold a special place for me,โ McFadden said.
โI truly believe the Raiders are continuing to head in the right direction and I know theyโll be a successful club in the years ahead and I wish them all the best.
โI look forward to finishing the season here and hopefully seeing the team make it into the finals and beyond.โ
The new role at the Warriors comes as the team regain their active foothold in Auckland, and will attempt to re-energize the club's pathways system, which has fallen by the wayside slightly thanks to the effects of coronavirus and border closures.
He will also be in charge of roster decisions, something the Warriors will be desperate to get right moving forward.
Warriors CEO Cameron George said the signing was exciting for the club.
โBringing Cappy and his family back to the Vodafone Warriors is so exciting for us,โ George said.
โHe has a great affinity with the club and with New Zealand. Heโs driven now to step away from coaching at NRL level and step into the critical area of recruitment, development and pathways.
โWeโve invested heavily in development and pathways while being based in Australia for the last three years and we have even bigger plans in this space with our full football operation coming back to New Zealand from next season.
โPart of his role will be to identify and mentor young coaches in our system.
โCappy also has a relationship with (new head coach) Andrew Webster from the days when he was head coach here and Webby was an assistant coach.โ
Hodges, who departs the club, had started in an assistant role before moving into the director of football job.
McFadden will link up with the Warriors in November.
