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Andrew McFadden will reunite with the Warriors next season.
Andrew McFadden is coming back to the Warriors as the club’s general manager of recruitment, development and pathways.
McFadden, who was head coach of the Warriors between 2014 and 2016, before becoming an assistant to Stephen Kearney, has agreed to move back to New Zealand, replacing Craig Hodges.
Hodges moved into recruitment position at the end of last year, when Peter O’Sullivan left the club to move to the Dolphins.
However, Hodges wants to return to a coaching role in Australia, rather than have a managerial position.
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After leaving the Warriors in 2018, McFadden returned to the Raiders, where he worked as an assistant coach to Ricky Stuart.
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Craig Hodges wants to return to a coaching position in the NRL.
In his new role, McFadden will be responsible for signing players to the club, choosing which ones stay and liaising with the coaches of all the teams at the Warriors, identifying and promoting the best ones through the club’s system.
McFadden will be meeting with incoming head coach Andrew Webster in Auckland as during his time as Warriors head coach, Webster was one of his assistant.
“Bringing Cappy and his family back to the Warriors is so exciting for us,” Warriors CEO Cameron George said.
“He has a great affinity with the club and with New Zealand. He’s driven now to step away from coaching at NRL level and step into the critical area of recruitment, development and pathways.
“We’ve 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.
“Part of his role will be to identify and mentor young coaches in our system.
“Cappy also has a relationship with Andrew Webster from the days when he was head coach here and Webby was an assistant coach.
”While George is looking forward to having McFadden back at the club, he paid tribute to the work Hodges has done at the Warriors.
“Craig started with us an assistant coach and then stepped into the role of general manager football,” he said.
“He has wonderful qualities and has made a fantastic contribution but he still has a strong desire to coach so unfortunately, with no position here, he is looking for opportunities in Australia.”