Ricky Stuart officially unveiled as NSW coach

The New South Wales Rugby League board (NSWRL) have today confirmed that former Sharks coach Ricky Stuart is the new NSW coach.

Stuart, who has been appointed in the role for two years, will also be involved in helping with the designing and implementing of the coaching components of the NSWRL High performance program.

Colin Love, who is the NSWRL Chairman said that Stuart has all the right criteria for the job and he is more than qualified for the position, having the ability to get the best out of players.

“Ricky was our coach when we last won Origin in 2005. Having a coach who has excelled in the cauldron of Origin football is a terrific asset for us,” he said.

“In this new ground-breaking role, Ricky will become the face of rugby league in this state and I’ve assured him he will have the full and unconditional support of our administration”.

In light of NSW’s evident lack of success in the last 5 years, Ricky Stuart has stressed the importance of the role and acknowledges that there are challenges that he and the NSWRL will have to overcome in order to remain competitive with QLD.

“We will be approaching the 2011 Origin series with an extremely positive attitude built around the passion and commitment to the blue jersey,” he said.

“Importantly, we will be choosing only players whom we believe are fully equipped and conditioned for Origin football”.

The decision to appoint Stuart as coach comes as a result of Brian Canavan’s report about what the NSWRL should consider and implement, a report that seem to have taken on board.

“Ricky will assist our new High Performance Manager Wayne Portlock in the creation of our high performance unit,” Mr Love said.

“Wayne has run our elite junior representative competitions for four years and has either selected, coached or managed our state representative sides which have won nine out of the ten matches played against Queensland over the past five years.

“His experience in the junior development role will greatly assist Ricky in nurturing the wealth of junior talent we have in our state.”

Stuart’s appointment at NSW is effective immediately.