Warriors coach pragmatic about absence of banned assistant

By Michael Burgess

Warriors coach Andrew Webster says it will be “business as normal” over the next few weeks, despite the potential absence of his lead assistant coach Richard Agar.

On Monday Agar was charged with a breach notice by the NRL, in the wake of an incident at Allegiant Stadium during halftime of the Warriors’ season-opening clash with the Canberra Raiders.

Agar is alleged to have verbally abused a British-based journalist, before grabbing his throat and pushing him away during a confrontation outside the media area. After an investigation by their integrity unit, the NRL issued the breach notice. Along with a fine of A$10,000 ($11,000), it included a suspension for three matches and a travel ban for the period.

If the notice is upheld – the Warriors have five days to respond or lodge an appeal – it would mean that Agar would be absent for the matches against the Wests Tigers (March 30), Melbourne Storm (April 13) and Brisbane Broncos (April 19). Two of those games are in Australia, which would take him out of the picture for three- to-four-day periods.

It’s a complication, given Agar is Webster’s right-hand man, his most experienced assistant and the principal attack coach, but Webster was pragmatic.

“I always look at it like, when your best players are out, you always look to what’s next,” said Webster, when asked if it would be disruptive. “Rich is a really experienced assistant coach. He’s a great coach, he’s done a lot in the game and we’d rather have him. I’d rather have him sitting next to me every week. So he’s not, but I just look at it, [you’ve] got to move on and go from there.”

The club wouldn’t be bringing in any additional coaching support for that period. Asked on a general basis about the breach notice, Webster deferred comments to the club and chief executive Cameron George. When asked why the club had yet to respond publicly to the breach notice, Webster said it was part of following the correct process.

“You’ve got to deal with things in the right manner,” said Webster. “I’ll let the club do that. I’m happy to wear the questions [now] but I feel like the response from the club, when that happens, everyone will have clarity and I am fully supportive of the way the club is handling the process.”

The club has also put a lot of support around Agar since the incident, which has made headlines across the league world.

“When you’ve done what he’s done in the game, this is never easy on anyone,” said Webster. “Especially when it affects your reputation, but we love him. We know what he brings for us.”

The Agar issue aside, the team are in a good space ahead of Friday’s round-three clash with the Sydney Roosters (8pm).

There was a lot to like from the 36-16 win over Manly but the squad had stayed “pretty grounded”, aware there is a lot to improve on, Webster said.

The coach was pleased with the progress made by halves Luke Metcalf and Chanel Harris-Tavita, along with the overall resilience shown by the team during the periods of Manly momentum.

But there is an awareness the Roosters will pose a greater threat, off the back of their shock win over the Penrith Panthers and with several big names returning this week to bolster an already confident group.

“If both teams get their game on, we’re going to see a hell of a game,” said Webster. “We’ve just got to remember to keep being ourselves. That’s what we got lost in, in week one. We weren’t bringing what we’d practised so hard at and we weren’t being ourselves. Week two, we knuckled down and narrowed our focus and we saw the results.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission