I don't buy all of the 'putting his family first' arguments.

He was leaving us at the end of last season to return 'home' for family reasons. His family had a personal setback when his house burnt down, so he stayed on for another year and then would go back 'home' to re-settle his family.

Now all of a sudden, he signs a three year deal to stay over here (maybe he is a born and bred scouser!).

Either he has now told his family that 'actually, you can put up with it for another three years' or they have suddenly realised that they love it over here (in which case, does it make sense to uproot the family again and move them to the other side of the Pennines away from any networks they may have built up?). Either you're family driven or your not.

Yes, he has been been a great coach and no, I suppose he doesn't owe us, as fans, anything as we have had some great times under him. However, I believe he owes the club, and Sir Ken, a great deal.

The 'will he, won't he' saga has rolled on for two years and we finally got an answer in that he was going 'home', but now he isn't...

If I was a prospective employer, I'd have serious issues in the trust department.

That's Saints problem now though !!

Like i have said this opportunity wasn't available to him when he made his decision, maybe him and his family saw it as too good a job to turn down - he will be under more pressure there due to Saints winning record in this era.
plus he may not have wanted to stay with us any longer..he may have wanted a fresh challenge.

At the end of the day he has given this club 4 years of briliant service and put us firmly back on the RL map, were here to stay for a while because of him i feel, do we really need to question what he chooses to do next?

7 years under one coach? Not sure that would be a good move anyway. Everyone is talking as if the decision to go was Nathan's. Knowing how mercenary Thewlis Is it wouldn't surprise me to find out Thewlis made the decision to appoint baloo and save some cash and do away with the mid season saga all in one go. He probably expected nathan to disappear back home to oz- noone knew the saints job was going to be available. And Nathan has to provide for his family- he's going to take a job offered even if it was here.if nathan finally wins silverware he'll be offered a job in oz and bet what you want he'll take it.Then all on here will be glad we didn't offer him a contract. Nathan is an employee who's contract has not been renewed -what exactly does he owe ken? If he leaves mid season then that's a different issue, as is taking players with him. But getting all upset because he's taken a job offer is ridiculous.

I don't think he will be uprooting the family to go over to the darkside, he will probably commute like Smiffy, Nero, and I think Brett is still in the Colne valley.
It's not a problem, loads of people do it.
He's had a lucrative offer from a wealthy geezer who owns a Trophy laden RL team, it would be a no brainer to turn it down! He'll more than likely have enough to retire at 41, though that probably will not be an option, the NRL sides will be queueing up to sign him.

The point that I am trying to make is that previously he has been adamant that he wants to return back to Oz because of his family - now all of a sudden, that is not the case.

If it was so important to him, he'd go back to Oz regardless of whether or not he had a job lined up. And I think we're all being a bit naive to think that he wouldn't find work anyway. Yes, it might not be a head coach's job, but I'm sure NRL assistants get paid enough to live off.

I think the fact that the Giants have stood by him in all his times of uncertainty means that he owes them quite a lot.

Hilarious. NB has gone to saints because Richard thewlis is penny pinching.

As for no one knowing the Saints job was available. Well anyone with a brain could find out Simmons contract was for 2 years, so there was a possibility.

the complaint by many fans is not that NB went to saints, or took a job. It is that he has said he wanted to return to Oz. that he would return to oz. That the Giants were his only UK team......Then he goes to saints. No amount of trying to blame thewlis will change that!

yes...

think he would jump at the chance to go to saints the way he talks about them

Mason: "All the best to Nathan brown goin To st helens,couldn't go to a better club"
Me: "Personally think its second best. "
Mason: " true "

So he agrees saints is second best.
End of speculation-thanks.

Where has Browny stated we`d be his ONLY uk club? , good luck to the bloke , he has transformed us no end in his time with us , its a blow no doubt that he will be coaching saints rather than us next season BUT i do not agree with all this browny bashing thats going on, the guy has set himself up money wise without any ,whether he sees out his 3 years contract will be saints problem though, as long as this news does not affect our team i am not bothered about him stating he was going back down under at the end of this season, he is after all just another employee of the giants ,
What about baloo? , if he read these pages he`d wonder `what the hell am i getting into`, browny has done nothing but look after no.1 by taking the saints job as opposed to no job in aus.
Many thanks to Nathan for giving us( so far ) many many fantastic memories.

My own opinion is that 4 years as coach at one club is bordering on the maximum in terms of impact you have, and I think this is about the right time to be changing, and I agree with those that thank NB for what he's done and wish him well - yes, even at Saints!
A couple of thoughts though - it seems to be a general assumption that NB made the decision to leave - I always had my suspicions that the club made the decision to prevent the mid season "will he" or "wont he" saga's, and who can blame them?
Maybe NB won't click in the same way at Saints - in the Giants he took a club on that was, and still is, aspiring to become winners and a recognised top club, but with Saints he's taking on an already succesful club and theres probably more pressure to win trophies to maintain their expectations.
As for players moving to Saints, I thought we had most of them tied to longish contracts, and who's to say they don't want to stay and play for Paul Anderson?
I may be completely wrong here but could the change in style of play this year be anything to do with PA taking over next year - is he having more influence than we are giving credit for?
Remember when he was caretaker after Sharp left? There was an immediate change of style from one man head down drives to running open rugby.
I don't think there will be any great disruption because of this, we've all known NB is leaving and i'm sure the players know much more well before we do! Lets hope this particular era finishes withus finally lifting some silverware.
Finally I was pleased when PA was announced as coach and I wish him well - maybe he's the man to give us that killer instinct needed to put trophies in the cabinet!

One difference between baloo and NB is the experience of silverware and knowing how to win it.

Brown has never won a thing as a player and a coach (to date). One of his main coaches as a player was Brian Smith - brilliant - but who never won a thing oin decades of coaching.

Baloo knows wht it is like to win plenty of silverware and what winning coaches must do to win it. As a player and a coach he has learned an aweful lot....I suspect his learning is set to continue.

But he said he was going to oz etc etc, yeah he did and now he has changed his mind and accepted a very good job offer! Dont we all say one thing then do another? Course we do thats what browny has done, i dont get all the negativity and bad mouthing.
As fans we should get behind him and the team so hopefully we can send the guy ofdf with some silverware!

Some people do not like hypocrites and others are happy with them.

Some fans think the frequent flip flopping by NB was damaging others may not.

We can all agree that NB has helped us have the best Huddersfield team in decades.

Coaching Saints is one of the few Glamour jobs in our game. Give the guy a break for accepting one of the few decent jobs in our game.

What it shows is how Saints have watched our progress over recent years and are envious. He could do great things over there with the quality of players they have, I look forward to seeing they improve as much as we did under him.

read this article for players POV re Brown

But are the players, and the Giants hierarchy, angered by Brown's move to Saints, given he told them he was leaving to go home to Australia? Crabtree says they have actually been angered by journalists fishing for such stories.

"We understand his decision, there's no bitterness," said Crabtree. "This is a business and he's been offered a great job. We knew at the start of the year he'd be leaving and he didn't have a job then.

"Now he's been offered one so why shouldn't he change his mind and stay? He is looking after himself and his family and none of this was pre-planned or in the pipeline.

"They persuaded him to change his plans and Huddersfield didn't. That's business. To ask if we feel betrayed is laughable'"