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Garth Brennan first appeared on Toohey's News back in May, 2021. At the time, he had just left the Gold Coast Titans in somewhat controversial circumstances, and had stepped away from coaching in the NRL to take up a role in real estate.
Now, a little more than a year later, history repeated as the news broke Brennan would step down from his role with the Newcastle Knights Pathways program to focus more of his time with his family in the wake of his father's death at the age of 80.
Brennan parted ways with the Newcastle Knights this week after nine months in the club's junior development job, and said though he had no hard feelings on his departure, and still had a passion for rugby league, felt he wasn't on the "same page" with the club and needed to put his family first.
"I love the club. I want the club to be successful," Brennan told the Newcastle Herald.
"I went in there with all good intentions of building some structures and pathways that would hopefully allow the club to have some long-term success.
"But it takes time. It's not a quick fix.
"Over the last couple of weeks, I had some discussions with the club about how the pathways and structures should look.
"I just felt I wanted to do it my way, and if we weren't on the same page, we were better off going our separate ways.
"For it to be successful, everyone needs to be on the same page.
"There needs to be agreement about how things should be done.
"If there are any doubts or questions, then it's probably not going to work."
After accepting the pathways role with Newcastle, which also incorporates their women's teams as well as the men, he started to realise football was again becoming all-encompassing.
"It is a massive job," he said.
"The club want someone who's committed to it 24-7 and the demands of the job were starting to take a toll.
"In the past, my family probably has gone on the backburner because of football, and I'm not in a position where I'm willing to do that any more.
"With my dad passing away within the last few weeks, it probably rammed home to me how important family is.
"It made me think about what's important in life, and I came to the realisation that I want to spend more time with my wife and my kids."
In light of the news - and with regular Toohey's News: The Podcast host Barry Toohey taking a break - this week, we're revisiting Brennan's first appearance on the show
Search "Toohey's News: The Podcast" on your preferred podcast app to listen to the full episode now.
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Toohey's News will be back with another episode on Thursday.
