An assistant at the Brisbane Broncos since 2013, Kearney arrived in New Zealand in the off-season aware of the tall task that awaited him by taking on a head coaching role with one of the NRL's most inconsistent sides.
The first thing on the agenda for the 44-year-old was change, dumping veteran Ryan Hoffman as captain and replacing him with a quiet 23-year-old.
Unexpected to many, Kearney decided to shake things up at the Warriors in the hope it would start a major change in culture at the club.