Newly appointed NSW coach Brad Haddin 'under no illusions' about role in Australia's future

Newly appointed NSW coach Brad Haddin has declared there's an opportunity to find "generational talent" in the state after it was announced he would replace Greg Shipperd.

Shipperd won the One-Day Cup tournament with NSW but was axed as the organisation finished second-last in the Sheffield Shield.

Haddin's appointment has been controversial, mainly due to the fact that it came at the expense of the popular Shipperd, who had a year to run on his contract.

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NSW sacked Shipperd's assistants Shawn Bradstreet and Ali de Winter while the final Shield match was in play at Cricket Central. Haddin met with the board during that match at Cricket NSW's headquarters.

Haddin will coach NSW in the one-day and Shield formats but won't take on the Sydney Sixers.

The new boss admitted part of his assignment is ensuring NSW helps Australian cricket stay healthy.

"I'm under no illusions that I've got to start to produce some Australian players," he said.

"We can talk about the way NSW play, and winning Shields, and that all comes from having the best players on the field.

"One of the key things, I think from my point of view, I've got to start to find some players ready to play for Australia.

"There's going to be retirements (for Australia) over the next few years and we need the next guys stepping up to be NSW players. Is that at the moment? I'm not sure.

"I want to tap into some of this talent and make sure that that's the goal for everyone.

"My goal is to get as many players as I can playing for Australia."

While it's a happy conclusion for Haddin, the way Cricket NSW officials have handled the situation hasn't gone down well with some former players - most notably, Steve O'Keefe.

The retired spinner labelled the decision to part ways with two members of the coaching staff during the middle of a match "extremely disappointing" on SEN.

"Brad had an amazing playing career, and if he can turn that into a great coaching career, he's going to be a fantastic coach," O'Keefe said.

"He'll bring in a raft of new assistant coaches, and he's got a big job to do.

"They've had a meeting in the morning, grabbed two of the assistant Blues coaches and said 'your services are no longer required'.

"There's some great young coaches involved, but to get rid of the likes of Shawn Bradstreet [and] Ali de Winter, who are just great servants of Cricket NSW, and do it in that fashion, is absolutely brutal and extremely disappointing."

O'Keefe was also critical of Shipperd's departure despite mixed results, revealing the coach had the full support of the NSW squad.

"He makes the BBL final and wins the Dean Jones Trophy, the Shield team has struggled but they're producing some good young cricket stars," O'Keefe said.

"The players got together and got him a nice watch worth over $4000 and a card, very nice of them - considering the CEO Lee Germon had come out and said he canvassed the playing group and that was one of the reasons he got the sack.

"I read a card and there was about 35 players with heartfelt messages on there saying how good a coach he was. Maybe didn't canvass those 35 players.

"So someone's lying. I don't know who it is but you can join the dots."

The news comes after a report from Fox Sports revealed Shipperd was walking around Cricket Central - the home base of NSW - with the One-Day Cup trophy in hand.

NSW finished the 10-game Shield campaign with two wins and four losses.

Haddin is one of the state's all-time greats and played 66 Test matches for Australia. He is expected to bring Nick Bertus, Daniel Smith and Peter Forrest into the fold.