Queensland and Brisbane Heat high-performance general manager Joe Dawes has resigned, bringing a two-and-a-bit-year spell to a rather abrupt close. The former Bulls seamer told staff late on Monday that he would finish up immediately, with pathways chief Greg Moller filling in until season’s end. Chief executive Terry Svenson will handle contract and list matters while the search for a permanent replacement ticks along in the background.
Dawes arrived in late 2023 with a tidy CV – stints as India’s bowling coach and head coach of Papua New Guinea among the highlights – yet the ride has been anything but smooth. Within weeks of Heat lifting the 2023-24 BBL trophy, he and the board moved on long-serving coach Wade Seccombe, a call that surprised more than a few in the dressing-room.
Things turned spiky last March when Dawes publicly questioned Usman Khawaja’s decision to skip a Sheffield Shield fixture. Khawaja batted back hard, insisting a hamstring strain kept him out and adding that Dawes had said “a few inflammatory things” that were “100% wrong”. Neither man has shifted from those positions.
On-field results have been mixed. Heat failed to reach this summer’s BBL finals and Queensland never quite threatened in the One-Day Cup. The Bulls, though, still have a chance of making consecutive Shield finals under coach Johan Botha, another appointment Dawes was heavily involved in. Botha remains contracted through next season.
Across the women’s programme the picture is similar. Heat’s WBBL side endured a winless campaign, propping up the table, while Queensland’s women stay in the hunt for a WNCL final berth with two rounds left. Coach Mark Sorell, like Botha, is signed until the end of 2026-27.
Dawes declined to outline reasons for his departure beyond saying he felt “the timing’s right” in a brief internal email, and the players were informed soon after. A full review of both men’s and women’s programmes is expected once the Shield season wraps.
