New Zealand Olympic team has arrived home without NZ Rowing's high performance director Andrew Matheson.
Rowing New Zealand has confirmed that the man who's overseen a sustained run of success since taking over six years ago will fill the same role at Australia's Institute of Sport from November.
They say it's disappointing to lose him but they can't match the Australian offer.
The gold medal-winning single sculler ob Waddell won't speculate on why Matheson's going but he hopes the systems are in place now to replace Matheson and pass his knowledge on.
Waddell says he doesn't know if it was Matheson's desire for a new challenge or whether it was a better financial offer that swayed his move to Australia.
