The club confirmed former Brisbane and Penrith coach Anthony Griffin will take the reins for the next two seasons. It saw the board overlook current interim coach Dean Young, feeling a new voice is necessary having promoted three of their last four coaches from within.

McGregor, who moved on a month ago with a year before his contract was up, fell into that category and Griffin's appointment will satisfy fans who've long clamoured for an 'outsider' to be put in charge of the club.

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McInnes said it opens a "new chapter" but it will be the same old story if the playing group doesn't have an honest look at their own efforts over two disappointing campaigns.

"It should never come to this point, if you're successful you don't need to change things," McInnes said.

"This squad needs to take more accountability for our performance, that's what this squad needs. Whether we need a new voice or whatever, nothing will change until we do that.

"That's what this business is, if you don't win, eventually someone will get tapped on the shoulder. Unfortunately the coaches are the ones that pay for it sometimes, not the players.

"With Deano in the past two weeks, whether [wins] would have given him the [full-time] job or not, I don't know, but we had great opportunities to win both those games.

"You're going to lose tight games, and you want to be in the fight, but we have made the exact same mistakes week in week out. That's not learning from our mistakes... in my book, that's letting the coaches down."

Young's tipped to stay on as an assistant to Griffin, with a view to a possible succession plan. McInnes said it would be a move welcomed by the players.

"Of course I've love Deano to stay, he's a great coach, a great person, and I think one day he will be a head coach," McInnes said.

"Deano was with [Griffin] with Tonga and speaks really highly of him. He says he's a really good coach and a high-character person, I'm sure the board wouldn't have picked him otherwise.

"If having an outside voice was the reason the board went with [Griffin], that's great but sometimes it's also good to have someone from the inside who has a perspective on what's gone wrong in the past and what might need to change. That sort of combination would be pretty good."

Where McInnes will play will be one of the biggest questions for Griffin to answer as he considers the make-up of his spine going forward.

Ben Hunt has spent the bulk of the season at dummy-half, with McInnes shifting to lock, but maintains an oft-stated desire to return to the No. 7 jumper.

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McInnes won't make the ultimate call too difficult for Griffin, insisting he has no firm preference as to what number he wears.

"Who knows what the future holds in terms of where I'll play at the club moving forward, but I've thoroughly enjoyed my time playing lock this year," McInnes said.

"To be honest, I see myself as hooker-lock, lock-hooker with no one position above the other now. As a hooker I probably haven't been as crafty as some of the others, my game's built around hard work and trying to get in the face of the opposition. At lock that suits me there.

"At the same time, I have put a lot of work in at hooker throughout my career and if that's the position for me moving forward I'll do that. I'm very, very comfortable in both of them."