Selection of All Whites coach needs revisiting

In football circles, there must be hope the appointment of Scot Tom Sermanni as national women’s coach is the start of a bold new era.

It draws a line under six months of turmoil for the Football Ferns, sparked by the reckless appointment of Andreas Heraf to the job. He was clearly unsuited to the role in so many ways and the fallout from that has turned the game upside down.

It will take a while for the side to recover. Trust will need to be rebuilt with the playing group, with many treated poorly by Heraf and former NZF chief executive Andy Martin.

At least this time, there was some consultation with past and present players during the recruitment process. No one is saying players should be able to pick their own coach but neither should they be completely sidelined from the process. One imagines there was some quiet conversations with the likes of Richie McCaw and Dan Carter before the 2011 Rugby World Cup, as Steve Tew and others contemplated who might replace Graham Henry.

It’s also hard to imagine new Black Caps coach Gary Stead was hired without some consultation with Kane Williamson and other senior players, or opinions weren’t gathered from the playing fraternity ahead of Michael Maguire getting the Kiwis job.

It’s logical and makes sense, yet Martin and his former cohorts at NZF thought they knew better.

Sermanni — who looks a fine appointment — should also be a reminder to NZF that if you run a proper process, you’ll get a proper result. It’s not that complicated. That means advertising the job, assessing the candidates objectively through interviews and background checks, then having experts make a decision. That didn’t happen last year, when Heraf essentially appointed himself.

It also didn’t happen with the most important football job in the country, and that remains the elephant in the room for NZF. They have adopted a ‘nothing to see here’ approach, despite the independent review into NZF finding the appointment of All Whites coach Fritz Schmid (and his assistants and national age group coaches) was preordained by Heraf, and rubber-stamped by Martin. Nod, wink and ‘sign here please’. That means the process was a sham, and given Heraf and Martin have both left NZF in disgrace, it’s a major concern.

But will NZF have the courage to confront the issue? Schmid may well be the best candidate for the role but that needs to be proven in a sound, rigorous process: Assemble a panel, construct a shortlist from the pile of CVs received late last year and conduct some interviews. It will take some time but there’s no hurry, especially at this stage of the cycle.

The Ferns are in a different situation, with their World Cup less than nine months away. Sermanni, 64, has taken a short-term deal, an arrangement which suits him and the organisation. His CV is impressive, with a long stint as Australian Matildas coach the standout, as well as recent experience in the United States. Don’t be surprised if he convinces some recently retired Ferns to return, and he will also try to bring back the enjoyment.

“Our expectation for the players is they want to come [in] every day, and they want to train every day, and they want to be challenged and they want to improve and they want to play for the team and, in this case, they want to play for their country,” said Sermanni.

“Obviously the [previous] situation had reached a low ebb, and when a situation reaches a crisis point with players saying they don't want to play, there has to be something wrong within that environment. It's important for me now to create an environment where players want to be.”