Ainley back as captain
Alex Ainley has to seriously wrack his brain to remember the last time his Tasman Makos teammates called him skipper.
That was way back in 2007 and just the second season of the Makos’ existence.
Now a decade on, the seasoned 36-year-old lock has been handed the captaincy once again due to Shane Christie’s on-going medically-enforced absence.
And while it may appear that the 80-game veteran has been handed the reins by default, noone’s about to question the decision.
‘‘We didn’t win a lot, I remember that,’’ joked Ainley of Tasman’s two win-eight loss 2007 record.
‘‘I’ve got big shoes to step into because he commands a lot of respect Shane, he’s a great captain.’’
But these days, Tasman are a substantially different operation to 10 years ago, which Ainley expects will work to his benefit.
‘‘I think it’s just the personnel we’ve got. When you’ve got 50-test All Blacks on your coaching staff, you can’t go too far wrong.’’
Tasman head coach Leon MacDonald made 46 appearances for the All Blacks and new set piece coach Greg Somerville 66.
‘‘That and just the players, the first couple of years we had two or three Super [Rugby] players if we were lucky and now, we can’t even start them all. We’ve got Super players on the bench which is just ridiculous.
‘‘I think that’s all down to the work Tasman have done. They’ve boosted us, boosted how we’ve played and the results have come off.
‘‘We’ve started to play better and we’ve started to attract these people to our region.’’
He said that early recognition and retention of the region’s young talent had also been critical.
He’ll also be well supported by a strong leadership group.
‘‘We’ve got a lot of leaders in the team. We’ve got guys like Mitch Hunt at 10 and he runs the cutter pretty well and Tim O’Malley, if he comes on, I’ve got all confidence in him.
‘‘Both halfbacks, Billy Guyton and Finlay Christie, I’ve got 100 percent trust in them, so it’ll definitely be an easier job than a few years ago.’’
He couldn’t have asked for a more testing return to the leadership role as Tasman prepare to face defending champions Canterbury in Friday’s season-opener at Trafalgar Park.
It’s also a rematch of last year’s premiership final when Canterbury outclassed Tasman 43-27. But that suits Ainley just fine.
‘‘That’s what you want. As footy players, you live for competition and if we’d had the choice, we would have called the same thing I think.
‘‘We’ve just got our Super guys back but they’ve got a lot of Crusaders in their team, so they’ll be just as under-prepared as us, if not more so , and what better way to test yourself than Canterbury first up.’’
Tasman’s disappointing finals loss has certainly been mentioned in their pre-season buildup.
‘‘We had a camp last weekend and videos of that game were shown and obviously for the boys in the team last year it still hurts deep so there is a bit of payback from that.
‘‘But in saying that, it’s a different team and we want to do our own thing. We’re obviously trying to bury that game from last year and move on.’’
Ainley’s excited about the young locking resources available with Crusaders tyro Quinten Strange and 2.04m-tall Pari Pari Parkinson offering plenty of genuine talent.
‘‘We’ve [also] got Shannon [Frizell], we’ve got Ethan [Blackadder] there as well - he played 80 minutes with me locking last week against Wellington.
‘‘He played bloody well, so I’ll have to step my game up to keep my position I think.
‘‘The young guys coming through, the likes of Tima [Faingaanuku] and Will [Jordan] from the [New Zealand] Under-20s, they’re playing outstanding as well.
‘‘I’m looking forward to it. I’m pretty sure it’s the strongest team Tasman have had so far and definitely the most exciting with some of the young talent coming through. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do on the field.’’
And as the new set-piece coach, former All Blacks prop Somerville has ‘‘slotted in no worries’’.
‘‘It’s like he’s been there for years. He’s a good man, he’s honest, he’s like Rangi [MacDonald]. He takes information in and he’s happy to learn as well. He’s got a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge.’’
Friday’s game kicks off at Trafalgar Park at 7.35pm.