After three years Hudson now knows the score

OPINION: If Anthony Hudson decides to stay on and coach the All Whites for another four years, he is going to have to make peace with the realities of the role.

He was unveiled on August 5, 2014, and it feels like he has been involved in a struggle ever since. On the eve of the World Cup playoff against Peru, when asked if the job had been what he expected, he chuckled, and said no.

But even so, he followed up immediately and said that he’d loved it,especially working with the players. When he used his press conference after the loss to Peru in Lima to speak of his pride in his players, he wasn’t putting on an act.

We should know by the end of the month whether Hudson is staying or is going. Every indication is that New Zealand Football is keen to keep him on, but he says he has fielded offers from overseas, so it appears it is his call to make.

Given his numerous complaints over the years - about the lack of All Whites games, and in particular, the lack of home games; about the attitudes of young Kiwi players who are still trying to make it; about the negativity of the media - it is difficult to see why he would want to go again.

Games, and in particular, home games, are going to be hard to arrange, especially when you consider that the purse strings are almost certainly going to have to tighten. Young amateur players are going to remain just that, and only a special few are going to have the attitude he desires. The media are still going to hold him to the high standards he sets for himself and his team.

But even before the matches against Peru, he seemed to be coming around.

On the Friday before the team went into camp, he spent more than three hours doing interviews at an Auckland cafe, across the road from NZ Football’s headquarters. Given that he hasn’t always been so eager to engage, it was quite the sight.

He doesn’t feel the All Whites get the credit they deserve, given the context in which they play - almost always on the road - but he said he had learned that he shouldn’t get frustrated with the media, ‘‘because everyone’s got a job to do’’.

He said he valued ‘‘the stick’’ he and the team had received, and how it had helped them grow.

Down in Wellington, it continued, even while Chris Wood’s hamstring was a worry, and it was the same in Lima, even when he had a pack of local media surrounding him as he went for a cup of tea.

Why was he so comfortable? The obvious answer is that he felt secure, and that there was nothing riding on the All Whites’ performance against Peru for him personally - even though a World Cup trip would have been a big career boost.

Whether that is because he has something lined up elsewhere or because he knows he is wanted here, or both, it doesn’t matter.

We now must wait and see if he’s staying or going.

If he does come back, there will be no surprises second time around. He will know exactly what’s in store, and exactly how tough it’s going to be. And he and the team might just be better for it. You learn by doing, after all.