Are you Kid-ding?
Beaten Kiwis coach faces uncertain future
New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) chief executive Alex Hayton concedes the Kiwis brand has been ‘‘damaged’’ by a pitiful World Cup campaign.
The team limped out of the tournament at the quarterfinal stage, beaten 4-2 by a Fiji team made of a few stars, lower graders, parttimers and under-20s players.
New Zealand coach David Kidwell, captain Adam Blair and star halfback Shaun Johnson then made a series of ill-judged comments after the match, which further alienated the team from the public.
Kidwell’s contract is now up and he’s yet to decide if he’ll seek re-appointment. In the meantime, an independent review panel will convene to start sifting through the wreckage. That will include a decision about whether to re-visit the policy that the national coach must be a New Zealander.
‘‘Everyone’s disappointed with the results, so you could say that the brand has been damaged. If they come back and they’re winning next year, then it reestablishes the brand,’’ Hayton said in Wellington yesterday.
All the Kiwis’ management staff are off-contract at the end of the tournament and the independent panel – the make-up of which Hayton will announce this week – are due to deliver some findings by January.
‘‘We’ll be sending a questionnaire out to staff and a selection of players from the team and conduct one-on-one interviews,’’ Hayton said.
Kidwell came to the post with few coaching credentials, but a passion for the jersey. The results have been poor, including a draw with Scotland last year and the losses to Tonga and Fiji, and people will rightly question how interested the NZRL are in having the best person for the job.
But beyond the stipulation that the coach must be a New Zealander, they also lack money to recruit a proven performer.
‘‘We have high aspirations [for the team] within the financial constraints that we as an organisation have, because we’re not just about the Kiwis. It’s about the grassroots as well,’’ said Hayton.
That certainly complicates the situation and increases the chances of Kidwell being retained or the appointment of someone with similarly modest credentials.
That’s assuming Kidwell opts to return, of course.
‘‘I didn’t get any sleep last night and really thought about what I want to do, what I want to achieve. I have to really sit down and think [about] how much you put into it and how much you get out of it,’’ Kidwell said.
‘‘I know I’ve created something here. It’s whether I want to continue or the people will let me continue to see the fruits of the start of this. At the end of the day I’ll do what’s best for the jersey. That’s always been my vision.’’