Kidwell: Kiwis’ culture needed a re-set
David Kidwell says the Kiwis must play more tests in New Zealand as he seeks to embed a team culture which he hopes will endure beyond his coaching reign.
It’s been a case of back to the future for Kidwell in his Christchurch hometown this week as he prepares the Kiwis for Saturday’s Rugby League World Cup assignment at Scotland.
The 40-year-old planned to take the Kiwis squad to the Hornby Rugby League Club on Wednesday night, back to the Leslie Park lair where he first laced on a pair of boots as a primary school kid.
Kidwell has enjoyed catching up with whanau and friends - he was cuddling his infant nephew Kaizell after the Kiwis’ public training session at Linfield Park on Tuesday.
He was humbled to find a larger-than-life mural of himself drawn on a central Christchurch building by street artist Mr G Graham Hoete.
He’s had the Kiwis bunking down on a Waikato marae, brought in former Kiwis legends to address the team, introduced Kiwis Family Dinner nights and organised the publication of a players’ booklet highlighting the Kiwis’ history, heroes and core values.
He’s up early on his day off to conduct Question and Answer breakfast sessions with community coaches and has had his players on the end of shovels helping a Christchurch adventure park rebuild from a devastating fire.
Kidwell’s created a ‘‘Mana Group’’ to establish and instil values he hopes will be in place for decades.
He’s done it all to keep the Kiwis connected to the game’s grassroots after feeling the culture ‘‘needed a re-set’’.
Kiwis technical adviser Brian Smith has coached for close to 40 years with 675 first grade games under his belt in Australia’s NRL and England’s Super League.
He says any international rugby league observer knew the Kiwis were capable of ‘‘springing a surprise’’ on the pitch, dating back ‘‘to the days of Olsen Filipaina [and his 1980s battles with Australia’s Wally Lewis].’’
‘‘Now I see how that’s been generated. Some of the stuff I’ve seen [in the Kiwis camp] at a human level has been quite amazing.
‘‘You have to pay credit to David for that.’’
Kidwell quipped that Smith and fellow Australian assistant-coach Ben Gardiner got a bit of a shock when they joined the team’s preWorld Cup camp at the Turangawaewae marae near Ngaruawahia.
‘‘They asked ‘where are we going to sleep?’,’’ chuckled Kidwell, who told them: ‘‘On a mattress on the floor.’’
Kidwell called on Smith to assist after playing under him at the Parramatta Eels for two seasons.
The Kiwis second rower was noted for his toughness and commitment, but Smith admitted he never pictured Kidwell as a head coach back in his playing days.
However, that was no criticism. ‘‘Of all the players I ever coached, I saw very few that I thought would be coaching one day,’’ Smith said.
‘‘They understand the pressure [a head coach faces]... now and again you get someone with a masochistic streak,’’ he laughed.
‘‘But coaching is one of the most rewarding jobs you can get ... especially if you’re coaching a national team, like David.’’
The jury will be out on the Kiwis and Kidwell, as a coach, until the end of the World Cup.
Smith, however, says, until this tournament, he had ‘‘no idea of the depth of David’s character and his capability’’.
‘‘He’s far more calculated and pre-panned and he’s creating a vision which he’s being able to implement.’’
Kidwell has had challenges coming into job at short notice last year when Stephen Kearney quit to go to the Warriors.
His first assignment was a test loss to world champions Australia in Perth, followed by a Four Nations tournament in England, which featured an embarrassing draw with Scotland.
The knives were out early for the new coach with his experience and tactical acumen questioned.
He faced another challenge when he dropped former captain Jesse Bromwich and Kevin Proctor from the World Cup squad after a drunken binge on the night of the Anzac test in Canberra last May.
Kidwell told a group of Christchurch coaches at a Wednesday morning breakfast that he ‘‘wouldn’t be the coach I am today without going through that’’.
He learned it ‘‘was all about the integrity of the jersey, it’s not about me’’.
Realising the importance of player buy-in, Kidwell formed a seven-member ‘‘Mana Group’’ of leaders.
He won’t name the members, preferring to keep it ‘‘in-house’’, but they include a mix of experienced players and younger leaders.
‘‘The first thing I say to them is being in the Mana Group doesn’t mean you are going to be in the team.’’
Kidwell insists on the Mana members ‘‘being honest within the group and honest with me’’.
Mana men can have strong opinions and are free to disagree, ‘‘but we make sure we all agree when we leave the room - that we all commit to the decision’’.
The players have bought into the concept with outside back Peta Hiku, 24, commenting this week that every player, ‘‘not just the experienced guys’’, now got to have their say.
Kidwell brought in Smith and Gardiner to help him after previous assistant Steve McNamara left for a Super League coaching job in France.
Smith is in charge of the attack. Gardiner ministers to the defence.
Gardiner, the former North Sydney Bears NSW Cup coach, knows Kidwell well from helping him coach the South Sydney National Youth Competition team.
His core values centre around punctuality, discipline and planning. He says it’s all about ‘‘being a good person before being a good player’’, otherwise coaches end up having to ‘‘manage a player’s personality and ego before you manage their footy’’.
That fits with Kidwell’s ethos. He created a glossy booklet because he wanted his players to know who and what had gone before them. He sees everyone who’s worn the Kiwis jersey as ‘‘family’’, not ‘‘former players’’.
That’s why he invited Olsen Filipaina, Kevin Tamati, Fred Ah Kuoi, Graeme West, Lesley Vainikolo, Paul Rauhihi and Henry Fa’afili into camp to mingle with the current Kiwis.
Kidwell once told he had never forgotten his first start in rugby league at Hornby, the club he joined at his mum’s behest.
‘‘I was six years old, a bit of a shy Maori boy sitting on the long low fence they used to have ... watching all my team-mates play touch football.
‘‘We had a game of bullrush, I was the last one to get out, I suppose. One of my best mates was holding on to my sleeve and I was swinging him around; everyone was trying to tackle me.’’
Young Dave Kidwell was instantly hooked on rugby league, biking across town from Riccarton to play for the Hornby Panthers up to premier level.
He remembers, as a boy, watching the Kiwis play at ‘‘the old Addington Showgrounds against Great Britain or France’’. When he saw them train at Leslie Park, it fired his dream ‘‘to be a Kiwi myself, one day’’.
That’s why he wants the Kiwis to play more tests in New Zealand, ‘‘so kids can see and meet their heroes’’.
He’s disappointed that the World Cup games are the New Zealand team’s first at home for three years.
Win or lose the World Cup, Kidwell is determined to leave something behind when he eventually hands over the coaching clipboard.
‘‘I have to make sure we lay the foundations and get the values established by the boys, so they are going to be there for another 10, 20 or 30 years.’’