The bizarre world of the cultish Kiwis

OPINION: The Kiwis made fools of themselves on Saturday night.

As they’re entitled to. You can’t make people behave sensibly.

But the issue the team - and the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) - have in the wake of a ridiculous, inept World Cup campaign, is that none of them feel foolish. They actually think we’re the halfwits, for not being able to see what a magnificent entity they’ve created.

You can’t write or talk sense about them or ask legitimate, straightforward questions and expect similar in response because, from head coach David Kidwell on down, you appear to be dealing with people who have been brainwashed. Cult’s a strong word, but there’s definite quasi-religious element in play here.

The team is so swept up in its culture and this ‘‘Mana Group’’ it has created and so certain that they’re building a great sporting dynasty, that they look at the rest of us and see dullards. Or worse, judging by halfback Shaun Johnson’s attitude towards ‘‘yous’’ people on the outside looking in.

They really are as baffled by us as we are by them.

The aftermath to Saturday’s 4-2 defeat to Fiji in Wellington was bizarre. There was a defiance about the way head coach David Kidwell and captain Adam Blair strode into the press conference, reporters were glared at and told the team was in great heart and questions dwelling on the negative - of which there were several - treated with disdain.

You walked out afterwards feeling utterly confused, even sad.

It’s to Johnson’s great credit that he later came out to talk to reporters. For whatever reason, he was the only Kiwi that did.

And, from a journalistic point of view, what he said was fantastic. It was just as barmy as Kidwell and Blair’s stuff, but with the added bite of a bit of bile.

‘‘The most disappointing thing for me is that everyone who doubted us - the fans, media - yous got your way,’’ Johnson said.

Never mind the grammar. Just enjoy the fact that, having done a post-match television grab, had a

prayer and a sing with the Fiji team, gone into the dressing rooms, been around the boys, grabbed a drink, a bite to eat and a shower, Johnson was still thinking about the distasteful few who had justified concerns about how things were really going under Kidwell.

The coach fronted again on

Sunday and, even with a night to sleep on it, retained the view that this team was exceptional and the same bemusement that we couldn’t see it.

As a sports writer, you drift through many matches and press conferences and interviews in a fog. They’re dull, they mean nothing and all you want is for

them to end.

This week with the Kiwis won’t be forgotten in a hurry. It’s one thing for a team to play badly and lose. They’re occupational hazards. But how this team reacted to its defeat to Fiji was almost unprecedented.

It leaves the NZRL in a tricky spot, too. They’ve bought time,

with their independent review not due until January. The off-contract Kidwell will have declared his hand by then and, presumably, opted not to re-apply for the position.

But the NZRL have no dough and - for the time being - a policy of only recruiting New Zealanders as head coach. If the Kiwis’ beliefs

and values are as entrenched as it appears, any new man will have his hands full just sorting that out.

For now, a team which scarcely plays in this country and has a minimal rapport with fans, has drifted further away from them. Rugby league folk are very loyal, but it must be hard when a star player has so little time for ‘‘yous’’.