Aussie bidders for Kiwis job carry big risks
OPINION: The shortlist to lead the Kiwis is a who’s who of outstanding unemployed rugby league coaches.
Laurie Daley, Des Hasler, Geoff Toovey and Michael Maguire have all been interviewed for the job to replace David Kidwell and you couldn’t ask for a more experienced bunch to be in the running.
No doubt any one of the four could do a good job, as the team tries to rebound from a disastrous World Cup.
For various reasons they all find themselves currently out of work. Well, OK, just one reason, they all got sacked from their last jobs, but they enter this race in slightly different situations.
They are all career coaches and tasted success in the past, but they’re all still ambitious and the concern would be if one of them got the Kiwis job, what would happen if next year the Broncos or Eels came knocking?
As much as we all like to think the Kiwis is a prestigious job, and the quality of the candidates applying backs that up, it doesn’t compare to being a head coach in the NRL.
These are all coaches who would be in the running for any NRL vacancy.
So would the NZRL let their new coach leave, as they did when Stephen Kearney quit the Kiwis shortly before their 2016 trip to England for the Four Nations?
If so, the Kiwis would be back to square one.
The team needs a coach who will commit to the job through to the 2021 World Cup in England, so that they can build towards that tournament, and have a game plan and systems in place.
Would one of these coaches look to juggle the Kiwis with coaching a NRL team, as Wayne Bennett does with the Broncos and England?
A NRL club may not be willing to accept such a deal, even if the NZRL would.
The Kiwis are only likely to play around five tests a season, one during the middle of the season, with the rest after it, so hopefully whoever gets the job isn’t paid a fortune as the NZRL’s coffers are hardly overflowing.
Most Kiwis fans would be satisfied with any of these coaches getting the job, but when it comes to the assistants it’s crucial that they are New Zealanders.
It was a farcical situation last year. Steve McNamara quit when he got a job with Catalans Dragons, while Stacey Jones and Paul Green both turned David Kidwell down.
Garth Brennan eventually got the job, only to leave on the eve of the World Cup when he got the Titans job.
In the end, Kidwell went for the little known Ben Gardiner, who joined the team when they were already in their World Cup camp.
It’s lamentable that there aren’t any New Zealanders in the running for the Kiwis job, but that’s the situation caused by the lack of New Zealanders coaching in the NRL.
The NZRL knows the lack of any pathways, outside joining the Warriors, is an issue for New Zealand coaches.
So they should use this as an opportunity to put a young, promising coach underneath one of these four.
The NZRL should think outside the square with this appointment, even going for someone who’s not yet coaching, but has potential.
Thomas Leuluai quickly springs to mind as someone at the end of his playing career with an interest in coaching.
Jerome Ropati, an inspiring figure, is the assistant coach at the under 20s this year, while there is also Jones if he wants to get involved this time, or Nathan Cayless, the Junior Kiwis coach.
Whoever it is, there needs to be some long-term planning, so that having an Australian coaching the Kiwis will only ever happen once.