Kiwis coach in talks with Manly
New Zealand Rugby League is comfortable with Kiwis coach Michael Maguire talking to Manly and other NRL clubs about a job.
Maguire will take charge of the Kiwis for their first test in Auckland outside a World Cup in six years, when they play the Kangaroos on October 13.
But he is also in talks to take over from Trent Barrett at the Sea Eagles, where he’ll earn a reported A$700,000 (NZ$762,000) a season.
However, NZRL CEO Greg Peters says Maguire hasn’t wavered in his loyalty to New Zealand.
‘‘His commitment to the Kiwis remains, but also, we won’t stand in his way if he lands a club job.’’
When Maguire was appointed as Kiwis coach in May, he didn’t hide his desire to return to the NRL, although he made a commitment that he wouldn’t quit the Kiwis and would look to do both jobs.
He also stated that if the NRL club wasn’t willing to let him remain with the Kiwis, he would walk away from negotiations.
‘‘That’s what he’s said to us and there has been no change to that,’’ Peters said.
Meanwhile, Peters revealed Nathan Cayless won’t go with the Kiwis for their season-ending tour to England.
Cayless and Ben Gardiner are Maguire’s two assistants for the test against the Kangaroos.
The former Kiwis captain has been in talks about being one of the assistant coaches at the Warriors and if he does get the job, that may affect his future availability for the Kiwis.
‘‘They are different roles and the assistants are brought in on a campaign basis,’’ Peters said.
‘‘So we’ll work through whatever that requirement was, if it eventuates.’’
But Peters did confirm Cayless won’t go to the northern hemisphere with the team.
‘‘There are other commitments that I don’t think will enable him to tour,’’ he said.
A new coach for the end of season tour will be announced soon, but of more pressing concern is the New Zealand v Australia test coming up at Mt Smart Stadium and Peters says tickets are going at a rate they anticipated.
‘‘They are selling in the manner that we’d normally expect for an event like this and a similar path to what the Warriors would expect,’’ he said.
‘‘The historical evidence is that there’s a late buying pattern. At the moment, we’re hopeful we’ll have a pretty good turnout for the game, but I’m not anticipating we’ll sell the ground out.’’
Peters says the marketing for the test will noticeably increase over the next few weeks.
‘‘It’s tailored for the back part and it really ramps up for the final two weeks, because again, that’s when historical evidence tell us we need to hit it,’’ he said.
‘‘We had a relatively short lead time into the event for a number of reasons, but we’re now ramping up the marketing effort.’’
Once Sunday’s NRL grand final is out of the way, attention will turn to this trans- Tasman test. The squads will be announced next week.