Former Kiwis hard man now a super-commuter

EVERY week without fail, David Kidwell packs his bag, waves goodbye to his wife and kids in Sydney and heads for Melbourne.

As an assistant coach to Craig Bellamy at the Storm, the former Kiwis hard man spends most of the week living out of a suitcase in a ‘‘drop-in place like a hotel room’’.

It would be easier if he didn’t have to commute. But with his wife’s business interests in Sydney and his children attending school there, such has been his life for the last year-anda-half since he joined the Storm.

After guiding the Rabbitohs under20s team to the Toyota Cup grand final in 2010 – the year after he retired – Kidwell didn’t have to wait long for his former coach at the Storm, Bellamy, to dangle an offer in front of him.

His life and family was in Sydney. But when it came to his career, he had no doubts about what to do.

‘‘I had to make the tough decision to live away from my family. Vanessa and the kids are up in Sydney and I live down here in Melbourne and commute back home whenever I can,’’ Kidwell, speaking on the eve of today’s clash against the Warriors in Auckland, said.

‘‘She’s got her own business now and the kids are at school, so we decided I’d try and do the whole commute thing. It’s working out all right.

‘‘I’m not at home anyway for most of the day. I’m in here early for training and doing video work and then I’m home by about six and stuffed and I’m in bed by seven.

‘‘It’s always tough leaving your family. But in terms of my career, this was an opportunity to learn under one of the best modern-day coaches in rugby league.’’

During his playing career, Kidwell spent four years under Bellamy in Melbourne. In those days, he says, the Storm were forced to share a training ground with AFL club Carlton and it wasn’t until he toured the club’s new facilities at the start of last year that he realised how far rugby league had come in the Aussie rules-mad city.

‘‘After I finished the Bunnies’ under-20s job, Craig Bellamy gave me a ring. It was obviously at the same time that Stephen Kearney [Kiwis coach] was leaving to take up the Parramatta job,’’ Kidwell said.

‘‘The Storm were looking for some assistant coaches and Craig had always mentioned to me during my playing career that if I wanted to take up coaching and that when Stephen Kearney left – as he knew he eventually would – that there’d be a job for me here.

‘‘He gave me a call, I came down and met with him and Frank Ponissi and it was the first time I’d seen the new facilities here too.

‘‘You have to remember that when I was playing for the Storm, we were training out of a tin shed – Princes Park, which we shared with the AFL club Carlton.

‘‘So coming to new, top-class facilities was obviously a good thing.’’

While most players look to run a mile from footy when they finally retire, Kidwell is, well, not like most players.

In 2009, sensing that his body was starting to pack up, the then-32-yearold decided enough was enough. ‘‘The under-20s job came up and at the time I didn’t really know if I wanted to play for another year or two years over in England,’’ Kidwell said.

‘‘I didn’t know if I wanted to move the family over and do that or, for that matter, if I even wanted to coach.

‘‘What I did know is that I always used to help other guys out at training, run the lines and impart some experience on them.

‘‘The 20s job came up and I thought – ‘OK, why not give it a crack?’ I was a personal trainer in the morning and a coach in the afternoons. I loved it.’’

Did he retire too early? Does he ever wish he was still playing? ‘‘No, it’s easy mate, easy. When you see guys doing their knees, whacking their legs or whatever, you think – ‘yep, I made a good decision’.’’

Just like commuting to Melbourne each week, sometimes the tough decisions have to be made.