Changes to Kiwis aim to ease load on coach

Delany, (Guam)

Star performer: Finn Delany. At just 21, Delany is already the Giants’ star player. The athletic forward returns to Nelson following his first pro season with the Breakers and will be expected to shoulder much of the scoring workload alongside big off-season signing Dion Prewster.

The outlook: The Giants have the pieces in the starting roster to challenge for the playoffs, but the lack of depth on the bench is worrying, particularly if one of the starters was to suffer a long-term injury. Nelson went 9-9 last season and only missed out on the top four due to an inferior head-to-head record with the Rangers. With an arguably weaker squad, it is hard C: Curtis Washington to see new coach Alan McAughtry improving on that in 2017. A lot will depend on US import Joe Slocum firing in his first pro gig and the Giants getting another career best season from Delany.

TAB title odds: $16

Canterbury Rams

Coach: Mark Dickel

Best starting five: PG: Jeremy Kendle (US), SG: Marcus Alipate, SF: Ethan Rusbatch, PF: Marcel Jones, C: Will Neighbour (ENG)

Star performer: Jeremy Kendle. The American point guard has large shoes to fill replacing last year’s league MVP McKenzie Moore. He showed enough in his 11 games since joining the Brisbane Bullets mid-season in the Australian NBL to suggest he could be a real handful in the weaker Kiwi competition. Kendle’s play will be crucial in determining how far the Rams go this season.

The outlook: The arrival of naturalised American Marcel Jones, last season’s New Zealand MVP and All Star Five player, is a massive boost. He takes them from being a fringe finals side to an outside title contender. How Canterbury perform without outstanding American guard Moore, who carried them at times last season, is a big question mark. His replacement, Kendle, looks a classy addition and could be one of the league’s leading scorers.

TAB title odds: $5.50

Southland Sharks

Coach: Judd Flavell

Best starting five: PG: Mitch Norton (AUS), SG: Reuben Te Rangi, SF: Duane Bailey, PF: Nick Kay (AUS), C: Alex Pledger.

Star performer: Alex Pledger. He traditionally dominates the boards in the New Zealand NBL and expect him to do the same in 2017.

The outlook: Southland have assembled a proven roster and should be a playoff team. The Sharks have again looked to Australia, through Nick Kay and Mitch Norton to fill the overseas import spots, which does limit the guessing game which can be attached to imports.

They have lost Everard Bartlett from last season, but the return of Reuben Te Rangi and the progress of Derone Raukawa should fill the void. Southland look to have more depth on their roster this season with James Hunter and Luke Aston moving south.

TAB title odds: $3 Kiwis coach David Kidwell and the NZRL are determined to learn lessons from last year’s disastrous Four Nations campaign.

Kidwell was thrown into the job at late notice, when Stephen Kearney decided to leave the role a few weeks before the trip to England, to take up a job at the Warriors.

During the Four Nations, the Kiwis drew with Scotland 18-18 and were smashed by Australia.

The NZRL with the support of High Performance Sport New Zealand, carried out a review.

While there were few details announced at a press conference yesterday on what it was that went wrong, two changes were revealed.

Firstly that Shane Richardson, the general manager football at South Sydney Rabbitohs, will take on a similar role with the Kiwis building up to the World Cup later this year.

Secondly, former England coach Steve McNamara has been appointed at Kidwell’s assistant.

Last year’s assistants for the Four Nations, Willie Poching and Justin Morgan haven’t been kept on.

Something that was debated several times during the Four Nations was Kidwell needing more support around him.

NZRL CEO Alex Hayton said Richardson will give him that, as take some of the burden off Kidwell to allow him to put more time into coaching.

‘‘He will bring a lot of experience to the campaign,’’ Hayton said.

It’s a huge year for the Kiwis and NZRL, with the co-hosting of the World Cup at the end of the year and Hayton wants to give the team every possible opportunity to repeat the success in 2008, which is why there was the review.

‘‘The outcome of the review was the short notice with Stephen’s departure to the Warriors was unfortunate timing.

‘‘What we’ve operated was a traditional NRL type structure and we’re moving away from that to free David up to focus on the team and have a structure to support everything around that,’’ Hayton said.

Kidwell admitted that he didn’t get everything right in the Four Nations and was glad to have Richardson on board.

‘‘It’s something that I’ve reflected on,’’ Kidwell said of the tournament.

‘‘With the performance in the final of the Four Nations, I looked at myself deeply and thought what I needed to do, along with the review and making sure I build those strong relationships with the leaders, so that we can get that on field performance.’’

McNamara will be the only assistant coach for the last ever Anzac Test in Canberra in May and Kidwell will look to bring in another person for the World Cup.

‘‘Steve is a quality person,’’ Kidwell said of McNamara.