What's The New Aotearoa Kiwis Coach Gonna Do?
Benny Muts gotta be back in black?
The interview process for Aotearoa Kiwis' head coaching is underway. The sooner we find out who the new coach is the better as this will offer a splash of closure to the horrible David Kidwell tenure, allowing kiwi rugby league to open the door to whatever is next. Although the desire to rid myself of those Kidwell memories has been in a rush, I'm low key enjoying the slow and steady process, even the way Kidwell was asked to re-apply and a full review was conducted; this is not an emotional, reactionary process.
I outlined how easy it was for a review to poke holes in whatever Kidwell was doing and this situation didn't require such an extensive period of research etc. However, this is the best way to bring about change and I can appreciate the desire to tick all the boxes along the way.
While Des Hasler ruled himself out after interviewing as he still wants an NRL coaching gig, the other names mentioned as candidates is impressive. I'm not here to suss out who is the best option and all of that, I'm not really too fussed. Most of the candidates are Australian and that's lovey, leading to my only point of intrigue as I ponder how these coaches will go about laying down cultural foundations for the Kiwis to build upon.
We are in the #KiwiNRL takeover and this is a beautiful time for kiwi rugby league. Who ever the coach is, will have a few funky decisions to make for their first squad selection which appears to be the Test in Denver and things will get funkier with player availability. I covered the bench utility position yesterday for example and the coach will need to quickly identify who is the best option to fill that role, from the smorgasbord of options.
Another move that is of interest is how the coach approaches the likes of Jason Taumalolo and David Fusitu'a, who I reckon will stick with Tonga. The Kiwis have enough depth to live happily without Taumalolo and Fusitu'a, thus making it weird for the coach to get all desperado and try woo them back. Leave the decision up to the players and if they want to be eligible for the Kiwis again, cool, if not, cool.
A possible middle forward pairing of Jesse Bromwich and Ben Matulino excites me, neither of whom were in the World Cup. Matulino's possible selection has me intrigued after a strong start to the season with Wests Tigers, especially following an injury to Russell Packer as Matulino has stood up to lead their forward pack.
4th in run-metres for the Tigers, Matulino falls just behind Matt Eisenhuth in run-metres for Tigers forwards (786m vs 782m). However, Matulino has his metres from 84 runs and Eisenhuth has 100 runs with Matulino averaging 9.30m/run and Eisenhuth averaging 7.86m/run. 5th in offloads for the Tigers is nice and in defence, Matulino is 3rd in number of tackles for the Tigers, while also having the best tackles/missed tackles record of the Tigers top-4 tacklers, all of whom are forwards.
Matulino misses every 27th tackle. Chris Lawrence misses every 10th tackle, Robbie Rochow misses 6th tackle and Eisenhuth every 18th tackle.
There's no reason why Matulino shouldn't be in the mix for a Kiwis squad at the very least and he's been playing well enough to command a starting Kiwis spot. The new coach will have to suss out whether he wants to usher in a young wave of Kiwis or do what should always be done and pick the best players, forcing younger players to perform consistently over multiple seasons to earn selection. Matulino is playing like a Kiwis prop and deserves some attention from the new Kiwis coach.
The other major point of intrigue for me is Esan Marsters at centre and while I definitely prefer that younger players earn a Kiwis jumper over a longer period of time, centre is a slightly different situation to the big boppers in the forward pack. In the forwards, Aotearoa has older players like Matulino who are in great form and have international experience, as well as younger blokes.
At centre, Dean Whare has his centre spot locked down and then there is Peta Hiku and perhaps Jordan Kahu. Hiku and Kahu are the more experienced options, yet Kahu hasn't played centre this season and will only come back from injury in the next few weeks, while you could make the argument that Marsters has been a lot more impressive than Hiku at right centre this season.
Marsters leads the Tigers in runs and run/metres ... as a centre. He leads the Tigers in offloads and is 2nd in tackle busts, as well as being 2nd in try assists; Marsters has one more try assist than Benji Marshall and two fewer than Luke Brooks.
Despite being a youngster, Marsters is playing at such a high level and his class smacks you in the face. He deserves to be in the squad and the new coach will have to decide whether to give Marsters a crack at right centre, or to ease him into international footy. Either option is great and Marsters looks like a long-term centre option, which other than Whare we haven't had in the past decade.
Marsters otherwise offers reason for the new coach to start some sort of Emerging Kiwis program or Aotearoa 'B'. Right now there is nothing between Junior Kiwis and Kiwis, leaving a chasm of space left vacant for players who aren't quite in the Kiwis mix and those who are too old for Juniors.
Whether this group plays games or just gets together for a week or two to spread the Kiwis gospel, whatever works. It's crazy that nothing like this exists and now that we have the #KiwiNRL playing numbers, it should be a priority for the new coach. I would bring in the following players to an Emerging Kiwis camp; Marsters, James Fisher-Harris, Corey Harawira-Naera, Joseph Manu, Brandon Smith, Slade Griffin, Joseph Tapine, Te Maire Martin, Isaac Liu, Jeremy Marshall-King.
This would make life immensely easier for the coach as he would gain experience from working with players who could feature in the Kiwis in the coming years, as well as giving these players something Kiwis-related if they do not make a Kiwis squad.
The new coach will not only be tasked with a couple intriguing selection decisions, he will have a blank canvas to set up an efficient Kiwis program that genuinely reflects the standard of kiwi rugby league in the NRL. We have the quality and quantity to build a sustainable program, hopefully the new coach has some foresight.
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Peace and love 27.