By CHRIS RATTUE
Chiefs coach Ross Cooper says he will go through the Super 12 debriefing process before deciding his future in rugby.
Former Waikato coach John Boe has confirmed that he would be in the hunt for the Chiefs job, or any available Super 12 job. He believes Cooper still has a chance of being retained at the Chiefs under his New Zealand Rugby Football Union contract which expires next year.
The Chiefs came 10th, finishing with a 3-53 humiliation at the hands of the resurgent Cats in Bloemfontein, meaning they were well off semifinal pace for the third successive year under Cooper.
Cooper returned from South Africa with the team early yesterday and said it was not the time to make any rash statements about his future.
His New Zealand union contract includes three parts - coaching the Chiefs, acting as a "resource coach" with NPC and club teams, and coaching national academy players.
"It's a situation where you have to have a good think about it and take a bit of time to recover from the season," Cooper said.
"You need to step away from it for a while and talk things over with people, including my family.
"It was an extremely frustrating season and we had some chances we should have taken ... but I won't be making excuses.
"I pride myself on being professional and I believe in the debrief process.
"After that decisions will be made - maybe I won't be wanted here after that."
The debrief will include Cooper's writing a report for the franchise and national union, and meeting players and officials.
Boe, who was extremely disappointed not to land a Super 12 coaching job, has described Cooper as a "nice guy" and refused to comment on his coaching performance.
Boe's record with Waikato would make him a strong contender, while former Counties Manukau coach Mac McCallion and sevens specialist Gordon Tietjens, from Bay of Plenty, have also signalled they would be in the hunt.
Boe, the temporary coach of Samoa, believes the All Black prospects of a number of Chiefs players have been damaged this season.
"Their performance at the weekend was extremely disappointing - they are not 50 points worse than the Cats," Boe said.
"I am sad for players near the All Blacks like Rhys Duggan, Bruce Reihana and Royce Willis. Their chances have been damaged by the performance of the team.
"You can look at the performance of our teams in the NPC. The players in the Chiefs are better than the results. There are a lot of little things going wrong."
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