Crawford has had this job for the past five years, a continuation of the driving roles he had for various companies during his first class career apart from his short stints as a full-time professional - four games with the Blues in 1997 and six with the Hurricanes in 1998.
He played 36 games for East Coast from 2000-03. Two of his more memorable matches were against the Magpies, both in 2001 at McLean Park, a 36-30 loss in division two round robin play and a 30-27 loss in a nail-biting final on a day when East Coast supporters almost outnumbered those barracking for the Magpies.
As good as those games were for Crawford and his cuzzies from the Coast, they weren't going to knock his two career highlights off their respective perches. They were the Magpies 29-17 win against the British Isles in 1993 and a 30-25 victory against France the following year.
Having played in all three first class divisions since the turn of the century, Crawford, is one of a small group of players who have played against all 27 New Zealand provincial unions.
"I didn't realise it at the time. But when it was pointed out to me I thought it was a pretty good feat because not many have done it," Crawford said.
The former national age group rep from under-16 to colts level and former Central Vikings representative ranked former All Blacks mentor, Sir Graham Henry, as the best coach "technically" he has played under. And the toughest player he propped against?
"In a one-off game it would be Peter Fatialofa [the former Samoa and Auckland player who died in 2013] but Mike Tyson Edwards [a former Hurricanes and Wellington Lions player] would be the toughest I played against regularly. It was a pity I never got a crack at Richard Loe or Steve McDowell because they were a bit before my time.
"We never had the television coverage back in those days like there is these days so we usually had things sorted at the first scrum," Crawford explained.
Along with his wife, former Hawke's Bay hockey rep Kerri Thompson, Crawford passes on tips gained during his sporting career to their three children, Hoani, 21, Arawhiu, 16, and 11-year-old Hineawe. Their youngest has the potential to emulate the feats of Hawke's Bay's 18-year-old White Sox pitcher Courtney Gettins, on the mound and with the bat.
"We're just taking things step by step with her ... I don't want to push her up the grades too quick," Crawford, who last played club rugby for Clive's fours in 2013, said.
A Flaxmere senior B men's softballer, Crawford can play anywhere in the defensive line-up. Some of his former Magpies teammates will be surprised by his current fitness levels.
Before Christmas, he stopped the clock at 12.2 seconds for a home to home dash when demonstrating correct base-running techniques at a coaching session for a rep squad his daughters were in.
"I'm taking Hineawe for runs around Akina Park in Hastings regularly. We do 20-25 minutes and I feel pretty good. Some of the Clive boys are asking if I will play thirds this year ... I'm definitely tempted but I don't know if the boss will allow it," he said.
Of course, we couldn't let him go without giving us a selection of the best players he played alongside for Hawke's Bay.
There was no silence then.
"That's easy bro ... just put in our team which beat the Lions," he replied.
For those who have forgotten, here it is: Jarrod Cunningham, Aaron Hamilton, George Konia, Murdoch Paewai, Peter Davis, Simon Kerr, Neil Weber, Simon Tremain, Dustin Watts, Gordon Falcon, John Fowler, Bill Davison, Orcades Crawford, Norm Hewitt, Terrence Taylor.
