Sir John Kirwan. Photo / File
One player has slipped through his fingers but Blues coach Sir John Kirwan is happy with the two Hawke's Bay Magpies in his stable.
"Brendon O'Connor is a fantastic leader of his ilk and an outstanding man," Kirwan said yesterday during his interview with Hawke's Bay Today in promoting his book, Stand By Me - Helping your teen through rough times.
The former All Black winger had cast his net on the Ranfurly Shield holders to reel in a couple of players, including a "big, tall lock", but he had got away.
That was Napier Pirates Michael Allardice, who last week signed with the Chiefs.
Geoff Cridge, of Hastings Rugby and Sports, also a two-metre lock, has signed with the Hurricanes.
Magpies coach Craig Philpott last night confirmed one or two players were still waiting for contracts.
"We have 15 players who are a done deal or about to be done in Super Rugby," Philpott said.
Napier Old Boys' Marist player Mark Abbott is a lock in the Magpies' squad who offers versatility as flanker and No 8. Tom Parsons, of Hastings club, is the other lock.
Kirwan said he also was following the progress of Magpies pivot Ihaia West and was happy with what he had seen so far in the ITM Cup.
"I'm incredibly happy with what he is contributing to the game.
"He was growing as a player when he was here with the Blues and he's doing the same out there now with Hawke's Bay," he said of the Havelock North first five-eighth who missed out on selection at the end of the last NPC but trained with the Chiefs' greater squad. He got his break last season when Kirwan injected him into his equation in July after the experiment with veteran rugby league convert Benji Marshall went awry.
West and Simon Hickey, who also is relatively inexperienced at Super Rugby level, will enjoy the presence of former AB halfback Jimmy Cowan, who plays for Premiership upstarts Tasman Makos.
An advocate of depression awareness in New Zealand, Kirwan wrote his second book in a bid to find answers but at the end of the exercise discovered there aren't any.
"I set out to create a tool box for parents," says the author of the bestselling memoir, All Blacks Don't Cry, who had to exorcise his own "black" demons at the age of 23.
Against the backdrop of his experiences as a father of three children, the former All Black investigates teen mental health, with the emphasis on depression and anxiety, in his book, released late last month.
He emphasised it was imperative parents understood that the title of the book meant just that - adults who were willing to step into that space for their child. "You have to open up and talk to them and not be judgmental."
Parents, he feels, tend to be preoccupied with finding solutions for teenagers' problems when all the adolescents want is for someone to lend an ear.
"After a hard day's work we come home and want to be parents again," he said.
However, he discovered teens simply need to know you are there and be there when they are around.
"No one taught me to be a parent."
He sees the irony of thwarting depression in coming to grips with the empty-nest syndrome when his teens leave home: "I'm helping prepare my wife for that now."
Asked if he was flirting with danger as Blues coach, Kirwan disagreed: "I've put my life in boxes and analysed it. My profession box is rugby coach so I have to bridge areas to find a balance with my spiritual life.
"My biggest stress is my job so I have to balance that," he said of a slippery pathway that sees him "break my own rules sometimes".