George Konia is returning home to Hawke's Bay after three seasons as head coach of the Northland Taniwha. Photo / Tania Whyte
George Konia is returning home to Hawke's Bay after three seasons as head coach of the Northland Taniwha. Photo / Tania Whyte
Northland Rugby has started discussions on recruiting a head coach after the Bunnings Warehouse NPC ends following incumbent George Konia's decision not to review his contract beyond this season.
He's returning home to Hawke's Bay after three seasons in charge of the Northland Taniwha, but his immediate focus is tomake sure the team continues with the good form shown so far with two wins and a loss.
Konia hails from Waipawa, a small town in Hawke's Bay where his parents still live, while his in-laws are in Wairoa.
He played 53 games for the Magpies and another 58 for Manawatu while studying at Palmerston North Teachers' College in the late 1980s.
Konia also played five games for Northland in 1997.
"My family has made a decision to return to Hawke's Bay. Another reason is to give Northland the best possible chance to be able to find another candidate to be head coach.
"At this stage, we don't have a plan but the biggest focus for me is to make sure I finish this season to my utmost ability, be professional but also am on the lookout for a job back in Hawke's Bay. I am open to all options at the moment.
"Rugby has been a big part of my life, but it doesn't mean I want to stay involved in the game when I go back to Hawke's Bay."
Being a trained and qualified secondary school teacher, he said teaching was one option.
On any future involvement with rugby, he said: "If the circumstances are right and there's a good opportunity, then I'd look at it but at this stage, I can't see myself being involved in high-performance rugby for the next couple of years."
Konia first inked a deal with Northland Rugby Union as an assistant to head coach Derren Witcombe for the 2013-14 NPC before going back to Japan for three seasons.
While playing for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby when rugby turned professional, Konia signed a three-year playing deal in Japan and not only ended up staying for 17 years, he represented the Cherry Blossoms in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
"It was a fantastic experience and was one of the rugby highlights of my life, playing test rugby against some of the best nations in the world."
He played in Japan for eight years and coached there for nine years.
Konia also played for the New Zealand Māori and was an All Blacks triallist.
His best memory as the Taniwha head coach was taking the team to the final in 2020, losing to Hawke's Bay.
"Outside of rugby, I love the people. They are very open and friendly compared to some other parts of New Zealand. Some of the scenery and the lifestyle opportunities up here are amazing ... diving, fishing.
"There's a sense of sadness that I am leaving Northland. It was a big decision to make but if you strip things away and try and work out what's the priority in life, it's got to be family and spending more time together and a job like this doesn't allow you to do that.
"I've loved my time here, I've loved my connection with the players and the staff. I want to help drive the team to do the best we can do.
"Our mindset is to win every game. If we do that, that's fantastic. If we don't, we know we'll go out there and put in a performance we can be proud of, and put ourselves into a position to be in a quarterfinal spot," he said.
Northland Rugby Union will soon search for a new head coach after the departure of George Konia.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
He sees a bright future for Northland Rugby and points to initiatives put in place that he thinks will help grow the game in the region.
"We have a world-class facility that will not only help retain, but also recruit players into the province. There's a real depth to our player base this year so we need to keep modifying and adding to that.
"Probably the biggest thing for Northland Rugby is making sure that we put resources into our grassroots so that all the stuff up the top is sustainable and we have strong age-group representative teams with academies."
Northland Rugby Union chief executive Cam Bell is sad to lose a coach of Konia's ability.
"He works so hard in the background. I guess it's bittersweet in that one, we lose George and I don't want to, but it allows us to do planning now because it's quite a tight market out there.
"Canterbury only confirmed their head coach a month before NPC started. Just with luring players back home, this facility will aid us in our ability to look for a replacement."
Bell said while Konia's position has not been officially advertised, the union has initiated discussions and was cautious the issue did not impact on the wider management group.
The Taniwha celebrate after beating the Wellington Lions last weekend. Konia sees a bright future for Northland Rugby Photo / Getty Images
"Ideally, if we had someone within the community and I don't want to offend the coaches coming up, but the difference between club and NPC is quite big."
On a personal note, Bell said it was a pity Konia was leaving when the former was only just starting to learn and understand the role of CEO following two years of Covid disruptions.
