N 8 Matt Matich (centre) has not yet confirmed whether he will take the field for the Taniwha in 2019. Photo / File
Good news for Northland's club rugby hopefuls - the Taniwha are looking to promote from within.
Northland Rugby has just released its list of 22 contracted players, up from about 16 last year, who were keen to sign on for 2019 after the Taniwha's Mitre10 Cup campaign to the Championship semifinals this year.
However, this year's crop featured seven players who had risen through the ranks of club rugby in the region and proven themselves to be included in the provincial competition.
Northland coach Derren Witcombe said strong prospects from the club level such as lock Temo Mayanavanua and loose forward Sam McNamara had been introduced to fill the spaces left by experienced players such as Peter Breen, Phil Kite and Howard Sililoto.
"This year, we've filled those spots with young guys who have shown their talent in club rugby so it was really pleasing that we were able to give local guys a go.
"That's pretty much our philosophy to have a local team and being able to re-contract most of them shows a bit of love back to the clubs but it also gives us consistency moving forward and enables us to work on improving the next level down."
Witcombe said showing Northland Rugby's commitment to these players would help them assimilate with the level of rugby required and succeed at the top level.
"It gives them some assurity, as players. We've committed to them so it's just up to them to perform and up to us to get them to perform."
In addition to those who were fully contracted, a select group of players had been given provincial union development contracts or PUDs which were on a weekly basis for players who still had something to show to earn a full contract.
Witcombe said the local focus was important to him as a coach so he could grow the talent base in the region.
"There's kids from schools being poached by Auckland and we want to show there is a real local pathway for these guys.
"We're not going to stop all of then leaving but we want to limit that and having a full-time academy manager in place enables us to make sure we have a good player development structure."
Witcombe said the union needed to reflect the trust shown by the local clubs and continue to help improve Northland's club rugby scene.
"We need to embed that trust because it's happened to them before in the province where the union has done it for a couple of years then other coaches have come in and players from other areas have come in."
He said if players from other regions were to be signed, they needed to be "difference-makers", who gave something unique to the team.
One of these out-of-region signings was former NZ under-20 lock Sam Caird. The Waikato-based player was part of the NZ under-20 team to win the world championships in 2017 and Witcombe said Caird would bring something new to the Northland set-up.
"He's two metres tall, you can't coach that.
"He's a good man and he's a good character, he drove up here just to meet with us and he really wants an opportunity."
Witcombe said Caird was a player you wouldn't find in Northland and showed a lot of promise for the future after being offered the chance to attend several Blues training days.
Notable omissions from the list of 22 contracted players were Northland stalwarts Matt Matich, Kara Pryor, Matty Wright and Rene Ranger.
Both Matich and Pryor had been unavailable to sign contracts because they were looking for opportunities overseas. Regarding Ranger, Witcombe said there was interest from both parties but both were waiting until they were through the contractual process to confirm Ranger's availability.
In terms of Wright, Witcombe said the attacking back had some shifts to make to earn his contract.
"If he makes the shifts that we want him to make fitness-wise and some of it's around injuries, but he needs to turn up in the club season fit and ready to go."
Lock Murray Douglas and first-five Myles Thoroughgood had not signed on with Northland for 2019.
Despite the pending contracts, Witcombe believed this crop of players could deliver the goals set for the team.
"In our eyes, this year is actually a better finish than last year. We made the semifinals both years but through the inexperience we had this year, it was actually better.
"It's how we develop them from here on in. They've got potential, it's just about how hard they want to work really."
Witcombe said he had his eyes set on breaking into the Premiership in the next two to three years after the younger players had built up the necessary experience.
"I'd love to be able to say we're going to make it this year, but we've got some ground to make and more depth throughout the franchise, hence why we want to make it local."