Far North rugby league coaching legend Jim Larkin is retiring from coaching the game but will continue with his swimming coaching.
Far North rugby league coaching legend Jim Larkin is retiring from coaching the game but will continue with his swimming coaching.
After decades of being the go-to guy for rugby league in the Far North - including discovering talent such as current Kiwis Captain James Fisher-Harris - Jim Larkin is finally hanging up his coaching cap.
But such has been Larkin’s influence - seven of his young charges havegone on to represent the Kiwis - that a fundraising campaign has been started to help him enjoy his retirement from coaching the game. But he will continue coaching swimming, which he is also renowned for.
Larkin, from Kaitāia, said he first got involved in coaching league almost 30 years ago as he ‘’just loves the game’' but now was the time to give up the coaching and relax a bit more.
‘’It was always about league for me. My uncles played the game and I looked up to them and just really got into it myself,’’ Larkin said.
A good friend and mentor Mike Wikitira first got him involved, asking him to help coach the Northland under-15 team. It meant travelling from Kaitāia to Whangārei for training, but that didn’t deter him. In fact, it got him even more interested in coaching young players to get the best out of them.
‘’I just loved that first time with Mike - and I really must thank him for getting me involved - and it’s that love that kept me doing it. I love seeing when a young person ‘gets it’. You can give them all the instruction and coaching and training, but when you see that look in their eye that says ‘yeah, I’ve got this, I can do it’, and you see their confidence grow and grow it just makes me so proud,’’ he said.
Larkin started playing league when he was 11 years old being involved with the game since then, apart from a four-year break after suffering a major stroke in 2016.
Jim Larkin coached the Northern Alliance under-18 rugby league team back in 2004.
It all started in 1977 at Mount Albert league club in Auckland. In his playing career, he played for Marist, Bay Roskill and Te Atatū, and played rep for Auckland from 1982 to 1985.
He has been instrumental in giving many young men in the Far North an opportunity to go and play league in the NRL. Some current and former charges that have achieved success include Fisher-Harris, Corey Harawira-Naera, Sam McKendry and Linton Price.
Larkin has a keen eye for what it takes to be a good league player and said he can often tell pretty quickly if somebody had what it took.
He gave the example of Fisher-Harris, Kiwis captain and a three-time NRL winner with Penrith Panthers.
Fisher-Harris, from Kohukohu, in the Hokianga played his junior rugby league for the Whangārei Marist Brothers and made the Northland under-15s age-group rep team Larkin was coaching.
He said it was pretty clear that Fisher-Harris would be a top player, but there was no interest in him from the NZ Warriors team in the NRL.
So using his connections with NRL scouts, he got one of them over to have a look at Fisher-Harris, knowing that the scout would also see his potential.
‘’James asked me to get him into Australia as there was not that interest here. The scout - who had earlier come to take Sam McKendry over there from me - came to have a look and said James was the best young talent he’d ever seen,’’ Larkin said.
Jim Larkin is hanging up his rugby league coaching cap after being the go-to guy for the game in the Far North. Larkin has discovered some of the country’s finest league players, including current Kiwis captain James Fisher-Harris.
‘’So I sent James over there as a 17-year-old and now look at him. He’s such a great player and such a great person, it’s just a shame the Warriors didn’t see it.’’
Larkin won’t take any credit for the players’ success, saying it’s the players themselves who do the work to get where they are and he just helps, but he does admit to feeling satisfaction and pride from seeing his young charges excelling and playing on the biggest stage in the world.
‘’League is such a great sport and teaches some valuable lessons for life too, and not everybody will make it to the top - regardless of their talent - if they don’t put in the work.’’
So what’s his advice to a young player wanting to make it to the top of the league world?
‘’Believe in yourself, have confidence, trust your skill and ability, work hard and don’t give up. If they don’t think you are good enough here, go elsewhere and make it, just like James had to.
‘’I got seven players into the Kiwis, all from the Far North, and many more into the professional league. That’s the greatest satisfaction for me.’’
Kiri van Gosliga set up a Givealittle page for Larkin to help in his retirement.
‘’I met Jim when I moved up to the Kaitāia at the end of 2020, a time when the world was in turmoil. Jim has always remained very positive despite what’s going on and is always very encouraging,’’ she said.
Funds raised would go towards dealing with some of his health issues, getting a new car so he can continue his swimming coaching, and, if possible, a trip to Australia to visit his favourite NRL teams.
‘’Jim’s a very humble man and has decided to hang up his rugby league coaching cap due to his swimming coaching commitments. This man needs to receive some recognition for what he has done for rugby league in Te Tai Tokerau since coming up to the area in 1991,’’ van Gosliga said.
‘’Jim has never put his hand out and lives a very humble existence, his stroke and subsequent marriage break up has been financially challenging.’’
