Graham and Raewyn Henry. File photo / Bradley Ambrose
All blacks coach Graham Henry has revealed that a certain netball coach also has a good eye for rugby players - saying he calls his wife Raewyn "the fifth selector" and often turns to her for coaching advice.
"She knows the game and can watch a game at
home on TV that I might not have seen because I was away at some other game," Graham told Welsh newspaper the Western Mail last week.
"She'll make some pertinent comments about who played well, and when I get to watching that game myself, I'll often think, 'Mmm, she was right'."
Raewyn coached the Welsh netball team for four years, as well as Welsh and Auckland provincial teams.
She has spoken before about her rock-solid rugby background, telling the New Zealand Herald in 2005 the men in her life were all devoted to the oval ball. "I'm quite comfortable in a rugby environment. I was the only daughter of a father who played and brothers who played, so rugby's in the family."
But the coaching advice did not work two ways - she knew much more about rugby than her husband did about netball.
Graham sounded quite pleased with his lot, telling the Herald: "She knows her sport and she grew up in a rugby family, so that was very good selection."
Laurie Mains' wife AnneMarie said a coach's wife was a "very important" factor in a team's success but thought wives should not hand out specific advice.
"The wife is the one at home and they will have to deal with creating a good environment at home for the coach to operate properly... For a coach to perform, to have the right attitude on the field, you will have to have a good support structure," she said.
"Because the buck stops with the coach, and the coach is the person who really makes the decision, [a wife is] I think sort of like a sounding board, just to clear the mind, just to say a few things."
