Rugby will be the main beneficiary from Steve Hurley ending more than a decade as selector of the Wairarapa senior tennis team.
Hurley confirmed yesterday his decision to take a break from tennis, both as a regional one player for Masterton and as representative selector, was prompted in part by a
wish to further his coaching career in rugby.
"It'll be nice to have a break over the summer months and see more of the family before rugby kicks in," Hurley said.
Rugby coaching and Hurley are a good fit, as evidenced by his guiding Carterton to the Wairarapa-Bush premier division club title a few seasons back.
But while his name has been bandied about as a future coach of Wairarapa-Bush's Heartland championship side, Hurley isn't prepared to add any fuel to that fire.
"Time will tell. Right now, that's about as far as I will go," Hurley said when asked to expand on his rugby coaching ambitions.
The highlight of Hurley's stint as Wairarapa senior tennis selector came a couple of years ago when for the first time ever they went a whole representative season without defeat, despite taking on bigger centres to whom they had often lost heavily in the past, such as Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Hutt Valley, Wanganui and Manawatu.
Making that effort more memorable for Steve Hurley was that several players who been part of his Wairarapa squads since their younger days were still there to enjoy the success, such as Marcus Daniell, Jono Hurley, Matt Spooner and Katie Wyeth.
Unfortunately, however, Steve Hurley can't see that triumph being repeated any time soon, with playing resources in Wairarapa so depleted.
He even wonders if the province will be able to field a senior team in 2010 capable of being competitive on the representative scene.
"A lot of the regulars are no longer available and the question is whether we have the depth to adequately replace them," he said.
"Some hard times lie ahead but then again that's happened before and we've hung in there, so maybe we can do it again."
