KEY POINTS:
Matthew Ridge has waded into the spat between Kiwis captain Roy Asotasi and the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL), saying Kiwis coach Gary Kemble should be sacked and replaced with Australian Wayne Bennett.
Asotasi may lose the Kiwis captaincy for his latest criticism of Kemble, with a decision
possible as early as the NZRL board meeting on Friday.
Asotasi was reprimanded yesterday for saying he and his Kiwi teammates had no confidence in Kemble - the second time he has taken aim at the coach.
Last November on the disastrous tour of Britain, Asotasi said the new coach was out of his depth and had not won the respect of his players.
But Kemble was last month reappointed by the NZRL despite winning just one of his first five tests.
"A lot of us felt that Gary Kemble wasn't up to the task," Asotasi told NZPA on Monday.
"For the NZRL to reappoint him ... they might have thought they made the right decision and we'll leave it up to them at the moment, but it's definitely an issue with the players ."
He refused to rule out a player revolt.
Broncos mentor Wayne Bennett should be appointed to save New Zealand's World Cup campaign, Asotasi said .
Former Kiwis fullback Ridge agreed, saying the situation was now untenable , The Dominion Post reported today.
"The players have got to have confidence in the ability of the person coaching them and they obviously don't have confidence in Gary Kemble," he said.
"If your players don't have confidence in you then why would you want to coach them?
"I've got huge raps on Wayne Bennett but they should have just done it in the first place - if he was up for the job, just give him the job."
But NZRL chairman Ray Haffenden said yesterday Asotasi's "second strike" may have cost him the captaincy.
He did confirm that the NZRL was keen to appoint Bennett in a support role for the World Cup after starting negotiations late last year.
Bennett impressed the Kiwi hierarchy and players when he took over on a one-off All Golds clash in England late last year.
Haffenden said he was surprised by Asotasi's "inappropriate and unacceptable" comments. Nor was Asotasi remorseful when Haffenden rang him yesterday.
The first sign of Asotasi-Kemble strain was evident during the UK tour when New Zealand were whitewashed 3-0 by Great Britain, including a 44-0 loss.
New Zealand finished the tour with an unconvincing 22-14 win over minnows France.
No Kiwis team member was commenting yesterday but Haffenden confirmed former captain David Kidwell had also phoned him to voice concerns over Kemble.
Kemble was not returning calls.
New Zealand's next match is against the Kangaroos in Sydney on May 9.
- NZPA
