Rugby League: Freeman hits back at tour criticism

National coach Gary Freeman says there is no morale problem in his squad and he wants to keep his job.

Freeman's two-year contract is up for review after the Kiwis' tour of Britain and France, with the option of another two years if both parties are satisfied.

Last weekend the Kiwis lost their first test match against Great Britain in nearly 10 years, drawing the series after a win and then a draw.

Freeman said in Paris yesterday that he wanted to keep his job.

"I did read an article in which Selwyn Pearson, the president [of the NZ Rugby League], said he would be speaking to the senior players and I welcome that 100 per cent, because I know that I've got the full support of all the senior players on this tour."

Pearson said on Monday that he thought Freeman had "gone okay" but added he would not try to influence whether Freeman kept the job after the review.

"I know that the players are happy with me," Freeman said.

"They're a great bunch of guys. I heard some reports that they've been unhappy and, I must say, it's so untrue.

"I don't know where it's come from because this team have been the happiest that I've been involved in, and I've played in a few teams and toured with a few teams."

The tour has been beset with trouble, with several players having to be sent home with injuries.

The team were so short of players for the third test against Great Britain that Freeman was forced to call up the recently- retired Sean Hoppe.

"Now I know Sean copped a lot of criticism about me bringing him into the team but, you know, the way he played, you've got to take your hat off to him. I thought he did a fantastic job," Freeman said.

"He ran the ball up like he hadn't even been away from international football, and if anyone can sit back there and say that Sean Hoppe didn't do his piece in that game, they must have been watching a different game."

One of the players invalided home, Clinton Toopi, fractured a wrist, and will be out of league for several months.

Freeman initially said the injury had happened during the second test, but it later emerged that Toopi was injured in a bar-room scuffle with a team-mate at the Kiwis' hotel in Leeds.

"Clinton Toopi walked into my room on the Sunday and spoke to me along with the doctor," Freeman said.

"I questioned how he did it. He gave me an answer which I then gave to a reporter.

"I then found out when I sat down with the doctor and the physio later that afternoon, after we were going to send Clinton back because he couldn't play, that it was the wrong answer ... and we made a statement further down the track."

The story had "got a bit blown out of proportion," Freeman said.

He was in "total control" of the players and there was not excessive drinking on tour.

However, he said, he could not control what happened when he was asleep.

* The Kiwis will not have to worry about former Aucklanders Vincent Wulf and Artie Shead deciphering their calls in Sunday's test against France.

The expatriates were named by French coach Gilles Dumas in his original 20-strong training squad, but both have failed to make the final line-up.

There are only five survivors from the French side who lost 36-0 in Auckland in June last year - the last time the two nations met.

- NZPA