Rugby league: Six applicants for Kiwi coaching job

By PETER JESSUP

The New Zealand Rugby League's deadline for applications for Kiwi coach passed yesterday with six official approaches.

The candidates will not to be revealed until Monday, but Warriors coach Daniel Anderson is favoured.

He was with his team in Mt Maunganui late yesterday and drove to Auckland for a speaking engagement. He could not be contacted but has said all week that he has not had time to fully consider the matter.

Nor could club chief executive Mick Watson be tracked down to throw any light on matters.

NZRL boss Selwyn Pearson, who was yesterday re-elected unopposed for a further two-year term, was at a function in Wellington and said he could not contact the rest of the board to tell them of late applications, so felt obliged to hang on to all names.

All of this suggested the trio were to meet to thrash out details of how the jobs of Warriors and Kiwi coach could be merged so that Anderson could take up the offer the NZRL made to him a fortnight ago.

Insiders suggest Anderson has told Pearson directly that he is interested and it is a matter of satisfying his present employers that there will be no detrimental effect on the club.

The best solution would be for him to take Warriors assistant coach Tony Kemp with him, leaving the NZRL to pick up the administration and to help with roles such as video review.

Last season, when the Warriors went to the grand final, Anderson and Kemp were involved with tasks such as sorting out training venues. Relieve them of those jobs and there would be more time for the football.

Last year's assistant Gerard Stokes is a definite starter for Kiwi coach, as is a triumvirate of Graeme Norton, Graham Lowe and Brian McClennan. Gary Kemble is likely.

A fifth candidate would have to be a Bartercard Cup coach - maybe John Ackland from champs Mt Albert - or former Kiwi Graeme West. It's believed the sixth is last year's coach Gary Freeman, who may have waited until the last minute.

To confuse things further, the NZRL board is changing. Selwyn Bennett is the new deputy president after he was the only nominee from the districts. But he has been appointed for just the one year that was left on the term of retiring deputy Bill Robb.

Director Paul Rosanowski also has one year to serve, leaving three seats up for vote.

Five-year Kiwi coach Frank Endacott is one of seven people competing for those spots and should be a shoo-in, who will bring valuable knowledge of what goes on with the elite teams to the board table.

Also standing are sitting board members Keith Pitman and Bill McEntee as well as Phil Campbell from Auckland, Andrew Chalmers from Rotorua, who was co-opted onto the board to replace Robb, Paul Flanagan from Nelson and Shirley Luke from Canterbury. She would be first woman on the board should she win selection.

Anderson was apparently pleased with the effort put in by players at the Mt Maunganui camp.

With no injuries, only Richard Villasanti and Brent Webb are not available for the opening game against Newcastle next Sunday. So a first team may look like this:

Motu Tony, Justin Murphy, Clinton Toopi, John Carlaw, Francis Meli, Lance Hohaia, Stacey Jones, Jerry Seuseu, P. J. Marsh, Mark Tookey, Logan Swann, Awen Guttenbeil, Monty Betham (capt); interchange Iafeta Palea'aesina, Wairangi Koopu, Mark Robinson, Sione Faumuina.