Oliver denies alleged role in Mains' downfall

Anton Oliver

Anton Oliver has been painted as an arch-instigator of the troubles that dominated the Highlanders 2003 season, but claims players were coming to him for guidance rather than him seeking their support to topple Laurie Mains.

Oliver's role in Mains' eventual downfall following the 2003 season has always been ambiguous. In Anton Oliver Inside, the Highlanders and All Black hooker says, in a chapter titled 'Highlanders Hullabaloo', that: "By the end of the 2003 Super 12 competition the Highlanders franchise was an acrimonious mess."

It's clear Oliver blames Mains for the bulk of the problems, but doesn't spare captain Taine Randell from criticism either, saying his attitude during this period left him "puzzled" and "dumbfounded".

"After the 2002 season, many of the players were extremely unhappy; some were disillusioned. They felt Laurie was too often petty, needlessly picky about some matters, and was manipulative in ways that frequently left them feeling uneasy and insecure."

Senior players thrashed out some issues with Mains at the end of that season but were dismayed to find 2003 heading down the same path. They were flogged at trainings but little time was put into game plans and rugby-specific work.

"For us, then, it was business with Laurie, and the senior players thought that he had broken promises made in November the previous year. This is where the rot started to set in."

Mains would often call snap team meetings without prior knowledge before trainings and would bawl out those who were late. He also had an obsession with food that Oliver found bordered on the ridiculous.

"The rule was no fat, no cheese, no eggs, no mayonnaise, no butter, but margarine was okay, for some reason... I found Laurie's food-restriction fixation excessive and plainly ridiculous."

Otago chief executive John Hornbrook would later describe conditions inside the camp as being like that at Dachau (concentration camp), a statement Oliver found offensive, but there was no end to the pettiness of Mains, according to Oliver.

Players were asked to fill out log books if they left the hotel, detailing where they were going and why. In Sydney they were not allowed to walk in barefeet along Coogee Beach for fear of hypodermic needles and in Durban they weren't allowed to swim in the sea that was 300m from there rooms.

At Durban they went to a restaurant where they were told they could eat anything except for shellfish, only to see Mains return to his table with a crayfish.

There was also dissatisfaction among the team that Mains' wife Annemarie, the team's media liaison, travelled all the time with the team and flew first-class with Laurie while some injured players "missed out".

The little things were mounting up and it was clear to some that their was going to be an exodus out of Otago the following year unless Mains went.

Oliver had previously met with NZRU's local professional development officer Alex McKenzie to outline concerns. Oliver also felt concerned that Mains could oust him from the side as a disruptive force and sought to clarify his position legally.

Matters reached a head in Durban when Oliver says Mains roasted the team and threatened to quit if they didn't want to play for him.

"To me it was melodrama. He gave us an ultimatum," Oliver writes. "We had to decide whether we wanted him to be coach or not ...

"This was early in the evening, around 6pm, when we were all about to go out for dinner. I remember thinking, I don't know what the others are thinking but wouldn't it be fantastic if the consensus was to tell Laurie we didn't want him.

"Taine Randell saw that he had to do something and to general astonishment all round acted as if he was completely oblivious to it all ...

"I said that Laurie's behaviour was absurd and unacceptable, that he went way beyond the limits. A couple of other guys said the same thing. Basically, Taine wanted the meeting to end and for there to be no further discussion or conflict."

The Highlanders actually beat the Sharks that week, but it didn't stop Oliver cornering Randell in the hotel pool later.

"I assumed Taine must have perturbed, to say the least, and that he would have been wondering what the hell was going on. But no, Taine said he believed Laurie had the goods, that he was right, and that he believed in the approach Laurie had taken ... There is only one word for my feelings at that point: I was dumbfounded."

By this time word was leaking out, in the New Zealand Herald in particular, that all was not well in Highlander country. Mains asked Oliver if he was involved in the story. He wasn't.

The Highlanders beat the Blues shortly after and word spread that Mains had been offered another year.

Oliver knew an exodus was on the cards so it was decided to contact Rob Nichol of the Players' Association to warn him he might be called upon to look after their interests.

Shortly before the final game of the season Simon Maling, Tony Brown, Carl Hoeft and Kelvin Middleton rang around 23 players contracted to Otago to meet at Oliver and Maling's Ross St, Dunedin, flat.

It was decided to put together a document detailing the concerns.

"The hitch was no one wanted to write it. I didn't offer to do it. In the end we decided what we wanted to say and I was asked to write it up."

Nichol was at the meeting, but Randell wasn't invited.

"We saw him as having divided loyalties and that would have put him in a difficult position."

McKenzie was also invited to observe and make sure no player was put under any undue pressure.

Nichol reported that the players were happy with the document handed out while McKenzie said only Brad Fleming, Tom Willis and Danny Lee showed any hesitancy.

After the Highlanders lost to the Reds in their final match, Mains announced his retirement.

It could have been the end but it wasn't. Hornbrook made his ill-advised Dachau comments and Mains sought legal redress.

Stories began to emerge that painted Oliver as a malcontent disturbing the peace in Otago. He found it hard to take.

"The truth is that in 2003, players were coming to me; I wasn't going to them. For some time, if anything, I was trying to back away ...

"Clearly, some rugby people of consequence had, and still have, a lot of time for Laurie's abilities," Oliver writes.

"All I can do is record what I felt about what I saw and experienced under Mains.

"In the end, my difficulties with Laurie cost me a great deal."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY