Keen battle for Harbour coaching job

By CHRIS RATTUE

Assistant coach Allan Pollock and manager Russell Jones will go head to head as North Harbour seek a coach to replace the retired Wayne Shelford.

They will be in a cluster of candidates chasing a two-year contract as Harbour moves to turn the job from a part-time one into a fulltime role.

As part of that change, the union would reshuffle its budget by reverting the team manager's job back to a part-time position. This decision should be made by December.

Two overseas coaching contenders have already contacted the union. Other potential starters are Harbour B coach John McKittrick, who is likely to have former All Black loose forward Kevin Schuler as his running mate. Schuler has been coaching in Japan.

Another possible contender is Milan Yelavich, a former coach of the highly successful Takapuna club, who has been in Ireland.

North Harbour is keen to promote from within and Pollock and Jones shape as two leading contenders.

But chief executive Doug Rollerson said: "Nothing is pre-determined. We will start with a clean sheet.

"Our goal is to make North Harbour rugby the premier sporting organisation in New Zealand. Our potential is huge and we want someone who can look even beyond where people think we can go."

Both Pollock and Jones want to be head coach. They were two of the key figures in this year's campaign, which ended with the semifinal loss against Otago last Saturday.

The job with one of the country's top unions, albeit one outside the Super 12 franchise bases, should be keenly sought.

The union's hierarchy, rather than Shelford and Pollock, are understood to have instigated the appointment of Jones as the NPC team's first fulltime manager, when he replaced Simon Poll for this season.

There were suggestions then that those at the top saw Jones as a future NPC coach. A Harbour insider said yesterday that Jones "has a lot of support."

He has been through the Harbour system, assisting Peter Thorburn with the NPC side in 1997, coaching the Colts in 1996, and the B team in 1998/99. He also co-coached the Blues under-23 side with Auckland's Bruce Robertson.

Jones, a loose forward in 70-odd games for North Harbour, is a forward coach. Pollock controlled the backs in his partnership with Shelford.

While North Harbour are still to win the first division or Ranfurly Shield, Pollock and Shelford were successful in many respects.

They kept the side well in contention for a title without the benefit of big money and influence, which the five Super 12 bases enjoy.

Finishing second on this year's NPC table was a major achievement, especially after battling on without their All Black forwards Troy Flavell and Ron Cribb.

North Harbour are expected to have an increased representation in the Blues squad.

Pollock's prospects would have been enhanced if North Harbour had been more competitive in the semifinal at North Harbour Stadium. Their problems last Saturday were rooted in a forward pack that was under the hammer and the backs were indecisive and failed to kick their side into good positions.

Pollock, after cutting his teeth over the past four years, is not prepared to act as an assistant to Jones.

Pollock does not have a running mate at this stage.

With Jones also after the prime position, this would seem to rule out the pair working together. Jones has an unnamed assistant in mind, saying only that it was not his close ally Thorburn.

"Coaching is really my passion and coaching North Harbour has been an ambition of mine."