David Leggat: Hammett knows that it's time to clear house

Mark Hammett. Photo / Getty Images

It's New Zealand rugby's latest blame game: where to point the finger, who to spear over the Hurricanes shambles which erupted with red cards for two Super Rugby centurions this week.

Rather than scouring about in shadowy corners for reasons why Mark Hammett and his management team have decided they don't want All Blacks Andrew Hore and Ma'a Nonu next season, it may have come down to something far simpler, and not a particularly new concept either.

When Hammett, after having flirted with the notion of joining the staff of the wretched Melbourne Rebels, was given the Hurricanes job, he was saddled with players not necessarily of his choice.

Therefore this season would always be one of figuring out what - and who - worked, and what, and who, didn't.

He has seen his 32-year-old captain Hore produce a distinctly average campaign and evidently having found himself on a different wavelength to Nonu and Hore, the decisions may have been deceptively easy to reach.

There were major question marks in his mind over discipline. If Hammett felt he'd given it his best shot in terms of meshing the minds and it wasn't working, and if he wanted to build his own structure next year, it becomes simple to follow.

So Hore likes a midweek beer. So what? He isn't alone in that. Nonu is a quirky personality.

But if they're not reading from the same page as the coach, and best efforts have been made to make it work, move them on. Hammett probably figured he'd given it his best shot. Time to look to the future.

The best sports teams have a decisive leader, clear in his thinking on what he wants and expects from his players.

Among the criticisms of the Hurricanes this season is that the free-wheeling ways of old - by turn entertaining and infuriating, but not ultimately successful - have been replaced by a confused style, lacking coherency.

Hammett was clearly frustrated. After the wretched loss to the Rebels on March 25, he told the Herald's Wynne Gray that "we represent a lot of people who make sacrifices for this team in a hard environment and we have to repay these people. It is about putting our hands up, not our hands out.

"We have to go deeper into some team building and go back to players who are willing to fight for their team."

It was said, apparently, with a mix of resignation and disappointment. The die may have been cast even before halfway through the elongated campaign.

Players don't like hard truths being aired publicly. There will have been grumbling in the corners of the changing room.

Hammett has clearly decided it was time to clean house.

He'll stand or fall by the decision, but he's fully entitled to make it. Hammett, like any coach, is defined by results so he must take the steps he sees fit to get them.

The argument that Nonu, especially, puts bums on Westpac Stadium seats has hardly been borne out this year.

The Hurricanes board's communication skills have been poor. Even if there are solid contractual reasons limiting what they can say about the high-profile departures, those who have thrilled to Nonu's tackle-busting best, who have paid good money and invested their time and minds into the franchise for years, deserve some consideration.

After the loss to the Bulls in Napier on April 2, Nonu admitted that "I'm probably the lowest I've been in rugby ... I just feel terrible to be honest."

Difficult as it may seem now, perhaps Nonu - possibly a Chief or Blue next year - and Hore, who seems destined for the Highlanders, may relish a change of environment for their last hurrahs.

Hammett will have to get it right for next year. It will be on his terms, with his players.

He has been cut some slack in his first year, but that card won't be available next year. Still, you can't accuse Hammett of taking the soft way out.