Our new coalition Government kicks into gear, rates rises and axed cycle lanes in Auckland’s proposed budget and why medical students here can’t afford to finish thier degrees in the latest NZ Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald / AP Video / Getty
OPINION
Chris Rattue runs through the best and worst from the sporting weekend.
WINNER: The Warriors chasing an All Black... particularly Ardie Savea.
What a wonderful idea, under a proposed NRL salary exemption for recruits from rival codes.
And I’d concur to a point with the Aussie journo who suggestedsuperstar All Black loose forward Ardie Savea as a great target, although at the age of 30 he is past the ideal recruiting age.
It’s hard to see it actually happening, and the All Blacks captaincy could await after his stint in Japan, but let’s dream a little.
A lot of rugby forwards are too big for league.
But Savea is the perfect build, with the ideal attributes and attitude, for the 13-a-side code. All that aggression, leg drive and vitality would be fantastic. There’s never been an All Blacks forward who looks more suited to the NRL.
And signing the world player of the year would be an amazing publicity coup for the Warriors, something not to be sneezed at.
Of the current top New Zealand rugby forwards, the athletic Shannon Frizell shapes as another excellent league candidate.
None of the current All Blacks backs look like particularly good league prospects to me. Will Jordan might be the exception, and Rieko Ioane could also make a good wing.
But it’s pointless splashing out big money on a wing in the NRL. And the Warriors will be wary of anything that upsets their pay structure and team bonds. Overpaying for wings is a league no-no.
Ardie Savea though - that’s another matter. He alone has the wow factor and would turn Mt Smart tickets into gold.
All Blacks John Kirwan, Marc Ellis and Mark Carter were snared by the Warriors in the early days of the club with mixed success.
All Blacks great Kirwan was underrated to a degree, and did a decent try-scoring job. Ellis was a huge crowd favourite. Carter carried a problematic injury - a Warriors insider told me that but for that, he had the makings of a decent NRL forward.
Chasing an All Black is worth looking at again though. Among other things, it would reflect the renewed confidence in the club.
Michael Maguire made the right decision, taking the State of Origin coaching job with New South Wales.
And New Zealand Rugby League also got it right, insisting that he couldn’t coach the Kiwis as well.
What comes next is the difficult part for New Zealand.
Maguire goes out on an incredible high, having coached the Kiwis to a 30-0 victory over Australia.
But test rugby league is a wobbly mess. The stark lack of fanfare around the Kiwis’ historic victory in Hamilton proves that.
State of Origin is a runaway winner and any Aussie would be crazy to turn down a coaching job in it. In contrast, team identities, genuine rivalries and excitement have been lost in the test arena.
New Zealand desperately needs a Kiwi to coach the Kiwis. The lines are already blurred enough, without having a State of Origin coach also guiding the Kiwis.
But top coaches are hard to find.
The obvious candidate is Benji Marshall - a truly great and loyal Kiwi test star - but he’s still got training wheels on at Wests Tigers.
Kiwis head coach Michael Maguire. Photo / Photosport
WINNER: Football and New Zealand sport
Rich American Bill Foley’s securing of an A-league licence for Auckland is tremendous news. Let the fun and games begin.
LOSER: Australian Rugby
A big sponsor is pulling out. Rugby - including on this side of the ditch - should be very afraid. The game is a mess, on and off the field.
WINNER/LOSER: Richie Mo’unga
The Crusaders No. 10 says he is likely to play out his career in Japan.
If so, it brings down the curtain on a test career of unfulfilled promise.
But Mo’unga was still a vital part of New Zealand sport, keeping the flame of magic alive in rugby, a sport now dominated by brutal confrontation.
Richie Mo'unga of New Zealand. Photo / Photosport
WINNER: Terry Venables
Sport has lost one of its great characters, with the passing of the former England great and top club football manager Terry Venables.
Venables, who played twice for England, had a cheeky charm, a constant twinkle in the eye, that could lift a nation.
His varied career included making the pop charts in his 60s with an Elvis Presley song. He also wrote a few novels, leading to a really good TV detective series, Hazell.
Those were the days. They don’t make characters like Terry Venables anymore. Even back then he was a rarity.
