Q: Why did you not want to continue coaching the Steamers?
A: I was going to finish at the end of last season for a variety of reasons but after discussion with the union I agreed to stay on as co-coach with Rodney Gibbs for one more year. The key for me this year was to give an opportunity for Gibby to take over and ideally Cotts (Jeremy Cotter) would have replaced me. So this season was always going to be my last.
Q: What are you most proud of from your five years in charge?
A: I have loved the opportunity to coach with the Bay and the ITM Cup is a great competition that is the launch pad for a career in rugby. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It is always great being part of outstanding footballers' careers, like Lats (Tanerau Latimer), (Luke) Braidy and Sam Cane, who were right at the top of their game.
One guy who came to the Bay several years ago is Cullum Retallick, who has now played 80 games for the Bay. Having seen the growth in Red during that time has been awesome and he was a fantastic captain this year. It has also been pretty satisfying to see guys make national honours from the Bay. This year with Mikey Kainga and Joe Royal, and Kane Hames last year, in the Maori All Blacks, and Sam Cane and Nate (Nathan Harris) in the ABs.
Q: When you came back from coaching in Japan for the 2012 season, the Steamers had finished fourth in the top flight the year before. You said you wanted to continue the progress of recent years. Why did that not happen?
A: The landscape has changed a lot over the last few years. The team in 2009, 10 and 11 had a lot of experience and had gone through together. They were a talented bunch of boys who had played 30-plus games for the Bay.
Most have now gone overseas - a natural progression in the life of a player. But we haven't been able to maintain and rebuild that core base of experienced players. This year, we started with a team that had no blazers in the backs and outside of Culum Retallick (72 games), the next most experienced was Carl Axtens with 20 games. That component of experience going has been critical.
You need to look at some of the broader reasons for that happening. The resources we have available now are different. The training facilities and environment here are great and a lot of good work has gone into that area. But we have had to make significant reductions in the area of player payments and that affects retention and recruitment. This year we spent around $750,000 on players, whereas three years ago it was closer to $1.2 million. The reality is that we can't pay what we used to. This is right across the ITM Cup, but the Bay has felt it more than most. There are a lot of factors involved, but ultimately we need to operate sustainably within our means, and we are still adjusting to the new level. The other key area is not maintaining experience and leadership in captaincy and first-five. We had three captains in three years.
Q: Do you believe the Steamers were ready for the 2014 ITM Championship season?
A: We did our best to prepare the team. This year I was really comfortable with what we did pre-season and how we planned. Gibby did a great job running the HP programme. We knew we had an inexperienced team but we knew we had got them physically in a much better space. Our pre-season showed us we were on track and then the season comes around and the winning of games just wasn't there.
Q: Did you try and get big name players to fill the gaps?
A: No we didn't try to be honest. We did approach a couple of top-drawer experienced backs when it became clear that we were losing the likes of Phil Burleigh and Chris Noakes from the team. Ultimately nothing came of it.
But also there was the fundamental philosophy that was agreed on with the union to contract players from our club competition. I don't think that has been articulated clearly. It is an important philosophy for what Bay of Plenty needs to deliver to create unity across the region. But there is a broader expectation that people want winning teams as well. I think a system that focuses massively on growth and development of young talent, and is able to consistently supply top end footy players to the Steamers, is the only way to go.
Q: What age should we look to bring players into the Steamers fold?
A: I believe we need to focus on bringing through the talent straight from school, ideally from within the region. But if they come from outside, and the Bay can provide them a pathway for rugby and work or study, then they become Bay people at a much younger level, as opposed to recruiting older players from outside the region. This will also help our other rep teams as well.
Development takes time, so we need to commit resource to this area and persevere. But there are consequences to that and performance risk to that. You can buy, or grow, or ultimately it will be a combination of both. You have to accept there will be growing pains with that and this year is part of that. A whole bunch of players are going to be so much better after this year. We need to find three or four Dan Hollinsheads a year and the Bay will be really healthy.
Q: What happened to the backline this season?
A: At the start of the year we had experience. As I said, we lost Noakesy and Burls late in the picture. We had signed Samisoni (Fisilau) at half, we had Teddy Stanaway (midfield) who had relocated to the Bay from Auckland, and we signed first-five Paul (Morris) as well, who is a strong tactical man. So we thought we didn't have a bad group, with young guys finding their feet with some older guys beside them to help guide them through the processes. But we lost those key experienced players through injury and we just did not have the depth in the backs to cover them.
We also lost Kane Hames and Nathan Harris for different reasons, but thankfully we had great depth in the front row, so it was business as usual up front.
Q: Where to from here for Kevin Schuler?
A: Rugby is a massive part of my life. I have been involved with the Bay a long time so would love to stay involved in some capacity.
At the moment I have important family business to work on. I have a family that is right in the middle of school too so it will be great to spend some time involved at school level. I actually had my first post-ITM coaching gig at last week's Bay schools' sevens. My daughter Morgan's Aquinas College team competed. It was their first time playing and they absolutely loved it. And Isaac wants dad to help him with basketball.
The real joy of coaching is helping players develop to the best of their ability - whatever the level.
