Cheetham ?the man? says former coach

A FORMER Wairarapa-Bush rugby coach has come out batting for Eketahuna stalwart Graeme Cheetham to fill the role for the 2007 season.
Cheetham , who guided Eketahuna to three successive victories at senior first division club level, and who has had success with the Wairarapa-Bush colts side in the interim, is the only local amongst the eight applications for the job.
Four of the other seven are currently overseas..
It's not just the fact he is a local which has Ritchie Robertson, who co-coached Wairarapa-Bush with the late Boss Hemi during the 1990's, firmly in Cheetham's court, but he believes it should certainly count in his favour.
He said the Heartland championship, which Wairarapa-Bush won under the stewardship of Peter Russell last season, was aimed at enhancing the profile of local players, and therefore it made good sense to also have a local as their coach, especially one with Cheetham's credentials.
"He (Cheetham) has done the hard yards on the club scene, and everything points to him being ready to go the next step," he said.
"You can't fault his record??.he's got to rate highly in that respect."
Robertson said Cheetham's knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of local players should also be to his advantage.
"He has been very close to the action at club level for a long time now so the homework won't be difficult for him, will it?" he said.
Robertson said Peter Russell's success in the coaching role underlined just how valuable it was to have coaches who understood Wairarapa-Bush rugby, Russell having played for Greytown before moving south to Wellington.
"We don't need coaches who are only coming into the area because they want to improve their own cv's, we want people who have the interests of Wairarapa-Bush at heart, that's the key," he said.
Wairarapa-Bush union executive officer Phil Taylor yesterday declined to officially name the eight applicants for the vacant coaching position ,but he did say many of them had outstanding qualifications .
The cv's of all applicants are currently being viewed by a panel consisting of former All blacks selector Lane Penn, WBRFU board members Bryan Weatherstone and Charlie Meyer, and Taylor himself, and they will come up with a short list of probably three who will then go through the interview process.
Taylor expects that short list to be completed by early next week and is optimistic of the new coach being named within a fortnight.