Keeping key players the priority for new coach

Persuading key players in last season's squad to stay loyal to the union will have to be a major priority for whoever is appointed head coach of the Wairarapa-Bush rugby side for 2008.
Inquiries made by the Times-Age yesterday indicate at least three of the leading performers in the Wairarapa-Bush side, which made it to the semi-finals of the 2007 Heartland championship, are already the subject of offers from clubs operating in other provinces, including Air NZ Cup winners Auckland.
And another couple are believed to be seriously considering playing their rugby overseas next year.
It's a situation which could create a similar state of affairs to last season when the then new coaches Graeme Cheetham and Lofty Stevenson found themselves with only half-a-dozen of the Heartland-championship winning squad of the previous year available to them.
To their credit, and to the credit of the players, they dug deep enough to still make it through to the semi-finals but whether the current playing resources in Wairarapa-Bush would allow for a repeat effort if another relatively large group of players became unavailable is another question entirely.
Unfortunately there is no easy answer to the problem. Even if the Heartland championship rules allowed for unions like Wairarapa-Bush to "buy" players they simply don't have the money to compete with, say, Auckland clubs in that regard, not by a long chalk. And just like in all other walks of life, money talks in rugby & big time!!!
It is interesting that of the nine applications for the Wairarapa-Bush coaching job next season only Cheetham is resident within the union.
Another of them is believed to be a former Wairarapa-Bush player who has coached in New Zealand and overseas and it is understood a former Samoan international, who is now coaching in Wellington, is one of at least two contenders from the capital
The popular belief in Wairarapa-Bush rugby circle seems to be Cheetham should get the job for two main reasons.
First of all there is his background of success at club level with Eketahuna, which he guided to three senior first-division titles, and then his debut season with Stevenson as joint coach of Wairarapa-Bush produced better results than most would have anticipated.
Secondly, the Wairarapa-Bush union have often talked about the need to provide pathways not only for their players but for their coaches and indeed have spent considerable monies sending local coaches to training courses so as to upskill their talents in that sphere.
So if they elected to look beyond Wairarapa-Bush for their coach when an applicant of Cheetham's ability was available to them they would be sending the wrong messages, wouldn't they?
Cheetham, however, is not counting his chickens over his prospects of being given the head coach position. Rather, he is "optimistic" his past record will count in his favour but no more than that.
"It's not up to me to make the decision so all you can do is hope that those who do see it your way," he said.
Aiding the Cheetham cause should be his move to have another local, Mark Rutene, as his assistant coach.
Rutene is one of the younger coaching brigade in the Wairarapa-Bush region and has already proved successful in the role, both with the Carterton club and Wairarapa-Bush age group sides.