International coaching guns-for-hire are commonplace in the men's game, but Japan rugby has broken important ground with their female import.
Under McKenzie, the Sakura Fifteen have made massive strides this year with impressive results against Australia, Fiji, South Africa and Ireland.
As McKenzie marshals her troops at a fast filling Eden Park on Saturday evening, it will raise the question: When will New Zealand rugby take a leap and put a woman in charge of the Black Ferns?
It's also an issue that sports such as football and hockey need to address.
It's also an issue that sports such as football and hockey need to address.
4) Laver Cup (aka Roger Federer's farewell), Saturday, about 7.30am – Sky
Switzerland's Roger Federer attends a training session ahead of the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 in London, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. Photo / AP
The 41-year-old tennis legend is gliding away from the professional game, with not a hair or too many shots out of place hopefully.
Twenty grand slams and widespread adulation have been neatly accumulated, in a career that has redefined tennis elegance.
And if Federer gets his dream departure, he will have pugnacious fellow legend Rafael Nadal as his Team Europe doubles partner when they take on Team World.
Federer is only good for one doubles game in his London farewell, with the Laver Cup rules set to be tweaked allowing that. Who would dare turn down The Fed?
What a moment.
The fabulous Federer-Nadal-Novak Djokovic era is over, having survived far longer than almost anyone predicted. It has involved perhaps the most amazing interplay in sporting history, mirroring heavyweight boxing's Ali-Frazier-Foreman-Norton era of the 1970s.
3) Joseph Parker v Joe Joyce, Sunday, about 10.30am – Sky Arena/Sky Sport Now
Parker's fans will hope he walks smack bang into something a bit more solid than the Kiwi often produces, helping give the Aucklander one more shot at the big time. Photo / Matchroom boxing.
If you've got a spare $40 and have always wanted to watch an "interim" heavyweight title fight then this is your moment.
Two fairly ordinary Joes by world standards will go toe-to-toe in Manchester, desperate to prove that somewhere, somehow, they are worth a giant payday down the line.
At the age of 30, Kiwi Parker is the been-there-done-that guy trying to show he's not on the slide, while Joyce is a 37-year-old on the rise. Go figure.
But that's boxing.
Joyce is a former amateur star who likes to keep moving forward behind his jab. Parker's fans will hope he walks smack bang into something a bit more solid than the Kiwi often produces, helping give the Aucklander one more shot at the big time.
Although in boxing, there's always one more shot at the big time.
Joyce was older than Parker is now when he turned professional, and the battle-hardened Kiwi has some great influences around him. Okay – this means he's mates with Tyson Fury.
"One day I'm going to be the complete package," Parker said this week, like a frisky teen.
Boxers, they're never short of a line. You've got to love them.
In a fit of optimism, this column predicts (guesses wildly) a Parker victory in eight.
2) All Blacks v Wallabies, Saturday, 7.05pm - Sky
All Blacks fans can cheer their new hero, with French referee Mathieu Raynal one of the assistant referees at Eden Park.
I'm sure he'll get a standing ovation, after his Melbourne heroics.
More importantly though – who's the referee on Saturday night? Maybe even more importantly – who's the TMO?
Answer: Andrew Brace will be the man in the middle. He was born in Wales, played for Belgium, now represents Ireland, plays a mean violin and once revealed he wears the same undies for every match.
Sad to say, Brace represents the uglier side of modern sport, having been taken off a European game two years ago because of the horrid online abuse he was receiving from French Twitter accounts.
Brace had riled some French supporters by missing a couple of vital knock-ons as England beat France in extra time. His TMO that day was a certain Ben Whitehouse of Wales, who is also the TMO for this Eden Park clash.
Whitehouse's dad Nigel was a test referee, and Ben also followed his father into the police force.
Having looked at the main players for Saturday night's game, what about the actual players?
These Wallabies are a hard side to judge. They lack the star power of old – only Marika Koroibete would rate in an all-time debate. Yet their Melbourne comeback and some other results suggest the sum can be better than the parts.
The All Blacks, meanwhile, are still trying to prove that they know what they are up to a year out from the World Cup. The return of a re-energised Ardie Savea on Saturday night will help cover up any cracks.
The other big factor is Eden Park, where the Wallabies' last victory was in 1986. Hoodoos are made to be broken, but probably not this weekend.
1) All Whites v Socceroos, Sunday, 4pm – Sky
TV might be the best seat in the house – Eden Park is not a great football stadium.
But the thrill of seeing Premier League striker Chris Wood and the All Whites in the flesh - and this team can really play - will be more than adequate compensation for those who head to Sandringham.
Home games have become an endangered species for the national football team. It means a rare sighting at an inadequate stadium is as much a reminder of everything that has gone wrong for football, as it is a celebration.
The stuff-ups include an unlucky defeat this year against Costa Rica in the World Cup qualifier, forcing our most promising generation of players to wait for their moment on the world stage, and denying a few old veterans a spine-tingling farewell in Qatar.
It means the home of rugby will provide a goodbye for the retiring Winston Reid, whose crowning All Whites achievement came at the outset of his career at the 2010 World Cup tournament in South Africa.
Reid's last-gasp header to draw the match against Slovakia brought New Zealand their first finals point and set up an impossible-to-believe draw against reigning world champions Italy in the next match.
Twelve years on, the emergence of players such as Liberato Cacace and the expanded World Cup in 2026 means a different future lies ahead for the All Whites.
Hopefully this two-game series against Australia is an entrée of sorts, to a far more satisfying main football dish.
