Peter Jessup: 'Bluey' is Kiwis' man

The New Zealand Rugby League should look to the future and appoint Brian McClennan as Kiwis coach.

He is the top candidate. He has the best coaching success and a long background as player and coach, he also has smart people with good knowledge of the game around him.

McClennan has won competitions with teams that were not fancied. He's swapped clubs from Hibiscus Coast to Mt Albert and won again. He's been beaten in finals and come back to win them. He attracts class players because they know they will be well-coached.

More than anything, though, it is McClennan, as assistant to out-going coach Daniel Anderson, who has taken the NZRL pathway to the Kiwis. If he is not chosen, what message does that send to every other coach striving on that pathway?

The NZRL has appointed deputy chairman Selwyn Bennett to head a selection committee which will include other board members and outside expertise as deemed necessary but no current or immediate past players as has been the case in recent years.

Gary Freeman's appointment is the example they should look not to repeat. A great Kiwis player, Freeman was plucked from running the Penrith under-16s and soon showed he knew little about man-management, the media, business or other considerations that come with coaching an international side.

Anderson was the best man available when he took over from Freeman - the Warriors had just played the NRL grand final - but he himself says the job should be held by a New Zealander. He wouldn't have taken the position if he'd thought at the time that there was a New Zealander who had been good enough. But now he has faith in "Bluey" McClennan and backs coach James Leuluai.

Anderson said he wouldn't have taken up the job at St Helens prior to finishing his NZRL contract through the Tri-Nations if he felt things were not healthy from elite development to the Kiwis level. But this kind of opportunity did not come too often and he had "an itch I have to scratch" in getting back to daily coaching.

He owed league a lot, he said, "especially in this country".

NZRL chairman Selwyn Pearson said New Zealand league owed Anderson too. Though the departure was a shock, it had always been likely.

Pearson said he'd had some "fascinating" calls inquiring about the Kiwis coaching job.

Tawera Nikau is running a campaign but should not be considered. On coaching credentials alone, he doesn't cut it. Nikau once turned down the Kiwis jersey - that should be his lot.

Nikau has suggested he will lure Stacey Jones from international retirement but Jones would not be selected on current form. He has played one outstanding game this season, against Brisbane; Lance Hohaia was great in his one chance at halfback against the Sharks and at 22 he is the future, along with Thomas Leuluai or Benji Marshall.

And if Jones had trouble with Anderson, there's no way he could handle the acerbic Chris Anderson who Nikau has said he'd get on board if appointed. Under the right coach, though, a fit, in-form Jones would be the perfect foil for all that youthful exuberance but lack of experience.

Graham Lowe said he'd do the job if asked. He shouldn't be.

Graeme Norton has been mentioned as a possible candidate. He took New Zealand to the world nines title and is greatly respected among the older players, as well as in league circles, for his ability as a coach. He was wrongly overlooked in the past and is only coaching schoolboy level now. But he is a friend of McClennan and could provide good support.

It would be good to find a means of harvesting and distilling the ideas of the likes of the Nortons, Lowes and Nikauses, Tony Kemp, John Ackland, Tony Iro, Terry Hermansson and Frank Endacott. In the past the NZRL has tended to discard experience because of personality.

But unless Wayne Bennett wants to resign from the Kangaroos job and swap sides, there is no candidate for the Kiwis job more qualified and better placed than McClennan.

He is a quiet, studious bloke who thinks a lot about the game. Anyone who thinks he doesn't have enough passion for it didn't see him leaping around mid-field after his Lions won the Bartercard final last year.

He wouldn't say much about his chances when questioned yesterday, other than to confirm his hat was in the ring. And that: "We're [the Kiwis] going to get better - not because of Daniel or anything else but because of the squad that's coming through."

He knows the players, has faith in them and they know and respect him. He knows the Tri-Nations routine.

He's the future.