KEY POINTS:
It's time to sack that over-qualified hired hand Wayne Bennett from being the Kiwis' assistant coach so Steve Kearney can find his feet as the head man.
Giving head coach Kearney a training wheel the size of an F1 tyre has clearly failed to get them on the
right track.
This may well be a redundant call, because I suspect the former Broncos boss who can breathe fire with a stare will pack away his Kiwi gear to concentrate on his new job at the St George Dragons.
If Benny doesn't decide to go, the NZRL should jettison him after the World Cup.
Like many others perhaps, I thought the Bennett influence held possibilities. But the proof just doesn't exist in what has turned out to be a very stodgy pudding.
The reverence we're expected to shower this craggy, grumpy legend with is almost reason enough to get rid of rugby league's version of Clint Eastwood at his brooding best.
The story so far goes like this.
Wayne Bennett is a guru, and that's when he's not a God. He can pop in and out of Camp Kiwi whenever it suits, dispensing sage words.
The man can do no wrong, and we're lucky to have him.
When the Kiwis fail, as they continue to do, it's because they haven't taken in what Bennett said.
Yet you can bet your boots that if the Kiwis ever win a big game we'll all be expect to throw ourselves at the feet of the laconic master, not that this scenario looks in danger of being tested.
This is the sort of walk on water attitude that Bennett was able to swim in for most of his career in Brisbane.
As a one-team town that has a bitter rivalry with New South Wales, the Broncos club enjoys being surrounded by a natural parochialism that helped Bennett survive the tougher times. His word was law.
Bennett built up a terrific record, but it was by no means perfect, and a run of poor performances in the finals didn't always match the advantages the Broncos enjoy as the kings of their Queensland domain.
Yes, Bennett's status reflected his achievements, but also Australian rugby league's zeal in sports myth making.
If the Aussies want to fawn over the man, that's their right. If they want to rule rugby league, as this alleged World Cup has shown, there's not much we can do about that either.
But we don't have to accept all their sermons as gospel, and two horrendous test defeats against Australia this year have revealed the Kearney-Bennett combo, and the influence of Bennett himself, as a disaster.
The Kiwis were rubbish in the World Cup opener against the Kangaroos.
Okay, we don't have a halves combination to match Johnathan Thurston and Darren Lockyer - claims everyone's favourite grandson Nathan Fien is the answer at No 7 are funnier than Jerry Seinfeld on opening night.
We don't have enough outside backs to match the likes of Greg Inglis, nor a hooker as dominant and clever as Cameron Smith.
But that's no reason to run up a white flag.
Where was the Kiwi fire - because you'd find more big hits on a William Shatner record than what we saw from them.
Take Steve Matai out of the equation, and the side looked like a ho-hum NRL team who knew their season was already over.
The Kiwis often put up more fight when blokes were hauled off Carlaw Park and hurled into action on the instructions of Kiwi coaches who wouldn't get third-grade jobs in Sydney.
You could even argue that having an Aussie icon and former Kangaroos coach lurking in the camp blurs the lines and works against creating a them-against-us mentality.
Bennett's years of success were just that, the careful development of men and teams. What the Kiwis require are simple game plans and fire in the belly.
If they get an ounce of luck and find an Aussie team off their game now and then, hey presto. A test victory.
But all this secret squirrel 'there's a genius in the camp' bizzo is a lot of nonsense. Just as importantly, Kiwi fans have got a right to know who is running this team.
Who, for instance, made the decision to leave Issac "Livewire" Luke out and have utilities Fien and Dene Halatau as hookers. Not that it would have made any difference. But that's not the point here.
Do we pin the decision on Kearney and/or Bennett, and who has the final say? You're unlikely to get any answers out of Bennett, because - as a Broncos lackey told me when I went looking for Bennett on the eve of his appointment - Wayne doesn't really do the media thing.
Well sorry. This is the Kiwis, not Brisbane, and we have a right to know. Yet the man who may actually run the Kiwis, or pull a lot of important strings, appears to have a licence to operate in the shadows. Which ain't good enough.
And Kearney won't find out what he is truly capable of until the Aussie demigod is off his shoulder.
* Was that a league World Cup opening ceremony, or the leftovers from Australia Day?
* The league World Cup is shonky. But it's not a total disaster. The match between Tonga and Ireland in Canberra was way down on class, but also wildly entertaining.
* Trust our grandiose rugby union to go crawling up that publicity mountain named Hillary. In the absence of winning a recent World Cup they've taken the short route and shackled themselves to the bloke who reached the top of the world first. How tacky.
Sir Edmund Hillary was an outstanding character and unlike the people who run our national game, very humble. But he's been used posthumously as a cheap trinket here. Even the Prime Minister was in on this act - can anyone explain why Helen Clark had to announce the introduction of the Hillary Shield, apart from the obvious electioneering angle? Let the man rest in peace, I say, and stop planting your flags of self interest on his name. Hillary's tender, mountainous heart was in places like Nepal and its people, not the soulless landscape of professional sport. Honour him, don't hijack him. We'll have to endure the normal spin about our game when the All Blacks take on England for the Hillary Shield. Makes you want to take a hike.
* Sevens has dominated local coverage of the All Blacks clash against the Wallabies in Hong Kong on Saturday night. It's hard to find a story that doesn't include a reference to the famous Hong Kong Sevens. Coverage has centred on former sevens captain Liam Messam, a story on Richie McCaw stating that he didn't come through a sevens breeding ground, while Stirling Mortlock was quoted on how the Hong Kong crowds usually boo Australia.
* Spot the difference. "I am excited about the opportunity to coach North Harbour ... " and "I am excited about the opportunity to work with Craig ... " It's a case of great minds speak alike with these quotes attributed to new North Harbour coaches Craig Dowd and Jeff Wilson in the union's press release yesterday. North Harbour are also excited about their appointment no doubt. Ahh, the optimism that comes with a new day. I can understand the Dowd appointment, but where the heck did Wilson pop up from?
* Marina Erakovic has had a string of first-round failures in singles events but continues to do well in doubles. It would be great if she could rediscover her form in the singles. A rankings crash is imminent if she can't turn things around. But at least Erakovic is keeping New Zealand tennis's head above water, just.
