KEY POINTS:
At season's dismal end, there appear to be remarkable similarities between the place in which both the failed rugby union World Cup team and the failed Kiwis touring side find themselves. Neither organisation has exhibited the off-field professionalism that leads to on-field success. Neither has a coach that has the confidence of players or public. Two teams chocka with talent are losers. What the NZRL needs is a professional CEO in the mould of the NRL's David Gallop - a manager who brings business nous, common sense and fairness.
Sponsors would be happier, more numerous and more generous. Players could have confidence in management. Fans would back a winning team. The districts would not be in the media demanding financial information they were unable to get from the board. Issues like the Nathan Fien "Grannygate" affair would never arise.
Instead we have endless dissension fostered by politics among districts, anti-Aucklandism, backroom gerrymandering, favours and grudges played out by old footyheads.
The result is they generally pick the wrong coach, then fail to provide proper back-up, a scenario played out numerous times in my lifetime. Kemble is a nice guy but how anyone can get a coaching job at international level when they are not coaching any team, not even at schoolboy level, is beyond me.
Bottom line: Get rid of the Gary Freeman rule that requires the Kiwis coach to live here. The only two recent successes in the job, Daniel Anderson and Brian McClennan, both got huge paying deals they could not refuse. So would Kemble have, if he had led the Kiwis to victory over Australia and Great Britain and so will the next coach who achieves that.
I'm all for blooding New Zealand coaches and bringing them through, but at this stage of the game, 11 months out from the World Cup, the Kiwis need a massive shake-up in management, selection, coaching and team structure.
The more you think about the floated prospect of bringing in former Kangaroos coach Wayne Bennett on a rescue mission, the more attractive it looks. Bennett might be able to bring Kemble on in the job. Otherwise, he looks destined to join the long line of former great players who couldn't cut it as a coach.
