League: Anderson and NZRL await word from St Helens

Daniel Anderson

Daniel Anderson will find out today whether there is any interest in him as coach at St Helens and the New Zealand Rugby League will find out if it needs to appoint a new Kiwis coach for the end-of-year Tri Nations.

"We will not stand in his way," NZRL chairman Selwyn Pearson said yesterday of the chance that Anderson will go to England immediately.

A 44-6 loss by Saints to Hull on Friday night will not have helped the cause of current assistant Dave Rotheram, who is standing in after the sacking of Ian Millward for gross misconduct.

Australian Millward guided St Helens to five major trophies after arriving there in 2000. He had been the longest-serving coach in the Super League and had 2 1/2 years left on his contract.

St Helens face Frank Endacott's Widnes Vikings away next Saturday. Last night, Widnes were last on the Super League table with just two wins.

They were to play Wakefield overnight, but a stiffer test comes the following weekend against Leeds.

Saints were expected to say overnight whether they were interested in Anderson. Pearson was relaxed about the prospect of a change.

There was a natural succession process in place, he said, and Anderson had done a great job in setting in place programmes that would make a hand-over smooth.

Those comments indicate that Anderson's Kiwis assistant, Brian McClennan, is front-runner to replace him should he move to England. McClennan is the most successful of the Bartercard Cup coaches.

There's some three-way connection to Saints, too: his dad Mike coached there in the 1980s.

It's known that McClennan, like others who have worked with Anderson, has been impressed by his technical knowledge and break-down of the game.

The elder McClennan will doubtless have been asked for his comment as a seasoned observer.