League: Kearney seeks long-term deal

Stephen Kearney has the respect of his players, Sparc, and the NZRL. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand Rugby League is keen to retain Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney whose contract expires this year.

Kearney's contract ends after the 2009 Four Nations series with the Kangaroos, England and France in the Northern Hemisphere but the NZRL wants him to stay as does Sparc which will soon have a hand on the board. It is believed Kearney wants to remain and has the backing of the players.

Kearney said he had a long-term plan that he and the board would have to agree on if he were to continue.

He does not buy into the argument that New Zealand needs a long preparation ahead of the annual mid-season test with Australia after the 38-10 loss to the Kangaroos on Friday night.

Nor could they use the suspension of Isaac Luke and the late withdrawal of Jeremy Smith, which forced a team reshuffle as an excuse.

"It's a matter of learning from the mistakes we made. I stressed to the group afterwards that we play this test match every year, it's not good enough if it takes us three or four weeks to get into our stride. The Aussies can do it, they have the same opportunity in terms of preparation time that we do and we have to do the same."

The coach was happier with the game on Friday night than he was with last year's performance in the Anzac match when they lost 28-12. "I couldn't fault the effort. The group came together well as you would expect after six weeks together at the World Cup last year, everything ran smoothly and I couldn't fault our preparation. Dene Halatau came in to the camp early and I thought he did a good job for us," Kearney said of Luke's replacement.

Simon Mannering, at forward, had done a tremendous job "as usual". "It's always the same from him whether we win or lose."

Prop Adam Blair was hugely under-rated, Kearney said and he also praised Iosia Soliola, "He did a good job keeping Greg [Inglis] quiet".

He did not think that Benji Marshall might have done better wider of the ruck and scrum, Marshall having chosen to play to play halfback instead of five-eighth despite Nathan Fien having steered the team to the cup title, and the team seeming to run better when the captain was wider. "I don't think that was an issue, what was an issue was us trying to shift the ball wide a bit too often."

Kearney has been in touch with Brent Webb and Thomas Leuluai in England and has told them and other former Kiwis they are well in the frame for the Four Nations, provided they are in form.