League: Kiwis boss places emphasis on character

Stephen Kearney. Photo / Getty Images

Stephen Kearney admits that next time the Kiwis are selected, they will need to take into account "character as well as talent".

The Kiwis coach has said little since the sleeping pills misuse at the World Cup was revealed, but was frank when his reappointment was announced.

"We need to pick the right personnel based on character as well as talent," Kearney told the Herald on Sunday. "We might have players that are not as talented but have the character that we want."

In the wake of the sleeping pills scandal, the Kiwis might not be a broken team, but serious repair work will need to be done to restore the proud culture of the squad.

The team was divided by the saga, with those not involved struggling to comprehend how their team-mates could compromise preparations.

It's also hard to believe that after the senior players called a meeting after the quarter-final, where certain players were singled out and the entire team was warned that the practice must stop - it continued, even into the week of the final.

"We thought we had sorted it out," one player told the Herald on Sunday. "We had time to knock it on the head but obviously we didn't."

The other most disappointing aspect of the whole affair was that almost all of the players involved were members of the playing 17. The NZRL has refused to confirm the amount of players involved, only saying it was "a small number".

The Herald on Sunday understands there were at least six players involved and almost all of them were involved in the big games in the latter stages of the tournament. Not that it would have been any more excusable, but they weren't your bored dirt trackers, killing time on a long tour.

"If you had of told me this could have happened, I wouldn't have believed you," says Kearney. "I did not see it coming; it was like a shotgun blast in terms of the shock that it was."

It's almost like Kearney felt betrayed. "I've built my reputation throughout my career on preparation - every t crossed and every i dotted," says Kearney. "And we compromised ourselves.

"The players didn't listen to players, which was one of the most disappointing things. When I took over in 2007 I wanted to build a team that made our people proud and that is what we need to get back to."

For future tournaments, the format of the World Cup also needs to be looked at. Overall, the event was a commercial success but almost seven weeks in the north of England was inviting trouble and boredom.

The tournament had 28 matches spread across 36 days. After the win over France in their second group game, the Kiwis had matches against minnows Papua New Guinea and Scotland in a span of 14 days. It's probably no coincidence that the sleeping pill misuse is believed to have started around that time.