League: Freeman's criticism gets short shrift

The New Zealand Rugby League has rejected criticism by former test halfback Gary Freeman that more should have been done to combat the Kiwis' lack of depth in the halves.

New Zealand's hopes in the Anzac test against Australia in Brisbane next week have been hit by injury to playmakers Stacey Jones and Benji Marshall.

Freeman, whose 46 caps is the second highest for the Kiwis, blamed New Zealand league officials for failing to find a successor to veteran Jones.

But NZRL chairman Selwyn Bennett noted Freeman himself coached the Kiwis in 2001 and 2002.

"Every effort is being made at junior level," he said. "If the halfbacks are not there, they're not there."

But Bennett was confident about the future, saying there was promising talent in the National Rugby League, such as the Bulldogs' Billy Ngawini and Parramatta pair Jeremy Smith and Marcus Perenara.

The key was to bring up-and-comers such as them to international standard.

"It's a shame the Kiwi coaches haven't done that up to now and he [Freeman] was one of them."

Present test coach Brian McClennan was philosophical about the predicament he faced ahead of the test. He said the lack of New Zealanders playing professionally at No 6 and No 7 had been a fact of life for some years. "That's just something we've had to live with, us Kiwis," he said.

"That's something we've battled in the past and we'll have to do it again."

McClennan, who also coaches the Auckland Lions in the domestic Bartercard Cup, said the answer to the problem wasn't a simple one.

"Maybe it's just the make-up of our people," he said. "Our people that play league are predominantly Polynesian boys. They're big and athletic and hence that's why we've got the best second-rowers and centres in the world. It's a difficult question."

Freeman had said New Zealand's lack of depth in the halves had to be rectified to overcome a reliance on key players.

"We've actually physically got to go out there and find some kids and start developing them ourselves through our junior structures," he said.

"I don't think the New Zealand Rugby League has actually gone out to look for [a halfback]. They need to try to find out what's in New Zealand and see if we can bring one through."

Freeman said the NZRL had to do more to allow New Zealand juniors to develop into established first-graders.

Last weekend, the New Zealand Warriors fielded Australians in the key positions of five-eighth (Grant Rovelli), halfback (Nathan Fien) and hooker (George Gatis).

- NZPA