KEY POINTS:
You can forgive Pat Lam if he watches the appointment of the next Australian rugby coach more keenly than that of the next All Black coach.
It's because Blues coach David Nucifora is a candidate for the Wallabies and, although some are beginning to speak of Lam as
a potential international Lam, typically, has his eye on a more accessible ball.
Lam's achievements with Auckland this year, has placed him in a position in which he may just win a contest as the outstanding coach of 2007 and who, sooner rather than later, may be invaluable on any staff.
As a player and coach, Lam, who's just 39, has an impressive CV. He is a dual international for the All Blacks and Manu Samoa, which he captained in two World Cups, a former Auckland and North Harbour representative and a Crusader in the inaugural Super 12. He's also had an extensive playing background in England for Northampton and Newcastle.
Already he has had a taste of international coaching, having served as Ian McGeechan's assistant with Scotland in the Six Nations in the early 2000s, before returning home to take charge of Auckland in 2004.
His extra value for the All Blacks may be his Pacific Island heritage. Lam clearly has an easy rapport with Polynesian players.
As he has shown, when the Ranfurly Shield was removed from Canterbury, he can even have his players forego flair and an off-the-cuff style to adhere to a controlled game plan.
It was this Auckland display, which Lam rates as the highlight so far of his coaching career. This has led sound judges to conclude he is coming to a maturity which is going to demand meaningful recognition.
But Lam himself is not contemplating any international role just yet. He would like the chance of proving himself at Super 14 level first.
"I think I'm ready for that sort of job now and I believe that's my next step. Obviously, I'd love to coach the Blues, particularly as 90 per cent of the team come from Auckland."
So Lam is probably keeping an eye on the Wallabies' coaching appointment.
The incumbent in the Blues post is Australian David Nucifora and he is on the short list to succeed John Connolly with the Wallabies.
In the meantime, Lam says, he will concentrate on trying to coach Auckland.
However, he believes that the biggest and most difficult challenge for any coach is taking a team in the ANZC.
Whereas a Super 14 coach has a settled squad of top players for a settled period, the challenges and variables at ANZC level are more difficult and the availability of players less clearcut.
"If you can get through all that then it's a good grounding for anything else," he says.
While it's a benefit, Lam doesn't think his Pacific Islands descent gives him more insights ethnically than anyone else.
"I simply believe that while everyone's equal not everyone is the same," he says. "If you take five Samoans, five Tongans and five Europeans none of them will be the same. The big thing for any coach is to get to know your players, and what are their strengths and weaknesses."
For that reason Lam will never pick a player for a team unless he has undergone a thorough one-on-one interview session with that player. That applied this year even to someone like Troy Flavell.
"Until this season I'd never had anything to do with Troy because he got injured and didn't play for Auckland in 2006. When Troy came back to us after missing the World Cup it was important to know his state of mind.
" I knew he was going to contribute to us and he was fantastic and quickly became one of our leadership group."
A coach's greatest qualities, which he valued when he was playing himself, were honesty with players, transparency and communication.
Lam sets great store by creating historical firsts, which is why he was so chuffed with this year's treble by Auckland: the premiership title, the Ranfurly Shield and the first to be unbeaten since the playoff format was introduced in 1992.
At the other extreme, he has found some of the horror years he has endured as a player and coach as eventually among the most rewarding.
In 1996, when he had a brief stint with the Crusaders, the Canterbury-based franchise finished bottom, which he believes led to their subsequent success. They simply pinpointed all the things they were doing wrong and put them right.
Similarly, the fact he and Shane Howarth had such a dreadful time when they took over Auckland in 2004 has been the main reason why the union has thrived in the past three years, with premiership wins in 2005 and this year and now the shield.
"You have to remember in 2004 we'd inherited the team after it had won back to back NPC titles under Wayne Pivac and Grant Fox," he says.
"But in the meantime a lot of the leadership had gone. Xavier Rush, Sam Tuitupou and Carlos Spencer were with the All Blacks, Steve Devine did his knee and Gus Collins was having his heart problems. Angus Macdonald, Daniel Braid, Jerome Kaino, Brent Ward, Isa Nacewa and Ben Atiga were virtually third formers then. Now they've all matured as a group and it has been great to see that growth."
One handicap had been that neither Lam nor Howarth really knew the players.
"If I said in 2004 some of the things I learned I could say to them in 2005 then I would have had a mutiny," he says.
After 2004 Lam, too, placed a 12-point proposal before the Auckland board which he believed was essential for any success. Most of these, he is proud to say, have been implemented. They include not training on Eden Park No 1, which he believes provides a mystique which has meant just one Auckland loss there in three season, pre-season training camps overseas in warm climates and instilling a mental hardness by deliberately making training harder than games.
Lam says the six years he spent in England were immensely helpful and he had the chance in particular of serving a fantastic coaching apprenticeship under McGeechan at Northampton and Scotland. He's one Kiwi who won't decry British rugby and says anyone who goes there should have an open mind and be prepared to learn.
But he reveres those New Zealanders from whom he has learned: Bryan Williams, with Auckland and Manu Samoa, Buck Shelford at North Harbour and in particular, Graham Henry, who picked him for his Auckland colts sides in the late 1980s as a schoolboy.
He's also quick to acknowledge the help of his Auckland coaching assistants, Howarth and Mike Casey, both of whom were Marist club-mates.
Despite being a modern coach, Lam describes himself as old school in many respects. He doesn't believe players can come to harm by playing too much, pointing out that as a teenager he once played for the Auckland Colts in Christchurch then flew down to Invercargill to play the next day for St Peters against Southland Boys High in a top four final.
Significantly, many in this year's Auckland team had a heavy schedule.
He also retains great faith in the club system to produce top players who might have been missed by the system. Auckland have had many recent successes from club football: Brent Ward, Isa Nacewa, Taniela Moa and Saimone Taumoepeau.
