Long-term fix big ask for next Blues coach

Sir John Kirwan did not deliver winning results. Photo / Getty Images

At least the Sir JK haters will be happy.

There will now be — you watch — an avalanche of well-wishers, most of whom will be saying something like, "Oh, I never doubted him as a man". No, just hung him from the highest rafter as a coach.

In today's short-attention-span, reality TV world, results are everything and it cannot be denied Kirwan did not bring them in. His final season with the Blues was notable not so much for the only-three-wins syndrome but for the fact the team kept making mistakes that could be shunted back to the coach. The not-on pass, the attempted offload when ball retention was much more necessary, the soft tries scored against a sometimes puzzlingly wet-paper-bag defence; they all spoke of ills that might have been sorted out on the practice field but were depressingly consistent in a season when little else was.

There were mistakes and Kirwan has joined a long list of Blues coaches who have seen rejected talent prosper elsewhere. Like Pat Lam before him, he is a quality bloke but unable to lift the Blues to where they should be in Super Rugby.

For that, we now look to a new coach and wonder how the hell he will cope. The circumstances of his arrival are pretty awful. A Blues board divided to the point of stalemate on the question of Kirwan's retention made the coaching issue even worse and, worse yet, underlined the dysfunctional nature of this franchise, even with (or perhaps because of) the new-era private shareholding.

Back in March, when it was clear the season was heading for the toilet, I wrote a column saying Kirwan could yet be retained because the Blues were a long-term fix and, woefully, there were precious few candidates who might make a difference and/or who would take it on.

The Blues board meets tomorrow to consider a replacement. They obviously have someone in mind after closing the door on Kirwan's Blues career.

Whoever they open it to (and Tana Umaga is popularly predicted to be waiting outside) will not just have a strategy-selection-execution job to do on the rugby field. The weights strapped to the Blues' legs and which drag them down in the tide of Super Rugby are still there.

Their record — no title for 12 years now and only one appearance in the playoffs in the last eight — dissuades ambitious players from joining. The development system has largely failed to find the right players in the right positions or to keep them after development.

That leads to a perception which goes something like this: "Stay away!"

That is particularly so at first five-eighths, where some of the cream have declined to join the Blues' curdled milk. Current players may be waiting to see what happens with the new coach before deciding on their future.

Add the fact some key talent is disappearing — Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock, Luke Braid, Charles Piutau and others — and the biggest gaps (other than No10, although Ihaia West looks promising) are at hooker, prop, flanker and wing ... vital positions.

The Blues are also off to a multi-million dollar facility at Alexandra Park, only emphasising the separation within this franchise. Auckland have a rugby academy, so do North Harbour and the two unions have never properly integrated.

When the Blues are at Alexandra Park, Auckland rugby will still be at Eden Park. OK, you don't need to live together to communicate and operate smoothly in this modern world (and there are moves to end the board and union disparity) — but it begs the question of togetherness and unity of purpose.

Whoever takes the keys to JK's car will inherit all that, worn rings, smoky exhaust pipe and all, just as he did. It's a massive handicap and it seems unlikely that a coach — even one with the mana of Umaga — can mend things in one season.

I shall be delighted to be proved wrong and acknowledge it is possible to turn things around in that period. The Hurricanes did it this year, the Highlanders last year, with the right confluence of coaching team, attitude, young or motivated players and senior statesmen.

However, neither faced the systemic problems Kirwan and the Blues have. The strong likelihood is the Blues will not be Super Rugby giants in 2016 — and the last par of my column in March will still apply: "It doesn't matter whether the coach is Sir John, Sir Graham [Henry] or the archangel Gabriel — Blues rugby is still a long-term fix."

Now it is a question of whether the new coach is able to do what the last one couldn't — take the team to a place which persuades players and fans the fix is a real, concrete thing or, at the very least, is visible on the horizon.