Richard Loe: Canes left in good shape

Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett. Photo / Mark Mitchell

I know people will be lining up to lay into Mark Hammett by asking 'what has he done in four seasons coaching the Hurricanes?' but I'm standing by him.

Before last night's matches, they were fifth on the table and had a mathematical chance of making the play-offs. In all likelihood they will be overtaken, meaning Hammett never made it to the business end of the competition.

I reckon he left them in a decent state but you wouldn't call it a legacy. However, a lot of Hurricanes people hammered him from the start, if you'll excuse the pun, because he was a Cantabrian.

Let's face it ... he was handed a shoddy house which badly needed fixing. It was a hard gig to take on. It's not like he inherited a winning team like Todd Blackadder at the Crusaders.

The Hurricanes seemed in such a mess that no one knew who was running the cutter or setting the rules and I think he sorted that out. Whether it was a rotten apple or not back in 2011, only a select few would know, but you can't have players rather than the coach running the show.

It cost a few senior players and All Blacks like Andrew Hore, Ma'a Nonu and Piri Weepu their positions but, when you look at how they fared afterwards, the franchise has probably grown without them. Those players haven't exactly performed elsewhere in Super Rugby.

Nonu's the only one who could potentially come back and it's up to the new coaches whether they can handle him if he leaves the Blues. In hindsight, you can see what Hammett was up against but he stayed staunch and tried to push the franchise forward. That's why I admire him. He stuck to his guns.

Hammett's developed a few good players under his watch. Dane Coles is a fine example. Others include Julian Savea, Beauden Barrett and TJ Perenara. There are a few potential stars coming through, too, like Blade Thomson and Ardie Savea.

Now the onus goes on head coach Chris Boyd and assistant John Plumtree.

Plumtree could probably argue he knows what he's doing, having coached the Sharks before getting ditched by his former skipper John Smit.

Boyd has done well with Wellington in the ITM Cup but has just coached arguably the worst performing under-20 side this country has produced in the last decade.

It won't be an easy ride but they could do worse than nurturing the talent Hammett has given them.