Starting rotation Ta-ta ‘Madge’ — Jones should coach Kiwis

Michael Maguire should be thanked for all the great work he’s done with the Kiwis team over the last five years, but it is time for New Zealand Rugby League to move on and give the head coach’s job to Stacey Jones.

With the dust settled on the Rugby League World Cup, plans need to be put in place quicker than normal as there are only three years before the next tournament begins in France.

As there will no longer be any mid-year tests, that just leaves the end of next season and the one after to get ready to take on the Kangaroos again, and become world champions for the first time since 2008. So possibly just eight tests between World Cups.

The first decision the NZRL need to make is who will lead the team to France 2025 — and while Maguire has done a magnificent job in turning around the Kiwis after the shambles they were in after the 2017 WC — his time as the New Zealand head coach should probably come to an end.

The preference should always be that the Kiwis are coached by a New Zealander and if there’s noone suitable look for the best overseas option.

When David Kidwell departed after the 2017, there was clearly no NZ coach up to the job and Maguire beat out a number of other Australian coaches.

Since then, he has improved the team’s culture, lifted performances and allowed senior players to take ownership of key elements around the squad.

Maguire will become an assistant coach at the Canberra Raiders next year, so theoretically should have more time on his hands to devote to the Kiwis than when he juggled the job along with being head coach at Wests Tigers.

He hinted after the World Cup semifinal loss to Australia that he’d be keen to carry on with the Kiwis, but perhaps moving into a different, overseeing type role with the Kiwis might be more suitable.

There are precious few NZers coaching in the NRL. Nathan Cayless is the head coach of the Eels NSW Cup team from next season, Slade Griffin will lead the Warriors team in the same competition in 2023, while Adam Blair will coach the club’s SG Ball team. Benji Marshall will become an assistant coach at Wests Tigers next year and Stephen Kearney will work under Kevin Walters at the Broncos, but it continues to be a problem getting NZ coaches into top jobs with NRL teams. Jones took charge of the Warriors first-grade team this year, under exceptionally trying circumstances, when Nathan Brown was let go. No coach would have been able to come in when Jones did and make the Warriors good enough to be NRL Premiership contenders and the losses the team suffered shouldn’t tarnish Jones’ reputation.

While performances lifted for games at Mt Smart, the players looked like they were over the whole experience when having to play away games.

Jones knew he was on hiding to nothing, but he did it anyway, because of his loyalty to the club.

He was able to get a valuable taste of what it’s like to be a head coach in the NRL and while he’ll resume the role of being an assistant next year, working under Andrew Webster, he has shown he’s ready to step up to a position like being the head coach of the Kiwis.

Of course, the top priority for the NZRL is to appoint a Kiwis coach who can win, but there is also a responsibility to give NZ coaches a helping hand.

If Maguire was willing to help out Jones in an advisory way or given some sort of director of rugby league job, then all the better. But Jones should be next Kiwis head coach.