Blair backed to captain New Zealand at World Cup

England and Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett has endorsed his veteran Broncos front rower Adam Blair as an 'outstanding' choice to captain New Zealand at the end of the season Rugby League World Cup.

NZL

Kiwis coach David Kidwell will announce a new skipper in Auckland on Sunday and confirmed Blair was one of five candidates under consideration, but he is still looking for another assistant at the World Cup after revealing North Queensland mentor Paul Green had ruled himself out.

“As far as I know Paul Green has made himself unavailable,” Kidwell told a press conference at Mt Smart Stadium. “He is one of the candidates I reached out to and there are a couple more I am in the process of going through. It is all part of the process moving forward to the World Cup.”

After sacking skipper Jesse Bromwich and fellow forward Kevin Proctor from the World Cup squad over cocaine allegations just hours after the Kiwis 32-12 defeat by Australia in the ANZAC Test in Canberra, Kidwell is also looking for a new captain.

“There are some quality guys in there,” Kidwell said.

The Warriors quartet of Simon Mannering, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Shaun Johnson and Issac Luke are the other candidates, besides Blair, who began his NRL career alongside Kidwell at Melbourne in 2006 and has played 39 Tests for New Zealand.

“Simon Mannering obviously, he has captained the Kiwis before; Roger, who is doing the job for the Warriors; there is Adam Blair as well, Issac Luke and Shaun Johnson, so there are a few good options there.”

Bennett, who was involved in the Kiwis 2008 World Cup success, said any of the players Kidwell was considering would do a good job but he spoke glowingly of Blair, who will captain Brisbane in Saturday’s match against the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium.

“Adam Blair would be very good, he would be outstanding,” Bennett said.

“I think he is a very stable bloke, extremely responsible, always plays well himself, which is important part of being captain, he has a great rapport with the players and he certainly means a lot to the Broncos, I can tell you.

“He is captain here tomorrow so Dave’s got a lot of choices there and he has obviously got some options which are good but Adam Blair is pretty outstanding.”

Kidwell has remained in contact with Bromwich and Proctor but ruled out any chance of them being selected for the World Cup and was looking for other players to push their claims to replace them.

“We are moving forward and there are two spots there for someone to put their hands up for,” Kidwell said. “I want hungry guys out there that are going to do the right thing on and off the field.”

The Kiwis open their World Cup campaign against Samoa in Auckland on November 28, while England play Australia in Melbourne on November 27.

If results go according to the current Rugby League International Federation rankings, second-placed New Zealand will meet third-placed England in the semi-final in Auckland, with the winner expected to play Australia in the December 2 final in Brisbane.

Kidwell and Bennett were both involved with New Zealand in the last World Cup final in Brisbane in 2008, in which the Kiwis defeated Australia, and believe the Kangaroos can be beaten again.

“You have just got to do your absolute best, you have got to be disciplined,” Bennett said. “You have got to believe that you are going to do it. That is all of our challenge, to get that belief. In the 2008 World Cup we got beaten comprehensively by Australia but from then we handled the rest of the competition well.”

Kidwell agreed: “Thinking back to 2008, everyone had belief. The whole 24 players, if you were playing on that field or you weren’t, we all bought in and that built throughout the tournament.”

By Brad Walter | @BradWalterSport
Chief Correspondent, RLWC2017