DRAGONS winger Jason Nightingale says time spent alongside seven-time premiership winner Wayne Bennett has a had a positive effect on New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney.
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Kearney is currently on Bennett’s coaching staff at the Broncos who are preparing for a preliminary final clash with the Roosters on Friday.
It’s not the first time the pair have collaborated with Bennett widely credited for masterminding the Kiwis huge upset win over Australia in the 2008 World Cup final in Kearney’s sixth game as New Zealand coach.
Now with 39 games to his credit, there can be no doubt that it’s Kearney who steers the ship with the Kiwis winning 10 of their last 12 Tests including an undefeated run through last year’s Four Nations and victory in May’s Trans-Tasman Test.
Nightingale was part of the 2008 World Cup squad and won the 2010 premiership with the Dragons under Bennett in 2010.
He said some of Bennett’s traits, namely composure, have rubbed off on Kearney.
‘‘Wayne in his own way has a laid back approach to certain things and I think Stephen’s definitely taken that on board,’’ Nightingale said.
‘‘It’s obvious [Kearney] is not as stressed as he was when he was a head coach.
‘‘I think being an assistant is helping him enjoy his role as head coach for the Kiwis.
‘‘Wayne certainly has his principles that he drives pretty hard but he’s laid back where he can be and I think that approach has really helped Stephen.’’
He may be taking a more relaxed approach at training but Kearney certainly hasn’t been afraid to make tough decisions, having left Jared Warea-Hargreaves, Sonny-Bill Williams and Benji Marshall out of his side at various stages.
Such decisions were made with a view to the 2017 World Cup but Nightingale said Kearney has struck a good balance between short and long-term goals.
‘‘The talk about the future is all good but his main concern is always winning the game at hand and putting together the best team to do that,’’ Nightingale said.
‘‘We’ve always had a great core squad and things have been built around that.
‘‘Over the past few years, even before we’ve had the success, we knew we were building towards something.
‘‘It was clear to see that we were getting some momentum and we knew if we stayed together as a tight knit group and kept building on our culture we would end up where we are. Now the challenge is to stay there.
‘‘You do need to introduce players into that system, the sooner you can do that the better, but you pick players on merit and players who will fit what the coach wants.”
