Former New Zealand rugby league captain Nathan Cayless has been appointed Kiwis assistant coach.
Cayless will assist new head coach Michael Maguire, along with former North Sydney Bears coach, Ben Gardiner, who has been re-appointed to the role he held last year.
Maguire believes the pair will add considerable value to his coaching staff.
“I’ve been hired to do a job – assemble the best possible team of players who want to put their hand up and say, ‘I want to play for New Zealand, wherever it might be’,” says Maguire “Every single player I’ve spoken to has really shown quite a bit of emotion about wanting to play for that jersey.
“Part of doing that means having the right expertise around me – people that are just as hell-bent on putting pride into that Kiwis jersey as I am. These two are top blokes who I believe will do exactly that.”
Cayless famously led the Kiwis to World Cup victory in 2008 and played 259 NRL games for the Parramatta Eels.
He has since built an impressive coaching portfolio and recently took charge of the Junior Kiwis in 2017, after previous stints at the Wentworth Magpies ISP NSW team and the Eels SG Ball side.
Gardiner’s relationship with Maguire is well documented and played a part in South Sydney Rabbitohs’ 2014 Premiership win.
As a head coach, he was credited with turning around the North Sydney Bears' fortunes in the NSW Cup, after taking the role midway through the 2015 season.
Donny Singe also returns to the Kiwis staff as high performance manager, alongside Sean Edwards who comes on board as athlete performance coach.
Both Singe and Edwards have played crucial roles in the high performance field when helping Manly Sea Eagles and South Sydney Rabbitohs respectively to NRL Premierships.
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