TO: NZRL Staff, Districts and Affiliates and Board FROM: Cushla Dawson DATE: 11 May 2009 RE: Media Summary Tuesday 05 April to Monday 11 May 2009 Kearney wants to stay on: DESPITE Friday's loss to the Kangaroos, Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney has given the first hints he wants to carry on in the role beyond this year. The 36-year-old, who guided the Kiwis to World Cup glory against all odds last year, comes off contract after the Four Nations, which ends mid-November. Anzac test defeats seen as brand damage to Kiwis: NEW ZEALAND officials are concerned that the Kiwi brand is becoming damaged by one-sided Anzac test defeats, and a former NZRL chairman has called for the mid-year game to be scrapped. Senior Kiwi and Australian officials will meet in the next month to discuss plans for the year-end Four Nations tournament, but New Zealand will also want debate over the future of this game. There is no long-term contract for the match, which is agreed to on an annual basis. It was classic Benji – good and bad: After engineering – almost single-handedly – a win for the Tigers over the Knights on a recent sunny Sunday afternoon, Benji Marshall was described by astute league analyst Phil Gould as “an enigma; a mystery wrapped up in a riddle”. That same enigma was back last night at Suncorp Stadium and, perhaps more importantly, he had the extra responsibility of captaining his world champion Kiwis against a fired up Aussie side hell-bent on revenge. Kangaroos complete World Cup revenge: The average score in these mid-year tests in the past five years, Kiwi coach Stephen Kearney carefully informed journalists early this week, was 36-12. Despite those Kiwi heroics at the very same stadium in November to win the World Cup, the final Anzac Test scoreline last night had a remarkably familiar look. NZ league in good hands, says Benji: The scoreline didn't matter to New Zealand in Friday night's Test against Australia at Suncorp Stadium, according to skipper Benji Marshall. And just as well. The Kiwis were thumped 38-10 as Australia exacted some revenge for their shock 2008 World Cup final loss. Despite enduring a seven-tries-to-two loss, Marshall claimed his team's future was bright. Bronson Harrison in a different league: Bonson Harrison believes he is a changed man. There's the player he was before the Kiwis won the World Cup, and the player he is now, fulfilling the promise that saw him thrown a test jersey back when he was only 19. "You could probably say I am a whole different player, if you compared what I was in the last [NRL] round of last year, to the few games I've played since," says Harrison, who starts in the second row in tonight's test. New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney not basking in World Cup glory: KIWI Test coach Steve Kearney has rubbished speculation rugby league's world champions could be caught out still basking in World Cup glory. Kearney declared that his New Zealand troops - winless in a mid-season trans-Tasman Test since 1998 - remain firm "underdogs" against Australia. The Kiwis' focus has been further eroded by a disrupted lead-up this week, which has claimed both hooker Issac Luke to suspension and lock Jeremy Smith to injury. Cup win a huge boost for league in Shaky Isles: AFTER being ruled out of last year's World Cup final with a calf injury sustained at training the day before, Australian and Warriors prop Steve Price had to endure a flight home to New Zealand with the victorious Kiwis. "There was a big crowd there waiting, and people were just going nuts," Price said of his arrival at Auckland airport with his wife Jo and their three children. "Jo was keen to get out to the car but I said, 'No, hang back,' so the boys went out first as a group and we snuck out behind them unnoticed." Australia out for revenge as Kiwis return to scene of World Cup glory: Kangaroos hot favourites as build- up begins for Four Nations games in England and France. The wounds from the World Cup are still raw, but the return of international rugby league in Brisbane this Friday is welcome all the same. New Zealand and Australia return to the Suncorp Stadium, scene of the Kiwis' stunning victory over the Kangaroos last November, for a game that is fascinating in its own right, and also begins the countdown to the Four Nations series in England and France at the end of the season. Happy days with Wayne Bennett: Everyone knows Wayne Bennett. You know, the cranky, grouchy, media- shy, unsmiling super-coach. But Jeremy Smith says he knows a different Bennett: the laidback, cheerful guy with a wide smile who has kicked his career to a new level. Ask him to compare Bennett, his coach at the Dragons, with Craig Bellamy, who introduced the Kiwi lock to first grade at Melbourne Storm, and Smith says: "Wayne is more laidback. He's a bit cruisier than Craig. I'd say in his early years, he'd been a bit more intense, but over the years he has learned a happy medium." Kiwis hooker Isaac Luke to miss Test against Australia: NEW Zealand hooker Issac Luke was left "devastated" after tonight being rubbed out of Friday night's Test match against Australia in Brisbane. Luke, playing for Souths, was charged after his forearm pushed into the throat of Gold Coast forward Anthony Laffranchi while carrying the ball during last Saturday's match at Skilled Stadium. He pleaded not guilty. Luke not so lucky as Kiwis suffer killer blow: The stunned Kiwis have a solitary training session to adjust to life without Issac Luke after the National Rugby League's (NRL) judiciary swung the Test match further in Australia's favour last night. Former Kangaroos forwards Ian Roberts and Bob Lindner, along with fellow panelist Mal Cochrane, took just 15 minutes to find Luke guilty of a grade one striking charge after a 30-minute hearing in Sydney. Kangaroos fear Roy Asotasi's return will inspire Kiwis in Anzac Test: Still reeling from last year's World Cup debacle, Australia are bracing themselves for an even tougher test on Friday night - the return of Roy Asotasi. Asotasi will make his comeback to the Test arena after missing last year's World Cup with a pectoral injury, his return beefing up a Kiwi pack which monstered the Kangaroos in their 34-20 triumph in the decider. Bennett's mark indelible, confident Kiwis say: If Steve Kearney was irked at the constant Wayne Bennett talk he didn't show it. Well, not much. The Kiwis league coach named his starting lineup this morning amid a disrupted buildup to Friday's trans-Tasman test, then put his side through their second-last training session without Bennett for the first time in his year-long tenure. Successful Warriors under-20 coach and former Kiwi Tony Iro has taken over as Kearney's assistant, while former Kiwis Dean Bell and Quentin Pongia are part of the management team. Kiwis stick with success: Issac Luke has been named as the Kiwis' starting hooker for Friday's test against Australia as he prepares to fight a striking charge at the National Rugby League (NRL) judiciary tonight. Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney today confirmed his starting lineup for the Suncorp Stadium test which includes just two changes from the memorable 34-20 World Cup final win in November. Kearney remains hopeful about Luke: The Kiwis hold out hope that Issac Luke will escape suspension tonight and that they can finally name a team for Friday's Anzac test after his supposed victim, Kangaroo forward Anthony Laffranchi, admitted he couldn't remember the incident. While the Kiwis wait on Luke, the Kangaroos also play a waiting game with doubts lingering over wing Darius Boyd and fullback Billy Slater. Schoolkids in a league of their own: Inspired after seeing the Rugby League World Cup first hand, 11-year- old Aaron Rossiter proclaimed he wanted to get a try for his team Marist Manaia in the schoolboy rugby league competition. "I was pretty excited about it coming here and it has made me want to play hard-out on Sunday," the Manaia View Primary student said yesterday, after viewing the cup with his fellow schoolmates. Door open to adopted Kiwi Bennett: New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney has telephoned adopted Kiwi Wayne Bennett several times for advice before Friday night's Test and says the super coach is welcome in camp any time. Kearney would not say if Bennett, who helped the Kiwis pull off a massive World Cup final upset against Australia six months ago, would drop in for a motivational talk prior to Friday night's Test at Suncorp Stadium. Kiwis prop Asotasi puts 'mixed emotions' aside: Roy Asotasi has no complaints about being overlooked for the Kiwis' league captaincy - he's just grateful to be there at all after a horror 2008. It could hardly have been worse in the black jersey for the 23-test veteran prop last year. It began when he bravely put his test captaincy on the line to declare no-confidence in then-coach Gary Kemble, and got his wish when Steve Kearney and Wayne Bennett were installed. Benji Marshall taunts supercoach Tim Sheens: DEFIANT New Zealand rugby league skipper Benji Marshall has thrown down the challenge to club coach Tim Sheens to come up with a plan to shut him out of Friday night's trans-Tasman Test match at Suncorp Stadium.