The Makos Makeover

The Makos have broken new ground this year with a cross - Whangamoas, dual-coaching position and female manager | By Andrew Board | Photography by Evan Barnes


The Whangamoa Saddle is said to be the great divider between Nelson and Marlborough, but you’d be hard pushed to convince the coaches of the Tasman Makos of that.

After being appointed late last year, co-coaches Bevan Cadwallader and Kieran Keane have operated with one on either side of the hill. With the team sitting just outside the top four of the Air New Zealand Cup (at the time of writing) who could argue the plan? But having co-coaches of any professional sports team not even living in the same city is simply unheard of.

It doesn’t stop there, for this unique management structure. The Makos are the first and only team in the history of professional rugby in New Zealand to have a female manager, Jenelle Strickland. Try telling them it’s a bit special though.

“We don’t think about it really, not at all in fact. Kieran and I have become quite good on the phone and at email and Janelle is the manager, that is it. We all do our best and all aim towards the same goal. I think we work really well together,” says Cadwallader.

Innovation is a word not unfamiliar to the Tasman Makos, it seems to be in the blood of the country’s newest rugby union; perhaps that’s why they are so resistant to talk about the latest management set-up as anything but normal. After all, it was Nelson that began the very first of rugby traditions in this country, hosting the first game of the sport in 1866.

The coaches are also in the unique situation of picking a team from three districts, spanning from Collingwood to Kaikoura. Adapting the coaching structure has been born from necessity to see all the available players in action over the club rugby season.

Cadwallader, a former Nelson Bays representative, Nelson Bays coach, and the only man involved in the coaching set-up of each Makos team, is based in Nelson. While Keane, a former All Black and Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay coach, bases himself in his hometown of Blenheim.

Cadwallader insists the structure gives the coaching team, who didn’t even know each other until they were appointed to the role of leading the region’s top rugby side, a strong advantage.

“It means we can cover a lot of games and see a lot of players in action on both sides of the hill. We share tapes and will cross over to each other’s region and we have been lucky enough to agree with each other, so the system has been fantastic for us.”

Although living 116km away worked a treat during the club rugby season, Keane has made the temporary move to Nelson for the NPC. “The team is based and trains in Nelson and it’s a full time gig, not just a couple of nights a week any more, so it would be ludicrous to not be in Nelson for the competition,” he said.

“It was tough in the pre-season, I was only appointed in a part-time role until the season kicked off, so I was still working full time and travelling to Nelson twice a week to attend training; it wasn’t ideal, but the pride in being involved in the Makos makes it all worthwhile.”

The enthusiasm in the voices of the two coaches, and their constant description of a team environment that is brimming with pride for the jersey and dedication to winning for their home provinces, is backed up by Strickland, in her first season as Makos manager after several as the professional development manager.

“It’s been awesome, these are a great bunch of guys to work with and it’s great to share in their successes, it makes me very proud to see them set a goal, work hard, and achieve it.”

Strickland’s role – from helping them with study or work options and making sure they were happy – in 2008 was quite different from her current 2009 role of telling them where to go and what to do, but she insists it hasn’t been a problem.

“I enjoy this atmosphere and we are really lucky that most of the guys are responsible and look after themselves; I’ve learnt along the way, but it has worked remarkably smoothly.”

The role as manager is a perfect fit for Strickland after she studied sport management and coaching at university and is a self-confessed rugby nut, beginning to watch the sport at age seven. “It’s something I’ve always wanted and every week I find a moment of satisfaction that makes me think ‘I love my job’. That is really rewarding.”

Although the members of the Tasman management have come from far and wide they have combined to give the Makos the best foundation to win games – a goal they are quite clear about.

“The reason this set-up has worked so well is that we all have the same end goal, we all know what that goal is, and we have no trouble in communicating to each other what it is. The players are also more than aware of what we expect of them,” says Cadwallader.

Innovating, ground-breaking, playing with the cards you’re dealt. Call it what you want, these Makos are a resilient bunch. They know what being an inch from death is like – being told by the NZRU that they wouldn’t be competing in 2009 – and have had the same threat hanging over them this season. But like someone who has walked away from a plane crash, they live like they have nothing to lose and are determined to make the most of their second chance and prove they belong.

“Living on death row isn’t pleasant if you dwell on it, so we don’t. We focus on ourselves and our jobs and what it means to be a Mako; we don’t worry about what obstacles we need to jump over,” says Keane.

After all, if the Whangamoas aren’t an obstacle for this union, why should a couple of rugby teams be any different?

The season so far

Andrew Goodman’s scintillating try against Waikato last month capped off a night of firsts for the Tasman Makos in 2009, but there is still one more first the team is hoping to achieve this season – its first NPC championship.

Captain Goodman’s five-pointer was his first in the Air New Zealand Cup; it came in his side’s first win at Blenheim’s Lansdowne Park since their debut season, in the Makos’ first win over a ‘franchise team’ at home … and it propelled them into the top four of the competition for the first time this season. Not bad for a try that began with the high-flying Goodman just having a dab: “I was meant to kick it but got put under a bit of pressure and went for a wee run and it just opened up.”

The rise of Goodman and the Tasman Makos in 2009 is not quite so coincidental. Goodman has shown a maturity and class in the Makos’ fourth season playing premier rugby, and co-coach Bevan Cadwaller freely admits he, along with the side, have grown up this year:

“In other years we may have had too much respect for some of our opposition, but now we know we can beat them and can foot it with them. We aren’t afraid of any team.”

At the beginning of the season the Tasman Makos – along with Manawatu, Counties-Manukau, and Northland – were dead men walking, their first-up loss to Taranaki was the first nail in the coffin, but since then an unexpected confidence and hardness has seen them win four of the ensuing six matches, with narrow losses to Canterbury and Hawke’s Bay the only blemishes.

Key to the resurgence has been the form of Goodman. Moved from the midfield to first-five-eight for their round three game against Counties, he has proven to be a true leader; kicking goals, making spectacular tackles, and now scoring wonderful tries.

As good as he has been, Goodman has had terrific support from an outstanding front row, committed loose forward trio, flying outside backs, and a truly class number eight/halfback combination in Mark Bright and Kahn Fotuali’i.

But as well as the Makos have preformed to date – defying all odds and making their demotion a heck of a lot harder for rugby officials to justify – there is still a sense of steel at Tasman Rugby headquarters, they know that the job is nowhere near complete.

At the time of writing, Tasman still had to face top-of-the-table Southland, third-placed Bay of Plenty, and three franchise teams in Auckland, Wellington, and Otago. Losses in those games would be a disaster, but based on form and the spirit of the squad, it would be hard to see that scenario playing out.

It is easy for smaller unions to throw their hands in the air after a run of good results and say ‘well it was fun while it lasted’, but this Makos side has picked itself up from every setback and gone on with the business of winning – a mark of tenacity that they are determined will have them still playing rugby in November – finals rugby.

All those firsts and all those wins will mean nothing unless this team can close, says Goodman: “The only first I’m interested in is our first championship title, that’s the big goal.”