|
|
Around Town Meets...
John Kear
Head Coach of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
By Brian Elliott
 Although the players had yet to return for training it was a very busy time for John and the Belle Vue staff - and had been so for several weeks. Season ticket sales were encouraging and the playing surface of the pitch looked in superb condition. On his desk John was scrutinising the team sheet of the weekend’s Tonga v Samoa Federation Cup game, maybe wondering about a potential signing, and also preparing himself for commenting - for Sky TV - on the England against France game. The situation was particularly interesting since the English team included the Wildcats’ stand-off Jamie Rooney who, for the first time in a competitive match, would be playing against his club colleague Oli Elima, selected as a forward for the French. Another promising Wildcat, Ryan Atkins, would surely have been playing but for an injury sustained when training with the England squad.
The son of a coal merchant, John Kear was born within sight of Castleford’s ground. He was educated at Wheldon Lane Junior and Infants and Castleford Grammar, gaining entry to a college of education at Leicester where he qualified as a PE teacher. In those days playing top class rugby league was a part-time occupation. For twelve years John successfully combined his career as a young teacher with that of a winger for his home town club.
|
As a coach John Kear has already had considerable success. In 1998 he led Sheffield Eagles to a remarkable Challenge Cup victory over Wigan Warriors and went on to be assistant coach at Wigan. International experience arrived when he coached the England team in the 2000 World Cup. It was a great experience and honour for John. In his opinion, because of the demands of the modern game, the national coach should now be full-time. Assistant to Shaun McRae at Hull FC, John found himself appointed as Head Coach when Shaun left for Australia. The outcome was Hull’s first Challenge Cup win in nearly a quarter of a century, getting the better of Leeds in a close-fought final. On the way Hull had triumphed over two other top teams: Bradford and St Helens.
John was appointed - initially on a short-term basis - as Head Coach of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats towards the end of July 2006 when the club was in a serious relegation situation:
‘I guess when I came here some people questioned my sanity. I maintained that I was a Super League coach and intended coaching Super League here next year. I don’t think many believed me!‘ By the end of August John Kear was Super League coach of the month and a new contract had been agreed until the end of the 2007 season.
When John took over at Belle Vue there were only six games to play and the club was five points adrift of their nearest rivals. He told me that success in the two fixtures against relegation rivals Castleford was essential for success. He felt sure that the Wakefield players had previously under achieved, that performances could be improved and positive results would follow. ‘We knew’, John said, ‘that it would be a very pressured last two months.’ He felt that the challenge to keep the Wildcats up was more daunting than anything he had experienced in his coaching career, including the Challenge Cup victories. The undoubted key to success was John’s own self-belief. His impact on the squad was immediate. Appreciating that the players’ efforts were ‘not channelled into the correct areas’, he saw his job as ‘steadying the ship’, providing an air of confidence whereby all the players’ efforts worked in the same direction, creating ‘a straight line to success’.
A crowd of 11,000 watched the final fixture against Castleford, the first time in Super League that Belle Vue was full. John feels that the most heartening aspect of this was the presence of 8,000 Wakefield supporters, several thousand more than normal, showing that there was tremendous potential for the coming season. ‘We need’, John said, ‘to tap into this hidden or latent support by providing entertainment and success from a competitive rugby league team’.
At a personal level it is not surprising that the victory over Castleford was tinged with some sadness. But first and foremost John was a professional coach for Wakefield. He had invested so much time and emotion during the previous couple of months that any sympathy for his home town club was by far outweighed by the great euphoria of winning. However, the biggest emotion was one of immense relief: ‘I felt absolutely drained and could have slept for a week!’
Staying in the Super League was vitally important for the club, the players and supporters, the principal sponsor (Eric France & Son), commercial activities and for the city of Wakefield. Sky TV had hyped the Castleford game as the ‘million pound match’. This was not far from the truth. The momentum towards the building of a new stadium may have been slowed down or even lost.
I asked John about how the supporters had reacted to him. This was his response: ‘Marvellous. I could not have asked for anything better. I did not feel I needed to settle in as they made me feel so welcome. In the first game against Castleford there was a bank of our supporters and you sensed that they had now developed a belief with that win and got behind the team. The momentum then gathered and at Bradford, in the away match, it was sustained. Then, here, at the last game, the lap of honour at the finish was very special indeed.’
John also spoke thoughtfully about his philosophy of coaching, showing that it was very much a two-way learning experience and certainly not based on a rigid format: ‘You need to be totally open-minded, willing to listen and learn.'
'It helps your own development. If you develop yourself you also develop your players. You need to be able to control and respond to the dynamics of the group and also be involved in man-management. There might be personal or technical issues that need resolving and you need to be canny enough to read people. Let me give you an example. David Marsh, one of the more experienced players, had been here for ten years and had had a testimonial but had lost his place. I knew he was a 100% Wakefield lad, red, white and blue, so I put him back against Castleford and his enthusiasm lifted the team.'
'You have to read individuals and situations for your own, the team’s and the club’s advantage.’
John is optimistic about the 2007 season which starts in February. In the meantime there is plenty to do: training started on 13 November, trial games will follow and a pre-season camp is planned, where targets and goals will be agreed:
‘I would like to influence the players to be ambitious and shoot for the stars and we might end up among the clouds. I would like us to go for a play-off place.’
John told me that he was looking to strengthen the elite playing squad, saying that nowadays teams are culturally diverse. One of the younger players that John cites as a success is Adam Watene who played for the Cook Islands in a World Cup qualifier during the summer, though, irrespective of background, all his players pull together when the Wakefield Trinity colours are worn.
Talking about youth, there is no doubt that John values the importance of his local junior players. He hopes that two promising youngsters will be promoted to full-time training, with the eventual goal of squad membership. A player-pathway is being developed from the lower grades, from the U16s, the U21s and towards the professional level.
John was keen to mention the importance of the club’s wider community role, particularly in local schools and at the new Belle Vue Learning Zone: ‘A professional sporting club should be a heartbeat of the community, something that we should always encourage’.
During our meeting I asked John about his boyhood rugby league heroes. One that he singled out was Alan Hardisty: ‘He was a great attacking player and when he got the ball you knew that something exciting would happen. He turned me on to rugby league.’ John felt, somewhat unusually, tongue-tied when he met his great hero at a recent dinner for past and present Castleford players, such was his awe of the man ‘who was a legend to me’. John compared Alan to the great Wakefield player Neil Fox, both having an aura about them, and so greatly respected for their services to the game.
My limited knowledge of rugby league was certainly enhanced after meeting John Kear and I am sure that Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are in sound and confident hands for the 2007 season.
Published Winter 2006. All information correct at time of print
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
