-
Kiwis league coach Steve Kearney - Source: Photosport
Defeated New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney is hopeful the first taste of Test football for a handful of youngsters during the Four Nations will benefit the Kiwis in the long term.
After losing several senior players to injury on the eve of the tournament, Kearney was forced to field an inexperienced squad and the impact on the field was notable.
In the buildup to the Four Nations, a Kiwis side featuring five debutants was beaten 42-6 by Australia in Newcastle.
The writing was on the wall, but New Zealand's track record in tournaments - notably the World Cup in 2008 and the Four Nations last year - led many to believe Kearney would wave a magic wand again and pull a result out of the hat.
In Warrington, to kick-start their title defence, the Kiwis predictably fell to Australia.
However, the 26-12 result on a freezing Friday night showed some promising signs and was a big improvement on the Newcastle performance.
Still, it was a long way off what New Zealand teams had produced in recent years.
When the Kiwis bounced out of the Four Nations contest on Sunday morning after losing 28-6 to England, it was hardly a big surprise.
The positives for the World Cup-winning coach might be few and far between, but after Sunday's loss, he identified the players who earned Test caps on the tour as those likely to benefit the most from the Four Nations experience.
Six players - Kevin Locke, Gerard Beale, Russell Packer, Alex Glenn, Kalifa Faifai Loa and Elijah Taylor - pulled on the black jersey for the first time, while Kevin Proctor and Bill Tupou also toured with the Kiwis but failed to make the playing side.
"The development of some of the younger lads has been a real bonus for us," Kearney said.
"For them, there's a real want to come back again and to say to the injured guys that they will have to earn their jumper back. That's certainly a positive of the tournament."
Kiwis skipper Benji Marshall - shortlisted for international player of the year after a wonderful NRL season - had, by his high standards, a disappointing tour.
He was by no means alone in not playing to his potential, and after Sunday's result suggested the Kiwis as a team had not come close to performing to the best of their ability either.
However, like Kearney, the New Zealand captain, while disappointed with the side's early exit in Hull, was also keen to adopt a glass half-full approach to assessing the tour.
"This whole tour has been, in terms of success, probably not where we wanted it to be," Marshall said.
"But in terms of development of our younger players, to see how well they performed throughout this tournament is something, as a captain, I'm very proud of.
"Against England, though, we just weren't on."
Marshall said he could not fault the side's preparation and highlighted the way the Kiwis conducted themselves off the field as reason for pride.
That stems from a culture of accountability instilled by Kearney, trainer Ruben Wiki and team manager Tony Kemp.
However, the reality, quite simply, was that the Kiwis, while they might have prepared well and had what the players referred to as a "great team culture", just weren't good enough this time around.
