9 Apr 2014

McFadden out of Kiwis frame, Cleary back in - from a distance

11:38 am on 9 April 2014

The new Warriors rugby league coach Andrew McFadden has stepped down from his role as assistant coach of the national men's side - and former Warriors coach Ivan Cleary is back in the Kiwis frame.

McFadden decided he couldn't do both the Warriors and Kiwis jobs, so Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney will prepare his team for next month's Anzac Test without an assistant, but with technical input from Cleary - now with the Penrith Panthers.

Cleary filled the assistant's role at last year's World Cup, but made himself unavailable this year to concentrate on his job with the Panthers. With McFadden stepping down, he will advise Kearney remotely and will not be in camp during the Test preparation.

NZRL high performance manager Tony Iro says in effect, this leaves them with the same situation they had for last year's Anzac Test in Canberra and they'll revisit the assistant coach vacancy before the Four Nations in October.