SHARKS CELEBRATE THEIR TENTH BIRTHDAY In just three years the Makos have gone from cellar-dwellers to stars, narrowly losing the Premiership final. Phil Barnes finds them more determined than ever.
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airytales don’t come much better. After six seasons in the Now we have 13 to 15 guys who are playing Super rugby so that ITM Cup, the Tasman Makos had finished bottom of the makes a massive difference.” league, were twice threatened with being culled from the Head coach Kieran Keane, often known as KK, who is about competition and suffered huge financial losses that threatened to start his seventh and almost certainly last season with the their very existence. Makos due to his likely move to the Chiefs next year, talks of the Then in 2012, despite limited resources compared with “very strong bonds” that have formed between the players, his the bigger unions, they staged a stunning turnaround to reach the team and staff during that period. semifinals. “It’s been really fulfilling as a coach and person working The following year the Makos won promotion to the ITM within the Makos’ environment with these people. I’ve had a Premiership after winning the Championship in a recordtruckload of fun and collected some lifelong memories, plus there breaking season culminating in that 26-25 win over Hawkes Bay. isn’t a better job in life than seeing my players develop and be That year the Makos scored 40 or more points in five matches and successful on and off the field. My players’ success is what makes twice broke their record for a match: 57-14 against Manawatu and me truly happy and I get huge enjoyment from that.” 64-8 against Waikato . In terms of salvaging the Makos’ dire financial position, Fullback Marty Banks came from Buller to immediately Tasman Rugby Union Chief Executive Tony Lewis says it break the Tasman points-scoring record. Five tries, 29 was a combination of being prudent by cutting unnecessary conversions and 29 penalties gave him a total of 170 points for expenditure and also finding ways of boosting their income the season. through sponsorship and by increasing crowd Last season, far from struggling as a numbers through providing an attractive ‘There isn’t a better job in newly promoted side, the Makos beat the ‘match-day experience’. life than seeing my players mighty Canterbury twice. They also defeated But above all, he says, the passion of the develop and be successful Otago, Wellington and Waikato, and drew people in Nelson and Marlborough made on and off the field.’ against Auckland at Eden Park. the difference. “Without the support of the Their form took them right through people we have in this region, we wouldn’t be – K I E R A N K E A N E , H E A D C OA C H to the final, where, in at tight game at New here at all. From Nelson Pine right through Plymouth, they eventually went down 36to our smallest sponsor, everyone is very 32 to Taranaki. Had it not been for some focused on making sure the Makos brand is over-ambitious play during extra time in their earlier clash with here to stay.” Taranaki at Trafalgar Park, causing them to lose 30-31, the Makos Marketing Manager Les Edwards agrees. He says that when may well have had the psychological edge to win the title. approaching people and businesses to sponsor the Makos, he is And they achieved all this while also getting their finances overwhelmed with the enthusiasm people show in their desire to in order and making a profit in four out of the last five seasons. help. “Even after that 2011 season when we came bottom of the Today, as the Makos prepare for their 10th anniversary season, it league, people still wanted to support us next season because we seems incredible that instead of contemplating survival, they are played such an exciting brand of rugby.” now talking of winning the Premiership.
Comeback kings So just how did the club create such a turnaround and is it possible to take that success even further? One of the Makos’ favourite sons, former captain Andrew Goodman, who was a foundation member, says in the early days different coaches had their own approaches, but the continuity of having Kieran Keane and Leon MacDonald at the helm since 2010 has been hugely beneficial. “And there’s always been a very good culture at the Makos. The boys have always been really tight.” He says one of the major differences in today’s set-up is the number of players who have come in from elsewhere who are also playing rugby at Super XV level. “In the early days the team comprised mainly club players.
The foundation years The early days were so very different. Forming the side was an ambitious idea. The Nelson Bays and Marlborough unions were forever in the lower divisions of what was then the National Provincial Championship, and lacked the resources and population to rival the unions in the main centres. So in December 2005 the two provinces amalgamated to form the Tasman Rugby Union, aiming to take care of all levels of rugby in the Top of the South and to form a professional flagship side, the Tasman Makos. Problems surfaced right from the start. To meet New Zealand Rugby Union requirements, the fledgling TRU had to pay for a huge upgrade of its Blenheim ground, Lansdowne Park. Trafalgar Park in Nelson also had to be revamped before it could be used at
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