BRAD TE HAARA | Northland rugby High Performance Manager looks ahead to NPC Final

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Scotty (0:16)

7.15, the Chemist Warehouse, Say Big Now sale is on, find up to 20% off Eve Wellness, the Chemist Warehouse, Sear with Sport Nation, Scotty and Sammy this morning, Brad and Beta running the show for us. Time to talk a bit of rugby union, but a slightly different topic. We've had plenty of coaches and players on the show throughout the season, whether it's club, super rugby, NPC, FPC, but we wanted to figure out what it is actually like to run the program, to be the manager, to be the man in charge. And it is a great pleasure to welcome to the show, the one and only Brad Te Haara out of the Taniwha. Brad, morning, brother.

Brad Te Haara (0:50)

Morning, mate. Good to hear from you, sir, mate.

Scotty (0:52)

Lovely to speak to you.

How long have you been doing this now, mate? It is a long time.

Brad Te Haara (0:59)

Probably a bit too long, mate. I think we've had a better season this year. But I think we're up to 13 years managing the Taniwhas and 19 in total with the union.

Scotty (1:11)

Why? That's the question I ask. Why put yourself through it each and every year?

Brad Te Haara (1:16)

Well, I think every year is different, mate.

Everyone loves footy, and when you can work in footy, and it's your passion, it's a bit of a win-win. But yeah, it's a great job, great career, obviously takes a bit of balancing. You don't always get that right, to be fair, but have it no other way.

Scotty (1:38)

You've had a season like no other in your tenure, buddy, to win the Ranfurly Shield. I mean, take us back to those moments after winning the Shield, and your sense of elation and pride at the time as well. We've spoken to so many of the boys and others involved, but you're right there in the thick of it, mate, on the sideline in that moment.

Do you look back on that now and think, my goodness, what a time to be alive?

Brad Te Haara (2:03)

Yeah, yeah, you do.

It still hasn't quite sunk in. It's quite funny in the role as manager, you're sort of always in the next week preparing for things. I think maybe after this week or a couple of weeks after the boys had their end years, we had to sit back there. But mate, such a surreal moment. The fans that were down there, it was so awesome to see the joy in all their faces and everything like that. And that was sort of the story of winning the shield. Was about everyone else really, and what they felt and how special it was to them. And people that aren't even really associated to rugby, or Northland rugby. But I knew about the shield. It was awesome.

Sammy (2:48)

Brad, it's Sammy here. Always appreciate everything you've done to help us get some of the tiny talent on the show. And how you keep that herd of cats together is unreal as well, by the way. When it comes to that moment in the shield, how much of your role was actually making sure you knew where the shield was at any given moment during that rain?

Brad Te Haara (3:07)

Well, mate, I think I was, yeah, I wasn't too prepared for it. Obviously, there's a lot of protocols around it. But mate, we got a good group of lads.

They know the difference between right or wrong. But I'll be honest, I did stick an air tag on it. So we knew where it was at any given time.

Scotty (3:27)

You stuck an air tag on the shield. That is so good.

Sammy (3:32)

It placed it like where the emblem is, no one had noticed. So good.

Brad Te Haara (3:37)

Yeah, behind the back, mate, I think it's the first bit of technology to have that shield pad on it, to be fair.

Scotty (3:41)

It's had plenty of other things on it, I can assure you of that.

Brad, you talk about, and Sammy talks about, your herd of cats. They're a delight, mate. And I'm sure that they bring you plenty of laughs every day. There's something special about Northland players, isn't there? There's a joie de vivre about playing the game. There's a real sense of connection to the community. I think pound for pound, there's probably more characters come out of our province than any other. And I stand to be corrected on that. But what is it about your typical taniwha?