Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark said yesterday with pre-season not kicking off until January the franchise would take its time appointing a head coach.
"From our perspective we are pretty comfortable at the moment. We have got a very capable group of guys in Browny [Tony Brown], Derms [Clarke Dermody] and Riki Flutey," he said.
"So what we need to do now is complement them with a defence coach. Someone who can come into that structure and work with these guys."
Clark said it was wrong to assume Brown was set to take on the head coaching role.
Brown was heavily involved in recruitment of players at the moment, but it could be the new defence coach who came in could become head coach. That was a discussion to have later and they had no set date to have the coaching set-up for next year decided.
"We just want the best people for the jobs. More and more options are appearing for us every day. More and more people want to come back to New Zealand. We just need to speak to some of these people and see where they stand."
The franchise would be content with four coaches for next season. It may look at bringing in spot coaches for short periods and that had worked well in the past.
Brown was contracted as assistant coach to Japan until the next World Cup. But with Covid-19 cutting all international travel, Brown was still in Dunedin and Japan does not have any games scheduled for the rest of the year.
Clark said Brown’s schedule worked in fine with the Highlanders as he would be available for the Highlanders in the first part of the year when Japan was not playing.
"Browny has been here for a long time and he has got plenty going on, working hard on recruiting and is involved in the process of getting players."
He did not wish to comment on the departure of head coach Aaron Mauger. Mauger left the Highlanders last week after three years as head coach.
With the Mitre 10 Cup not finishing until the middle of November and the All Blacks — if they turn out — playing well into December, next season’s pre-season for Super Rugby teams will not start until January. The squads usually train for a month before Christmas.
The start of next season would be at the end of February at this stage.
That would bring a shorter pre-season than usual, but that was not a bad thing, Clark said.
He said Super Rugby Aotearoa showed players could be ready for competition with a shorter pre-season than normal.
What form the Super Rugby competition would take next year had yet to be decided and may change depending on the border situation.
It was hoped an announcement on the structure of the season would be released by Sanzaar and NZ Rugby over the next few days.
Clark confirmed Otago captain Michael Collins would be back at the Highlanders next year. Collins, an Otago product who played well for the side in the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition, had not been signed at the end of the season last month.
