Kiwis Coach Michael Maguire is calling on top level expertise to round-off his team of staff for the ground-breaking Test in Denver against England on 23 June.

Kiwi #673 Nathan Cayless and former North Sydney Bears Coach, Ben Gardiner both join Maguire in the assistant coach role, two appointments the Head Coach says will add a lot of value to his coaching staff.

“I’ve been hired to do a job – assemble the best possible team of players who want to put their hand up and say, ‘I want to play for New Zealand wherever it might be’. Every single player I’ve spoken to has really shown quite a bit of emotion about wanting to play for that jersey.

“Part of doing that means having the right expertise around me – people that are just as hell-bent on putting pride into that Kiwis jersey as I am. These two are top blokes who I believe will do exactly that,” Maguire said.

Cayless is best known as the Kiwi legend who captained the team to World Cup victory in 2008, and recently took charge of the Junior Kiwis as Head Coach in 2017. He became a household name playing rugby league at the highest level and has also built up an impressive coaching portfolio too.

Cayless took on the Wentworth Magpies ISP NSW team as Head Coach in 2016 after a stint as Head Coach of the Eels SG Ball side, and another as assistant coach of the Blue and Gold Holden Cup side in 2015.

Ben Gardiner has also been re-appointed as another one of Maguire’s assistant coaches bringing a set of skills the Head Coach is looking forward to working with.

As the assistant coach of the New South Wales under-20s, Gardiner was credited with turning around the North Sydney Bears’ fortunes in the NSW Cup after taking the head coach role mid-way through the 2015 season. Gardiner also had a part to play in the South Sydney Rabbitohs’ 2014 Premiership win alongside Maguire.

Donny Singe also returns to the Kiwis staff as High Performance Manager alongside Sean Edwards who comes on board as Athlete Performance Coach. Both Singe and Edwards have played crucial roles in the high performance space when taking their respective clubs, Manly Sea Eagles and South Sydney Rabbitohs, to win NRL Premierships.