Charmaine McMenamin would look to bring bring a simple coaching philosophy to the team next season. Photo: Hannah Peters
Two-time Rugby World Cup winner Charmaine McMenamin is making the shift from player to coach, joining the Blues women as forwards coach for the upcoming Super Rugby Aupiki season.
McMenamin said it was a "hone call of two halves" from Blues head coach Willie Walker that set the move in action.
"It's a funny story, Willie called me at work and asked if I had a moment to talk. We have a good relationship and are pretty straight up with each other," McMenamin said.
"He said: 'look, I'll tell you right now, I'm not going to re-contract you as a player, but would you consider coaching?'
"I said can I think about it because I'm on my 15-minute break at work. But that's essentially how the phone call went," McMenamin said.
Charmaine McMenamin said she was looking forward to the challenge as the Blues women forward coach. Photo: Sarah Reed / www.photosportnz
After she pondered on the decision for a while, McMenamin also sought advice from players who had made a similar switch.
"I spoke to the likes of Bindy (former Blues assistant coach Linda Itunu) and Carla [Hohepa] around how they transitioned from player to coach to get an idea [of] how they navigated that space with players.
"After talking to them, it eased my initial concerns and after reflecting on it, I look at it as an opportunity too good to pass up - I want to be the best coach I can for the girls at the end of the day," she said.
McMenamin has been part of the Blues since the beginning. She played in the inaugural match against Chiefs Manawa back in 2021 and was proud of how the team culture had developed over recent seasons.
"I've seen the growth and the evolution of this team. The culture that we've built here is so authentic, you can come in and be yourself, not have to worry about anything and just play footy. The culture at the Blues is just awesome, it's thriving," she said.
McMenamin would lean on her domestic and international rugby experience as she moved into the coaching space, and she'd look to bring a simple coaching philosophy to the team next season.
"I want to try and bring out the best in every single player, at the same time I want to grow them so they can do that themselves and have the awareness to do that themselves.
"At this level it's about being collaborative and open minded because I'm going to be learning off the players too. I'm quite new to this but I'm really looking forward to the challenge."
McMenamin described working alongside the likes of head coach Willie Walker and fellow assistant Carlos Spencer as working with "a dream team" and was looking forward to building on last season's success.
"We want to continue what we started last season; we wanted to be the most dominant pack in the competition. We grew through the comp, we set some pretty high standards around set piece and setting a good platform for our backs.
"Ultimately, big picture, we want everyone to be putting their hand up for the World Cup squad, representing the club with pride and getting another W - back-to-back!"
