February 27, 2025 • 9 mins
A big announcement from Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan.
At the close of this season, he's leaving the team to take up a job in Ireland.
Chiefs CEO Simon Graafhuis spoke to D'Arcy Waldegrave on Sportstalk.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Waldegrave
from News Talk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This is News Talk ZB Sports Talk. I'm Darcy Waldgrave
going to talk a bit of rugby union now talking
about Clayton McMillan, and we are joined by Simon Graffis.
He is the CEO of the White Couple Chiefs and
Simon welcome. It's a it's a it's a big day
for the club.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, it's a big club. Hey, and just to clarify,
it's not just the Wakao Chiefs. We're obviously whole Chiefs
region which is one of them. But yeah, happy, happy
to happy to carry on.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I think that's very important that you define that and
you've made a lot of Chiefs fans very happy. My apologies,
that's all good.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, but yeah, big day for the club in terms
of obviously the news that break today around around Clayton
then yeah, he's certainly been had a massive presence with
the club and although disappointed, it's also we do celebrate
that stuff too, you know. We in a lot of
ways we're here to developed players and coaches and it's
(01:13):
good to see them go on to bigger and better
things and hopefully we're you know, we're an important part
of that development cycle.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
How long have you known? How long has it been
chatted about, because obviously he had to peel away from
his contract. We're at the club and end Z are
so long negotiations signing.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
No, I don't think it's been that long. And look,
Clayton and I have got a really good, good relationship
and Clayton's kept me informed right from when it was
highly unlikely. But as the process has gone through, it
seems to have got more and more likely until sort of,
you know, last week, it was like jeep, as this
thing looks like it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Quite a distraction. I'd expect for everybody pretty good to
get it out of the way now before we get
our hands on it and start circulating rumors right, and.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Look, to be fair, that's what we you know, we
were we were actually planning on trying to keep a
little until our by around. We thought that would be
a better way to deal with in terms of the team.
But it is what it is, so therefore we've just
set to front foot and just come out with it.
But yeah, look, I hope we want to minimize the
distraction the team of you know, they've got to focus
(02:20):
week to week and if they do a job each week,
then then we might be in a position to have
a crack at another title.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You know, I'm presuming they approached him or did he
have feel as out looking to advance his career.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I'm not one hundred percent sure. But obviously Clayton was
up in Ireland with the All Black fifteen and they
played Monster, so I imagine he probably. You know, we've
got a John Ryan came down to play for the
club a couple of seasons ago. Alex Nankevill's up there.
There are a couple of other players that he's coached,
so he knows some of them. I don't know. It's
(02:55):
while he was up there. I imagine he probably he
might have He might have made some connections. Yeah, I'm
not sure they it's.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
A pretty small area rugby coaching rugby players. Every on talks.
We know that operate. Simon Grafis joins the CEO of
the Chiefs. Did you try and keep them? Did you resist?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Look, we obviously wanted to want to keep Clayton. He
was coming towards the end of his contract though, and
Edol has made it pretty clear that he wanted to
you know, he was keen to go off and see
what else he could do. I mean, yeah, I personally
I would have been pretty keen to keep him. But
like I say, we're pretty proud of what he's achieved.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You said before, Simon that it's very much it's not
a development club because you're there to win titles, but
there's a lot of trains that going on with players
advancing and with coaches advancing as well. He happy with
that as a club in the way things work through, well.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I think it's just part and parcel of it. You know,
Like in terms of players, you'd probably have up to
twenty percent of players normally change each season, and there's
an element of always changed. At a coaching group, I think,
you know, the head coach is probably a little bit different,
but if you have a lookover history, you know, five
years out of a head coach is actually probably a
good run. So as a club, we have to have
(04:14):
plans in place for succession for all our roles, whether
that's head coach, the rest of the coaching group, players
back off of staff, you know, Like, so we need
to we need to make sure that we've got things
in place to carry on past any one person.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Oh, it's interested in the nature of contracts in the
sporting world. They don't appear to actually mean a great deal.
You've got to walk away from them if it suits you.
Is that a fair thing to say? Contracts aren't really that.
They don't stick people to their roles, do they.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Ah?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
No, I'm not sure about that because I mean, like
they don't want to get into the technicalities of it.
But Clayton was contracted here till the end of twenty six,
but he actually had an exit clause at the end
of twenty five, so he's actually what he's doing is
actually in line with his contract. So there's no he's
not walking away from anything. He always had an option
(05:08):
to get out of it. I'd hoped, obviously that he
would have done the full term. But so this is
probably just a year earlier than we're probably what we're planning.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
For what happens now. You are plenty going to try
and strive to win this elusive title for the club
and Clayton McMillan. When do you start looking for a replacement?
Who do you talk to around that? Have you already
done that? What is that that process Simon, to find
the next man off the rank.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, look, that's a great question. But look we're pretty
focused on making sure this isn't a big distraction. So
I think the key thing for us is to keep
everyone aligned with what they've got to do week by
a week, and then we will go through a process
once we've finished the season, done our review process, and
then go through a process for head coach.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Would you like it to be an internal promotion? Is
that likely? Or you open it up to everybody concerned?
Both here in a way.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I think we've got you know, personal view at this
stage is I think we've got really good capability internally. Yeah,
and so I think there's some really good contenders internally.
So yeah, I think what happens in the next in
the next twelve to fourteen weeks will probably probably you know,
it could well determine where we end up.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I think he's been a success Simon when you look
across well it will be five years into the season
that he's coached in Hamilton coach the Chiefs. A successful tenure.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Absolutely. I think I think there's another media outlet today.
I mean he's got the highest, highest winning winning ratio
out of any coach, any super coach. So I think
his recorded itself speak speaks for itself. And you know
what people won't have seen is what's actually also done
(06:57):
in the club. So he's been a big part of
focus on the whole organization and culture and values. So
he's been he's been a big part of that. Those
that have watched Tony Fahre and Leash on TVs plus
will will have probably seen the presence of that. So
you're just a little bit of a plug for plug
for the.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Docke absolutely going and take a look. Good value. Hey,
development wise, he would have had a lot to play
in that. So his legacy will live on through bringing
through the younger, less experienced players. I'm presuming.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, and there's and there's a look, there's a
whole coaching group and Pathways team that that work on
that as well. And but obviously Clayton's the figure then
he drives the style of how they play and the
specific culture that's in the rugby and the rugby team. Yeah,
but like I said, I think we all and the
Clayton Clayton has been conscious of working on that too,
(07:49):
is how do how do we set the organization up
to succeed even even when certain individuals aren't are no
longer with us.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, get away from local coaching. They always say you
got a coach overseas to get that top job. Presuming
from what you know of Clayton, he's a fairly he
wants to do very very well. Is this another step
toward the top job in New Zealand Rugby is an
ambitious character.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, I mean I think that seems to have been
almost a proven pathway for coaches, so you know, I
think that would probably be that that's part of the
logic of him doing that that New Zealand rugby is
often encourage the coaches to go off shore and get
off shor experience, and yeah, good, good opportunity to give
give an experience to his family, I think too. You know,
he's given a lot a lot of time to New
(08:34):
Zilla rugby and yeah, island's not the west part of
the world to go and spend some time.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
No, it looks like a very popular desk the nation.
I tell you what. This is going to put a
rocket up the players, not that they haven't gone it already.
Would an amazing start to the season to see Clayton
McMillan off as a success after what a few finals
not quite getting it over the line. There'd be some
great energy around this from the team.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, you'd hope. So, I mean, I don't think that's
shorter motivation, but yeah, it might it might be might
add a little bit, and you'd hope. You'd know there's
a huge mantter of respect from everyone from the board
through the through to the playing group to the back
office team. So yeah, I think everyone everyone's pretty keen
to make sure that Clayton and and the others that
are a few other key people who are finishing this,
(09:20):
you two, it would be nice to see them off
with a you know, with a trophy or something.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Waldegrave
from News Talk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This is News Talk ZB Sports Talk. I'm Darcy Waldgrave
going to talk a bit of rugby union now talking
about Clayton McMillan, and we are joined by Simon Graffis.
He is the CEO of the White Couple Chiefs and
Simon welcome. It's a it's a it's a big day
for the club.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, it's a big club. Hey, and just to clarify,
it's not just the Wakao Chiefs. We're obviously whole Chiefs
region which is one of them. But yeah, happy, happy
to happy to carry on.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I think that's very important that you define that and
you've made a lot of Chiefs fans very happy. My apologies,
that's all good.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, but yeah, big day for the club in terms
of obviously the news that break today around around Clayton
then yeah, he's certainly been had a massive presence with
the club and although disappointed, it's also we do celebrate
that stuff too, you know. We in a lot of
ways we're here to developed players and coaches and it's
(01:13):
good to see them go on to bigger and better
things and hopefully we're you know, we're an important part
of that development cycle.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
How long have you known? How long has it been
chatted about, because obviously he had to peel away from
his contract. We're at the club and end Z are
so long negotiations signing.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
No, I don't think it's been that long. And look,
Clayton and I have got a really good, good relationship
and Clayton's kept me informed right from when it was
highly unlikely. But as the process has gone through, it
seems to have got more and more likely until sort of,
you know, last week, it was like jeep, as this
thing looks like it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Quite a distraction. I'd expect for everybody pretty good to
get it out of the way now before we get
our hands on it and start circulating rumors right, and.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Look, to be fair, that's what we you know, we
were we were actually planning on trying to keep a
little until our by around. We thought that would be
a better way to deal with in terms of the team.
But it is what it is, so therefore we've just
set to front foot and just come out with it.
But yeah, look, I hope we want to minimize the
distraction the team of you know, they've got to focus
(02:20):
week to week and if they do a job each week,
then then we might be in a position to have
a crack at another title.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You know, I'm presuming they approached him or did he
have feel as out looking to advance his career.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I'm not one hundred percent sure. But obviously Clayton was
up in Ireland with the All Black fifteen and they
played Monster, so I imagine he probably. You know, we've
got a John Ryan came down to play for the
club a couple of seasons ago. Alex Nankevill's up there.
There are a couple of other players that he's coached,
so he knows some of them. I don't know. It's
(02:55):
while he was up there. I imagine he probably he
might have He might have made some connections. Yeah, I'm
not sure they it's.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
A pretty small area rugby coaching rugby players. Every on talks.
We know that operate. Simon Grafis joins the CEO of
the Chiefs. Did you try and keep them? Did you resist?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Look, we obviously wanted to want to keep Clayton. He
was coming towards the end of his contract though, and
Edol has made it pretty clear that he wanted to
you know, he was keen to go off and see
what else he could do. I mean, yeah, I personally
I would have been pretty keen to keep him. But
like I say, we're pretty proud of what he's achieved.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You said before, Simon that it's very much it's not
a development club because you're there to win titles, but
there's a lot of trains that going on with players
advancing and with coaches advancing as well. He happy with
that as a club in the way things work through, well.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I think it's just part and parcel of it. You know,
Like in terms of players, you'd probably have up to
twenty percent of players normally change each season, and there's
an element of always changed. At a coaching group, I think,
you know, the head coach is probably a little bit different,
but if you have a lookover history, you know, five
years out of a head coach is actually probably a
good run. So as a club, we have to have
(04:14):
plans in place for succession for all our roles, whether
that's head coach, the rest of the coaching group, players
back off of staff, you know, Like, so we need
to we need to make sure that we've got things
in place to carry on past any one person.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Oh, it's interested in the nature of contracts in the
sporting world. They don't appear to actually mean a great deal.
You've got to walk away from them if it suits you.
Is that a fair thing to say? Contracts aren't really that.
They don't stick people to their roles, do they.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Ah?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
No, I'm not sure about that because I mean, like
they don't want to get into the technicalities of it.
But Clayton was contracted here till the end of twenty six,
but he actually had an exit clause at the end
of twenty five, so he's actually what he's doing is
actually in line with his contract. So there's no he's
not walking away from anything. He always had an option
(05:08):
to get out of it. I'd hoped, obviously that he
would have done the full term. But so this is
probably just a year earlier than we're probably what we're planning.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
For what happens now. You are plenty going to try
and strive to win this elusive title for the club
and Clayton McMillan. When do you start looking for a replacement?
Who do you talk to around that? Have you already
done that? What is that that process Simon, to find
the next man off the rank.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, look, that's a great question. But look we're pretty
focused on making sure this isn't a big distraction. So
I think the key thing for us is to keep
everyone aligned with what they've got to do week by
a week, and then we will go through a process
once we've finished the season, done our review process, and
then go through a process for head coach.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Would you like it to be an internal promotion? Is
that likely? Or you open it up to everybody concerned?
Both here in a way.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I think we've got you know, personal view at this
stage is I think we've got really good capability internally. Yeah,
and so I think there's some really good contenders internally.
So yeah, I think what happens in the next in
the next twelve to fourteen weeks will probably probably you know,
it could well determine where we end up.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I think he's been a success Simon when you look
across well it will be five years into the season
that he's coached in Hamilton coach the Chiefs. A successful tenure.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Absolutely. I think I think there's another media outlet today.
I mean he's got the highest, highest winning winning ratio
out of any coach, any super coach. So I think
his recorded itself speak speaks for itself. And you know
what people won't have seen is what's actually also done
(06:57):
in the club. So he's been a big part of
focus on the whole organization and culture and values. So
he's been he's been a big part of that. Those
that have watched Tony Fahre and Leash on TVs plus
will will have probably seen the presence of that. So
you're just a little bit of a plug for plug
for the.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Docke absolutely going and take a look. Good value. Hey,
development wise, he would have had a lot to play
in that. So his legacy will live on through bringing
through the younger, less experienced players. I'm presuming.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, and there's and there's a look, there's a
whole coaching group and Pathways team that that work on
that as well. And but obviously Clayton's the figure then
he drives the style of how they play and the
specific culture that's in the rugby and the rugby team. Yeah,
but like I said, I think we all and the
Clayton Clayton has been conscious of working on that too,
(07:49):
is how do how do we set the organization up
to succeed even even when certain individuals aren't are no
longer with us.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, get away from local coaching. They always say you
got a coach overseas to get that top job. Presuming
from what you know of Clayton, he's a fairly he
wants to do very very well. Is this another step
toward the top job in New Zealand Rugby is an
ambitious character.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, I mean I think that seems to have been
almost a proven pathway for coaches, so you know, I
think that would probably be that that's part of the
logic of him doing that that New Zealand rugby is
often encourage the coaches to go off shore and get
off shor experience, and yeah, good, good opportunity to give
give an experience to his family, I think too. You know,
he's given a lot a lot of time to New
(08:34):
Zilla rugby and yeah, island's not the west part of
the world to go and spend some time.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
No, it looks like a very popular desk the nation.
I tell you what. This is going to put a
rocket up the players, not that they haven't gone it already.
Would an amazing start to the season to see Clayton
McMillan off as a success after what a few finals
not quite getting it over the line. There'd be some
great energy around this from the team.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, you'd hope. So, I mean, I don't think that's
shorter motivation, but yeah, it might it might be might
add a little bit, and you'd hope. You'd know there's
a huge mantter of respect from everyone from the board
through the through to the playing group to the back
office team. So yeah, I think everyone everyone's pretty keen
to make sure that Clayton and and the others that
are a few other key people who are finishing this,
(09:20):
you two, it would be nice to see them off
with a you know, with a trophy or something.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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