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Anderson a target for Sydney after success with St Helens

Dave Hadfield
Tuesday 29 August 2006 00:00 BST
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St Helens are in danger of losing the coach who led them to Challenge Cup glory on Saturday, with the Sydney Roosters poised to offer Daniel Anderson one of the biggest jobs in Australia.

The Roosters sacked the incumbent Kangaroo coach, Ricky Stuart, yesterday and Anderson has emerged as the favourite to take over.

Anderson coached the New Zealand Warriors to a National Rugby League grand final against the Roosters in 2002 before coaching the Kiwi national side and succeeding the sacked Ian Millward at Saints midway through last season.

This year has been hugely successful for the club, who are four points clear at the top of Super League as well as victorious over Huddersfield at Twickenham.

Anderson is contracted until the end of next season, but there are persistent rumours that his wife is homesick and wants to return to Australia.

"He has told me all about the rumours from the Sydney Roosters, but as far as I'm concerned he's definitely staying next year," the St Helens chairman, Eamonn McManus, said.

"He has said nothing about his family not being happy here. He's doing a great job, we want him to stay and I've nothing to indicate that he won't."

Stuart had been in charge at the Roosters for five years, during which he steered them to three successive grand finals. This year, however, they have won just eight of their 23 matches so far and he has been told that this weekend's will be his last in charge at the eastern Sydney club.

"We'll look at who's available and who will do the best job for the club," the chairman of the Roosters, Nick Politis, said as he declined to confirm Anderson as his No 1 target.

Anderson has also been linked with the Cronulla Sharks, where the former Wigan coach Stuart Raper is under pressure after a bad run of results.

If Saints do lose Anderson, who is credited with getting the club on an even keel after the upheavals of the Millward sacking, they could turn to Justin Morgan, a coach of a similar stamp who has guided Hull KR to the brink of Super League.

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