The new Manu Samoa head coach Namulauulu Alama Ieremia says he and the players have some work to do in winning back the faith and support of fans following a disappointing World Cup.
The 45 year old has been promoted to the top job after two years as an assistant coach under Stephen Betham, who resigned after the World Cup.
Namulauulu was a part of the Manu's failed World Cup campaign, in which they didn't reach the knockout rounds and missed automatic qualification for the 2019 tournament in Japan.
He says it's important to learn lessons from that campaign and his immediate attention will be on restoring pride in the Manu team.
"End of the day you've got to make sure you actually do the job and qualifying for the World Cup is very high on that list. Also making sure that we get our right development plans going forward to actually develop our coaches and certainly our player base. Certainly from my point of view, getting the players back on board and then earning the trust of the people and all the stakeholders - the easiest way to do that is to make sure we perform and qualify again for the World Cup in the next couple of years".
Namulauulu says he already has some coaching and management staff in mind that are keen to come on board and help out in the Manu set-up.
"I think it's very important that you get the right people and the right quality to actually take the organisaton forward. Certainly something that I'm looking forward to is making sure I get the experience and quality people that can move the whole organisation forward, both management wise and coaching wise, so it certainly needs some high performers and that's something that I'm pretty keen to actually bring in".
Alama Ieremia has been appointed Manu Samoa head coach. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
