Pollyanna?!

So the new coach of the ACT Brumbies reckons they can win the Super 14 in 2009.

That's right sportsfans... next year!

Now I love a challenge and I love a bit of confidence but seriously this is a huge call especially since the team hasn't made the final since they won the thing in 2004. You could be forgiven for thinking this is setting them up to fail.

Having said that there are big boots to fill in Canterbury and other NZ sides have lost some key players to retirement and lucrative overseas contracts so perhaps he is not so crazy after all.

Still I think it'll take more than a year to get the Brumbies into finals contention.

But Andy Friend is not completely naive. in the SMH article, he acknowledges that "he [is] taking over at a low point in the club's history."

I am not sure whether it is a relief that he is candid with the press or that he only has his rose-tinted glasses on half the time.