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The real estate agent who left retirement to become the Drua's only non-Fijian player
By
Alex McLeod
Up until this season, it had been eight years since former Blues playmaker Baden Kerr last played Super Rugby.
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He didn’t intend on returning to professional rugby, either, as after a journeyman-like career that had seen him play in New Zealand, England and Japan, Kerr had hung the boots up for good to become a real estate agent.
That was until late last year, when Fijian Drua head coach Mick Byrne – the former All Blacks and Wallabies assistant coach who worked with Kerr at the Blues – gave the experienced pivot an SOS call to plug a gap in the new franchise’s squad.
Fast forward a few months, and Kerr is now back in the revamped Super Rugby Pacific, plying his trade for one of the competition’s newcomers as the only non-Fijian in the entire squad.
It’s a journey that, like most people, the 32-year-old veteran didn’t see coming as he prepared to begin life outside of rugby, but it’s one he has fully embraced since joining the Drua for the current campaign.
“For years, I sort of battled with niggles and injuries, and it gets to a point where I was at a certain age where you want to start focusing on life after rugby,” Kerr told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod of how the opportunity to join the Drua came about.
“I sort of got to a point where I guess rugby was sort of fading out, there wasn’t as many opportunities, wasn’t necessarily playing my best or in my best nick, so decided to sort of let it go and got into a bit of real estate, which was never a plan, ever.
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“I’d kind of come to terms with life after rugby. I was starting to feel a little bit settled, and then this opportunity sprung because one of our old coaches at the Blues, Mick Byrne, he’s the head coach here, so he just wanted a conversation around it.”
That conversation proved to be the springboard for an opportunity that Kerr said was unlike anything he’d been offered in his rugby career.
“It sort of came as a real surprise to me, and I don’t think any rugby opportunity, or many opportunities, would have probably captured me like this one did because, I suppose, by taking this opportunity, it’s a lot more to rugby than me,” he said.
“I get to inherit a completely different culture and group of boys that live a completely different way, and in a unique place in Australia here where you’ve still got that familiarity.
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“You can duck down to get a coffee and you’ve still got those little familiarities of home that makes you feel comfortable whilst being somewhere that makes you feel uncomfortable, which, for me personally, was a great opportunity to grow.
“For me, that was the kind of thing that kind of made the decision easier for me, because I’m learning so much from these boys and how they live and how rugby to them is fun and it’s a privilege and it’s secondary to the real basic things in life that we often forget.”
A product of Papakura in South Auckland, Kerr is a long-serving stalwart of Counties Manukau rugby, having played numerous seasons for the Steelers in the NPC, and has grown accustomed to the ethnic diversity evident throughout the region.
That, he said, helped him adjust to the challenges of entering an entirely foreign environment as a white New Zealander, which he said was “daunting” prospect.
“I think I’ve been really privileged growing up in Papakura,” Kerr told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“The diversity that we have in Counties Manukau, the guys that I got to play with growing up through the age-group [teams], and a lot of Fijian boys, they’ve had such a special culture, as you know, when it comes to life around the footy.
“I guess it gave me a little bit of an understanding about the type of people they were.
“I don’t think I’ve ever come across a Fijian that isn’t super kind and welcoming and warm, and I think having those experiences with Counties and club footy at Karaka and in Counties Manukau too, it gave me a little bit of confidence coming over here.
“Obviously it’s pretty daunting and wasn’t sure how I’d be accepted, but those small, little interactions I had, like you said, with Counties and whatnot made it, I guess, a little bit easier to blend in, if that’s the right word.”
Among the key differences Kerr has noticed at the Drua compared to other teams he has been involved in throughout the world is the tight-knit culture that binds the squad together through their core values of faith and family.
“I think, for them, family is everything, and they’re sacrificing so much to be away from family,” he said.
“We have boys in the team that won gold medals with the Fijian sevens team, and they spent seven months away from family, and now they’re doing it again with the Drua.
“To them, that’s their why, and it’s so clearly evident, and they’ve also got a really strong faith in Christianity.
“Every single night, we have what we call lotu, which is like a little church service, and you see that they’ve got a greater belief beyond themselves, beyond the game.
“I think that’s what makes them so much tighter, these boys, so much tighter than maybe other groups in terms of culture.”
Since his arrival at the Drua, who are based in Australia for their inaugural Super Rugby Pacific campaign due to Covid restrictions, Kerr has featured in three of his side’s four matches to start the season.
One of those matches saw the Drua notch their first-ever Super Rugby Pacific win against the Melbourne Rebels a fortnight ago, a feat they nearly replicated against the Reds on Saturday.
Kerr is now set to miss his side’s next few matches after damaging his MCL, which will keep him sidelined for between four-to-six weeks, but that hasn’t dismayed his passion for the Drua in what he indicated may be his final season of professional rugby.
“For me to be able to enjoy this properly, I’ve literally got to enjoy one training at a time, because it’s all a blessing and it’s all brand new to me again,” Kerr told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“When you start early doors, you almost are reliant on how you play on the weekend, and you kind of value yourself on that. I kind of want to make sure if I play well on the weekend, that that’s a bonus. I just want to enjoy each day.
“Obviously I’ve picked up an injury right now that’s going to keep me out for a few weeks. I don’t want that to damage my time here because it might be my last season of rugby.
“That’s a very possible reality, and I know I’m sort of here covering for some injuries in terms of 10s and a couple of boys coming back, some older heads and some younger ones.
“I guess I just want to contribute as much as I can, from a rugby point-of-view, but also from a supportive and from a friendship point-of-view for these boys to help guide them because I’ve become incredibly passionate, a massive supporter of the Fijian Drua and the people and who they are.
“I just want to be a part of a journey this season, and then whatever happens after that will be.”
