The new-ish Highlanders chairman has upped his ownership stake in the club and also thrown his support behind chief executive Roger Clark and coach Clarke Dermody.
Kean would obviously like the team to have a record better than five wins and eight losses, but he suggested the gutsy efforts over the past two weeks — the Highlanders needed to win both home games to stay in playoff contention, and ground out an ugly 20-17 win over the Rebels before their last-minute 35-30 defeat of the Reds on Friday night — were promising signs.
"I guess it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster season for us because we’ve played really well at times but it’s been tough to put in an 80-minute performance," Kean said.
"It’s been quite heartening, albeit late in the season, to actually see us go the full 80.
"If you think about it in terms of achievement, we’d probably say it’s been a reasonable season but we could have, or perhaps should have, done better.
"Our challenges are not new to the Highlanders. When we suffer some injuries, our depth gets questioned, and we did have a lot of injuries, to be fair.
"I’m happy we are still in the scrap. The guys really deserve a lot of merit for winning the last two games when their backs have really been against the wall."
Kean pointed out the Highlanders had won one more game than last year.
He said the only leg of the season that was really frustrating was the Australian tour, when the Highlanders were arguably favoured to beat both the Force and the Waratahs but dropped both games.
He felt the full rollercoaster on Friday night as he and Clark were preparing to head out on to Forsyth Barr Stadium to make a presentation to halfback great Aaron Smith following his final home game.
The Highlanders were losing at that point, but Kean got to the sideline just as Folau Fakatava scored a wonderful try in the far corner to seal victory.
"It was incredible mixed emotions from coming down the stairs to walking out of the tunnel to seeing the try."
Kean is fairly new to the chairman role but has had a long involvement with the Highlanders.
Like everyone at the club, he was sad to contemplate a future without Smith.
"I remember meeting him as a young fellow. A lot of the young guys are quite shy but he would always come up and say gidday.
"When I was on the New Zealand Rugby board, I’d be around the environment and team hotels, and he’d always come over for a chat. He knew I was from the South, and we had that connection.
"He has been such an integral part of our environment. From the young fellow from Feilding to the world’s best, really."
Kean is excited by the wave of young talent coming through the Highlanders academy.
He hoped supporters would have some patience as they watched the team develop in the next few years.
"In 2025, 2026, I think we’ll be a different Highlanders team, and I think we’ll be better. We want to continually get better.
"We’ve got to keep the faith. There’s been huge change at the club in the last 12 months."
Clark and Dermody had his full support as they worked tirelessly to bring success to the club, Kean said.
While Clark has seen all the highs and lows over 13 years, Dermody is in his debut season as head coach and has had to deal with some poor on-field performances — especially at the start of the season — and an injury toll that bordered on farcical.
The coach was not a man to shrink from the challenge, Kean said.
"Derms is a tough character. He doesn’t have his head in the clouds."
Kean said the Highlanders had set realistic budgets for crowds.
The one disappointing attendance was for the Rebels game (9945), but overall the club was happy enough with an average crowd for Dunedin games of 12,600, and also heartened by the national numbers around television figures and digital interaction.
Kean now owns 43.5% of the Highlanders, having upped his stake again following the decision of Sydney-based part-owner Ray Burke to sell his shares.
"Ray had been there from start. It’s not a big surprise — he’s such a busy man, he’s got a lot going on, and the travel from Sydney was a factor.
"It was all very amicable."
Shane Drummond also has a 43.5% stake — the three provincial unions in the region hold the remaining 13% — but Kean said further ownership changes were likely as they wanted to get more people aligned with the region to join the club.
