Tony Kemp

Tony Kemp (born 18 January 1968) is a New Zealand former rugby league test representative and former coach of the New Zealand Warriors. During the 1994 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France, Castleford hosted a match against the Australian side with Kemp at in the Tigers' 12 – 38 loss. During the 1995 ARL season Kemp played for the South Queensland Crushers.

Kemp joined Leeds in 1995, appearing 47 times in four seasons at the club. Kemp was selected to play for New Zealand at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. He retired having played twenty-five games for New Zealand. While at Leeds in 1998 he coached the Alliance team to a championship win. In 2000 Kemp, along with all of the other players aged over 24, had his contract with the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats terminated due to the club's financial crisis.

Coaching career

After two years of playing for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Kemp retired to take over from Andy Kelly as head coach. He helped save the club from relegation before leaving to return home to New Zealand. In 2001 Kemp became the assistant coach behind Daniel Anderson at the New Zealand Warriors. He openly said that he wanted to be the next head coach after Anderson. Kemp got his wish, taking over from Anderson when he was sacked halfway through the 2004 NRL season. Kemp was in charge for a season and a half before being sacked himself. In 2008 he was named in the Taranaki Rugby League Team of the Century.

In 2010 Kemp was appointed team manager of the New Zealand national rugby league team. In 2012 he was named in the Wellington Rugby League's Team of the Century.