On the brink of being handed the keys to the Warriors, David Kidwell will have to turn around 73 years of Kiwi futility to land the ultimate prize as an NRL coach.

Former New Zealand Test firebrand and Melbourne assistant Kidwell is set to be appointed Warriors coach later this week – with ex-Penrith and Canberra mentor Matthew Elliott his likely offsider.

But while he will inherit a Warriors squad brimming with talent and potential, history suggests the 35-year-old could struggle for success.

Not since Bill Kelly with Balmain in 1939 has a New Zealand-born coach won a top grade premiership in Australia – Graham Lowe at Manly in 1990 and 1991 the only other one of the eight Kiwi coaches to follow who managed to take his team to the finals.

Former New Zealand Test halfback Gary Freeman – who had a brief foray into coaching with the Kiwi side – was at a loss to explain the lack of success of his countrymen with the clipboard.

“I just don’t know why they fail,” Freeman said.

“Maybe we’re just too nice.

“There’s always that (desire) that you want to get on with your players. I did it myself.

“In some ways, you’ve got to be pretty selfish about how you’re going to succeed.”

Kidwell is expected to become the latest NRL coach to emerge from the tutelage of Melbourne premiership-winning mentor Craig Bellamy.

It is a pathway which has delivered mixed results, with Michael Maguire’s promising debut with South Sydney in 2012 in stark contrast to Stephen Kearney’s dismal time at Parramatta which yielded just 10 wins from 42 matches.

The Warriors have reached the finals on seven occasions in the past 12 seasons – including two grand final appearances in 2002 and last year.

But in each of those seven finals appearances they have had an Australian at the helm – Daniel Anderson in 2001-03 and Ivan Cleary in 2007-08 and again in 2010-11.