Hi guys. I have had a chance to read alot of threads post match and soak in the win from saturday.
I felt we would win and we did, my guess was we would win by 8 and we did until the end. it was a similar win to the first one. there wasnt any fluke to it. we out muscled them again. trusted in our halves to outplay their opponents and established a strong defensive squad who i think are equally as good in the wrestle as the aussies. It was an emotional moment as a kiwis supporter since 1998 where i witnessed my first ever kiwis game at harbour stadium as a young kid. to witness a complete onslaught in the forwards. i knew from our first set when our forwards were already poking their heads through the tackle that aussie were in for a long day. then the reassurance that we had beastwood and taupau coming off the bench didn't leave me anxious for a collapse in punch. the interchanges were perfectly timed.
One thing i noticed was a change in the selection of players the kiwis chose from the anzac test. like a team that drafts well in say the nfl or nba the kiwis i think chose forwards who had a low turnover ratio and good footwork at the line. for years ive been waiting for kiwi forwards who werent easy targets front on trying to bowl over their aussie forwards, now weve found guys like taumalolo and id say beastwood is as good at the line with his footwork, guys who can charge at the line identify seams in the line and adjust their line without losing momentum. All the forwards had hardly any loose carries or silly mistakes or penalties.
It seemed like the offload gods were watching over us the whole tournament. never really saw a bad off load, most were safe with a guy really aware and around the player offloading.
I was worried our edge backrowers would stifle our offense, the likes of manners and proctor arent really game breaking edge backrowers but they didnt really need to this tournament, alot of our attacking raids came from the middle being sucked up then simply drawing and passing to the outside.
I think
peta hiku grew into his jersey. we wer all saying he should never touch the fullback jersey after the anzac test but they trusted in him and he delivered the goods. it was good to see a bigger fullback as opposed to say locke or hoffman. he added abit of punch on returns and was constantly looking for seems to attack. i need to see a full season of
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck at fullback to determine if i would have him over
hiku but for now
hiku is our number one guy.
I posted that i thought manu and nightingales years in the kiwis jersey were done. how wrong could i be. manus returns to be honest probably won us the game. if your looking for an overlooked reason that is probably one. just did not stop, he mustve had at least 300m lol. the kiwis did what the warriors have been struggling to do since jro left. give the big man some isolation plays 5m out with his opposite on an island and 8 out of 10 times he'll score. the cut out pass by
hiku was on the money with manu at full steam and matautia on his own there was only one result. nightingale is class, could go down as one of the kiwis best ever servants, mr reliable, nothing amazing and nothing horrible bar his biggest error in his kiwis career in the first game. im gonna say both these guys could possibly make it to the world cup, it depends on fitness and age but if they felt like this is their time to go out in the sun then i wont be mad but they have at least another 2 years in the jersey.
Johnson and Foran. THese will become household names for the next 10 years. the combination these two are creating is something we have never seen before. if foran comes to the warriors where year in year out theyre playing together its gonna be crazy. i think foran has kind of hit his ceiling and has mastered what hes good at whereas shaun has alot of room to grow into.
turning towards the front office and managment i have to give the selectors and
kearney some credit. He has 3 titles as kiwis coach, probably the most successful kiwis coach apart from graham lowe. a world cup and two four nations titles is no small feat. I wanna also give credit to the behind the scenes guys who i think have alot to do with this years success. Kidwell is no slouch and i think hes being groomed to do the job post world cup 2017 if
kearney quits. Also the trainer guy from manly i think has something to do with the fitness and on field communication from on high, he is great at manly and it was a great addition to the training staff.
I dont think the roosters players get another shot at the jersey, i think they brought the wrong culture to the world cup last year, the fpn and the jwhs and moa unless they buy into this new standard of play and commitment then i dont think they get another chance to play for the kiwis. Remember on paper it looked like we had chosen the best ever squad to go to the world cup you match that team list with this years and it doesnt match except the guys this year had more heart and commitment than the others. The guys they brought in this year are smart, committed, and dont bring unneeded drama to the team culture.
The way forward i believe for the kiwis is building upon this team. this is our team for the next 5 to 10 years. like the slaters and the thurstons and smiths who have never lost their jersey to anyone else, the likes of
johnson, foran, taumalolo, whare, bromich, beastwood i believe we need guys that keep their spots and hold together the standard that we have set from this tournament.
I feel to counter the origin and nrl effect we need to take the kiwis brand further and beyond the southern hemishpere. the kiwis should play 6 tests a year. at least 2 months a year should be devoted to international rugby league. Forget australia, let them do their thing. instead strengthen the rivalry with england and the pacific nations while expanding the tour concept. As soon as the grand final is over next year i would have the boys on a plane to the usa to play a friendly with the tomahawks at gillete stadium in new england. then we fly to france and play them in a one off then we play england 3 times. We're expanding the brand like the all blacks, we then are in the news for at least 2 months a year talking international footy at the same time as playing are newest and biggest rivalry that will draw crowds of 80,000 at old trafford. Dream big. its not just about beating aussie its about making the kiws brand as big as the all blacks.
