Welcome, you are here because like me, you are highly excited about the prospect of seeing our Kiwis venture to the Motherland. I ran through some speculation about the Kiwis' squad, then sussed the train-on squad and here we are with a full squad, ready to take on England.

England have also named a squad which looks to be very squad and includes Gareth Widdop, Tom Burgess, James Graham, Mike Cooper, Sam Tomkins and Josh Hodgson from the NRL. There are also names like James Roby, Kallum Watkins and Matty Smith who have impressed over the past few years in an England jersey as well as young Joe Burgess who will join the Roosters next season. I like England's squad and it includes funky situations like the form of fullback Zak Hardaker who could force Tomkins to play in the halves as well as their dual-threat at hooker with Roby and Hodgson two of the best.

Leading up to this point, I have stated that the Kiwis will be all good regardless of who suits up in the halves. This isn't me saying that England is weak and that young halves like Tuimoala Lolohea and Kodi Nikorima or fill-in halves like Tohu Harris (or even Jordan Kahu and Peta Hiku) will run the show with ease against England. Nah, it's just that this Kiwis forward pack is the best in the business and when you have strike-weapons like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck your job as a half is made a heck of a lot easier. 

As expected, Jason Taumalolo pulled out which opened the door for Manaia Cherrington. That robbed us off seeing Taumalolo in combination with Martin Taupau and Sio Siua Taukeiaho, but this Kiwis forward pack is still an assembly of beasts. Jesse Bromwich and Ben Matulino are both known as two of the NRL's best props and they will be supported through the middle by Adam Blair who is coming off his best season in recent memory. Taupau and Taukeiaho will be unleashed and there's also Sam Moa who will do his job as a cannonball fired off the bench.

Isaac Liu will probably be the man who won't see as much game time as the others, but Liu is an exciting selection nonetheless. Liu does a solid job of running and tackling hard through the middle and did so with the Roosters who can never be accused of not showing the right attitude or lack of effort. The stability on the edges has allowed coach Stephen Kearney to go with extra prop/middle-forwards as Kevin Proctor, Tohu Harris and Alex Glenn are three of the more consistent edge back-rowers in the NRL. I hope Kearney goes with three big boppers and one of these three on the bench - I'd start Proctor and Harris with Glenn coming off the bench and Glenn's presence will help cover a range of positions ... well Harris and Glenn both. Lewis Brown also covers a range of positions and could feature coming off the bench but to be honest there isn't much room for Brown, which is a great sign for the Kiwis.

The forwards ooze power, footwork and size which is Kearney's successful formula. While there are a few players missing, Kearney has the luxury of calling up someone like Taukeiaho who fits the formula perfectly and deserves his promotion. This is my starting forward pack: Bromwich, Luke, Matulino, Proctor, Harris, Blair. My bench would be: Moa, Taukeiaho, Glenn, Taupau. That leaves Brown and Liu as the extras, but I imagine that they will see some game time.

That is a pretty damn good forward pack if you ask me and this backline for the Kiwis is shaping up to be just as exciting. I am going to roll with the Lolohea and Nikorima combination, which would suit the style of Kearney's Kiwis as I don't imagine the Kiwis will be stuck in their own half too often and these two young halves won't have to fire off long kicks into the corner. They are both great runners of the footy which gives the Kiwis an extra dimension in attack as they will play off a forward pack who are rolling forward, using their footwork to get quick play the balls and all our forwards love to off-load. 

Lolohea, Nikorima and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck are nothing less than a mouth-watering prospect. The only worry is their ability to dictate how the game is played and where it is played as neither of the halves have really shown that level of control in the NRL.

On one side of the field the Kiwis will have Peta Hiku and on the other side will be Dean Whare. They are both extremely solid NRL centres and this is just another example of how the halves' job won't be as difficult as people think; Lolohea and Nikorima will have options with Tuivasa-Sheck lurking and weapons on either edge. Gerard Beale offers depth here while Jordan Kahu has also played a fair bit of centre.

Who starts on the wing? That's the biggest question in this Kiwis squad simply because we have so many options. A lack of leadership and experience could give Jason Nightingale and Shaun Kenny-Dowall the nod, but Kahu is all class and Curtis Rona showed that he's a gun of a try scorer. That's four lads competing for two spots and I have no idea which way Kearney will go as they all have many positives next to their names. Personally, I'd love to see Kenny-Dowall and Kahu start but I'm happy with whoever Kearney throws out there.

I will continue to touch base with the #KiwisInEngland, but right now I'm fairly happy with how things are looking. The young halves who haven't shown the ability to control NRL games is the biggest worry and it's definitely a concern as England have named Widdop and Smith who have both shown there ability with the boot. I have however seen the various weapons that this Kiwis team has in the NRL and such is the threat that they pose that they might not need to kick all that often.