Stephen Kearney's last job as Kiwis coach was to hit me up and arrange a meeting with the incoming Kiwis coach David Kidwell. In this meeting, we sat there and spun almighty yarns about selecting our #KiwiNRL All Stars which is based on the idea of picking the best Kiwis team based on how the sat each week in my Kiwi NRL Stocks. There's a few blokes who had their seasons impact by injury, however they still performed at their lofty standards when the were healthy and it's a team that definitely has some typical Niche Cache funk thrown in there.

Fullback: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Wings: Jordan Rapana, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Centres: Jordan Kahu, Shaun Kenny-Dowall
Halves: Shaun Johnson, Kieran Foran.
Props: Jesse Bromwich, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
Hooker: Issac Luke.
Edges: Tohu Harris, Manu Ma'u.
Lock: Jason Taumalolo.
Bench: Martin Taupau, Sio Siua Taukeiaho, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Kenny Bromwich.
Extras: Joseph Tapine, Te Maire Martin.

Tuivasa-Sheck obviously had his season ravaged by injury, however his work for the Warriors at the start of the season picked up exactly where he had left off at the Roosters; breaking running-metre records. In his first four games for the Warriors, Tuivasa-Sheck ran over 200m and showcased his freakish ability to stay nimble on his feet without losing any sort of power, perhaps gaining some power in doing so.

Without question, Tuivasa-Sheck is the best fullback that the Kiwis have and the vacuum created by his season-ending injury with the Kiwis vacancy at fullback and at the Warriors is just an example of this; Tuivasa-Sheck is irreplaceable.

On the wings, Rapana pretty much picks himself as he was a contender for NRL wing of the year and was a menace all season for Canberra on their right flank. Along with Watene-Zelezniak, they are both masters at making big metres coming out of their own end which combined with the ability to fly or find the try-line instinctively, has them as prototypes for the modern winger. They also stay busy, drifting in-field and are always hovering around the footy in support, waiting for a little sniff from which they can explode.

The centre positions are filled by two of the classiest kiwi lads in the NRL. Kahu rarely puts a foot wrong with Brisbane and spent the whole season drifting between wing and centre, while Kenny-Dowall was always one of the best for the Roosters despite their struggles. Most importantly, these two are obviously talented in breaking tackles and scoring tries themselves however they also have excellent hands and much of their work in the attacking zone is done to set up their winger.

The Shaun Johnson x Kieran Foran halves combination is still the best one we've got and while Johnson did the best he could all season, Foran demanded selection here thanks to his work in making the Eels a fantastic team in the first quarter of the season. Sure, things headed up shit's creek at Parramatta, which was compounded by the fact that Parramatta fans got a little taste of life with Foran running the show. While Johnson spent much of the season reluctant to do what he does best in running the footy, Foran didn't have a game with less than 40m running and of the nine games he played, the Eels won six of them.

Jesse Bromwich is Dally M Prop of the Year and Kiwis skipper, so his selection is an easy one. Partnering Bromwich is Waerea-Hargreaves, which is more of a nod to his impact on the Roosters when he was healthy. Waerea-Hargreaves played 14 games this season and after easing into his three games where he didn't play more than 40 minutes coming back from injury. After those three games from round nine to round 11, Waerea-Hargreaves played 11 games and only one of those saw him play less than 45 minutes and he made over 150m in five of those games.

I've got Tohu Harris third behind Bromwich and Taumalolo in the #KiwiNRL MVP standings, which is all you need to know about Harris; the kid is as good as edge forwards come. My other edge forward is Ma'u and the Parramtta hit-man was brutal this season, he also proved himself a capable NRL centre when the Eels needed him to cover a gap there. Ma'u - like Harris - rolled through 80 minutes easily and the aggression he brought to the Eels out on the edges ensured that they always had a brutal ball-runner to call upon, as well as a bloke who whacked in defence.

Jason Taumalolo; Mr 200m's deputy, Players Champion, Dally M winner.

Martin Taupau's 2016 season started off kinda slow as he struggled with life on the edges and at a struggling Manly, he also battled suspension but once he strung some games together, he re-established himself as the Ka-Pow that we've come to love. Joining Taupau on the bench, I've got Taukeiaho who did a fantastic job for the Roosters in covering a range of positions and doing so with his trademark footwork/power combination. Taukeiaho played 19 games (not including 2 minutes vs Sharks) this season and ran less than 100m only four times, playing less than 40 minutes just twice.

I've gone with Melbourne's Asofa-Solomona and Kenny Bromwich to round off my bench. The younger Bromwich bro is on my bench to give us some cover across nearly every position and he enjoyed a good season playing mainly through the middle in a lock sort of role, offering some skill and footwork to a big Melbourne pack. A big Melbourne pack that includes Asofa-Solomona and the fact that Asofa-Solomona averaged 10.63m per-carry and 1.3 offloads a game speaks for itself; this dude offers some serious impact.

Tapine and Martin get the #KiwiNRL development spots. I went with Asofa-Solomona over Tapine on the bench because I just loved the x-factor that Asofa-Solomona offers, however Tapine enjoyed a breakout season with Canberra and interestingly moved from the edge at Newcastle to steamrollin' through the middle at Canberra. Martin got a decent taste of NRL footy and showed that he's destined for great things as a kiwi half, his running game or simply his desire to run the footy is a trademark to watch out for with this kid.