Beating the Kangaroos is always a tough ask, especially after we being lulled into a false sense of dominance which awakened the beast. Aotearoa's Kiwis did themselves no favours however in a Four Nations final performance that wasn't a woeful display from a team that had been hummin' along nicely, nah, this was about on par with how they had played in the Four Nations leading into the final.

The Kangaroos were nothing short of sublime in the final, to the point where I reckon they would have still won by 10 or so points if the Kiwis hadn't kept serving up opportunities on a platter. Those gifts from the Kiwis came in the form of 14 errors to just 7 from Australia, which when you are dealing with Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Jonathan Thurston and Darius Boyd, is never going to end well. Giving these blokes 55 percent of the footy is similar to trying to fight Conor McGregor with one arm, or trying to take on McGregor in some pre-fight shit talking, with a limited vocabulary.

During the week I will explore Australia's climb back up to the No.1 spot as well as some context around the Kiwis. Both of these a crucial factors in fighting off doom and gloom being rained down on the Kiwis by the mainstream media; don't be overly sad folks as this was a limited Kiwis squad, missing key squad members, with a coach who has been in the job for a few months. That's all bigger picture stuff though and in this specific game, the Four Nations final, the Kiwis certainly stunk.

A lot of that stems from another lacklustre game from the forwards and while I am eager to offer some context around this result, the way the Kiwis forwards have been out-played by their Kangaroos opponents was a bit sad. Jason Taumalolo ran for 121m off just 10 carries, Martin Taupau ran for 111m off just 10 carries, Jesse Bromwich had 125m off 14 carries and even the youngin' Joseph Tapine offered some punch off the bench with 61m off 7 carries, yet the Kiwis forwards were steam-rolled once again.

The only way the Kiwis were going to win this final was if their forwards were destructive around the ruck, using superior mobility and footwork to keep the Kangaroos pegged back on their defensive line. Instead, a Kangaroos forward pack that should definitely not be slept on at all were the destructive force, rolling down the field via 112m off 10 carries from Matt Scott, Aaron Woods's 126m off 13 carries, 109m off 10 carries from the freak-a-zoid Shannon Boyd and a rather astonishing 170m off 15 carries in just 31 minutes from David Klemmer. 

We can celebrate our Dally M and Players Champion Taumalolo, or admire Taupau's impact off the bench but it's not as though Klemmer and Boyd are mediocre forwards. Boyd went pretty damn close to justifying the non-selection of Andrew Fifita, stepping up in the biggest game of the tournament to have an impact while also appearing to fit in seamlessly to a team culture that allowed the Kangaroos to blossom.

That performance from the Kiwis forwards just made me sad. They are capable of so much more and instead of the Kiwis forwards working the Kangaroos ruck defence over, it was the Kangaroos forwards who targeted Taumalolo, making him miss 5 tackles. The blueprint of Kiwis success got flipped against them as the Kangaroos made big metres around the ruck, forcing repeated efforts on defence and rolling down field easily.

One play stood out as the best reflection of how the Kangaroos are playing footy under Meninga; Cameron Smith popped out of dummy half on the Kangaroos' 40m line and kicked long from his left boot before the last tackle, landing the ball in open pastures, dribbling the ball into the Kiwis in-goal where Jordan Kahu was greeted by Greg Inglis and Inglis monstered Kahu to force a goal-line droppie. 

You can't do a whole lot to stop that because Smith's a master at kicking out of dummy half, not too many players have the speed and size of Inglis to chase hard and then monster Kahu. Nor do too many teams have the confidence or skill to pull that all off in a game, let alone a final.

There's beauty in the way the Kangaroos can fire shot after shot through the middle, while also firing a warning shot out on the edges early in the set. The two go hand in hand as the Kangaroos would pull the Kiwis into the middle of the field before spreading wide where Greg Inglis and Josh Dugan are incredibly difficult to stop one-on-one, or the speed of Valentine Holmes and size of Blake Ferguson can get them down the field. What this showed was a clear plan and supreme confidence in shifting the footy, two things the Kiwis of which the Kiwis had zilch. While the Kangaroos executed their game plan and specific moves with ruthless perfection, there didn't appear to be a plan for the Kiwis, nor was there any great level of execution. 

Once again, I'm here stating that I am yet to see Shaun Johnson control full game of footy and add his spicey funk on top of that control. I'm a tape of rewind here because it was the same story with the NZ Warriors and I'll remind y'all that Johnson looks great alongside Kieran Foran because there's less for Johnson to do; he can focus on doing what he's best at which is running the footy. I love Tohu Harris, but Tohu Harris is offering no assistance to Johnson in terms of game management and they are both playing behind a forward pack that is being steam-rolled. This resulted in the cluster-fuck that was the Kiwis attack.

Johnson is fantastic, we just aren't seeing him used in a way that really gets the best out of his talents. In this case it was forced thanks to the injury to Thomas Leuluai, even then though Leuluai doesn't offer a dominant presence in the basic halves' duties of controlling a game of footy. Johnson can't do everything, he's shown that, so what'd we expect when he's playing alongisde a very talented ... forward.

Let me put it this way; Johnson isn't close to being as good as Thurston or Cronk, yet people expect him to do the job of Thurston and Cronk combined (the Kangaroos have Smith and Boyd as well!).

If you're still kickin' it in that delusional world, the Four Nations final should offer you a guiding hand out of there. This final offered insight into a few limitations surrounding this Kiwis squad, limitations that can be easily erased by the returns of a bunch of players and there's a couple players who did their international futures no great boost with what they did in the Four Nations. We're better off for this low point and how David Kidwell juggles a few tough calls, will be interesting in the months leading up to the World Cup.

As a cheeky teaser for some big picture Kiwis talk, here's my full strength Kiwis team...

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Jordan Kahu
Peta Hiku
Dean Whare
Manu Vatuvei
Shaun Johnson
Kieran Foran
Jesse Bromwich
Issac Luke
Adam Blair
Simon Mannering
Kevin Proctor
Jason Taumalolo

Bench: Kodi Nikorima, Martin Taupau, Tohu Harris, Sio Siua Taukeiaho.