Sitting back and observing the reaction to a disappointing Four Nations campaign from Aotearoa's rugby league team has been an incredible case of deja vu. There wasn't a whole lot of good to come out of England for the Kiwis besides giving the likes of David Fusitua, James Fisher-Harris and Joseph Tapine, with lacklustre performances from the Kiwis forward pack the only staple across the tournament. To get dramatic though is a bit silly.

The narrative of doom and gloom filtered down from the uneducated and headlines turned the focus on new coach David Kidwell, whether he was fit to lead the Kiwis after only a few weeks in the job. The deja vu came as I found myself falling back on similarities between the Kiwis and the New Zealand Warriors, where similar mind-boggling doom and gloom was pedaled. 

Unfortunately the paths of a weakened Kiwis team under a new coach and a rampant Kangaroos team who are doing a fabulous All Blacks impersonation, crossed in England at the Four Nations.

Comparing this Kiwis team to the team that won the Four Nations last time around, or the teams that had beaten Australia doesn't quite do the Kiwis, nor the Kangaroos justice. Regular readers will know how I feel about Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and just how damn good he is, which led me down a track of switching up my expectations of the Warriors this season; expectations that were super high because the Warriors had signed Tuivasa-Sheck.

Without Tuivasa-Sheck's 200m every game (and everything else that he does) the Warriors were left to roll through David Fusitua and Tuimoala Lolohea at fullback. Tuivasa-Sheck's absence meant that Jordan Kahu was used at fullback despite playing wing/centre every week for Brisbane Broncos and with no prior combination with Shaun Johnson. 

I love Kahu as a player and had no dramas with him playing fullback in the Four Nations as the Kiwis were without Tuivasa-Sheck, Peta Hiku (fullback in the last Four Nations win) and Kodi Nikorima (who has come off the bench for the Kiwis in recent wins over Australia). Dallin Watene-Zelezniak could have been used at fullback, yet he doesn't have the passing game of Kahu and neither Fusitua or Lolohea did enough with the Warriors at fullback to demand selection. Kahu was the best option, but expectations needed to suit the fact that he's still settling into this role.

Anyone who expects a team with Shaun Johnson and Thomas Leuluai as the halves combination, to be successful hasn't watched too much footy. Anyone who then expects a team with Johnson as the lone play-maker with Tohu Harris doing a basic job, to beat a team with Jonathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk as the halves combination, is borderline crazy. 

This year I've repeated yarns about Tuivasa-Sheck and Johnson so much, that I feel like I've gotta do it one more time before the year is out. Tuivasa-Sheck is ridiculously good and he can make a good team, a great team. As for Johnson, I have always said that I'm yet to see Johnson control a game of footy and add his x-factor on top of that. This means that Johnson's best work comes alongside a dominant half who can take on half the load - like Kieran Foran who wasn't there supporting Johnson in England.

Also absent in England was Simon Mannering and while spotting what Mannering adds to a footy team is difficult, spotting what is missing when Mannering's not there is easy. This Kiwis team was without Tuivasa-Sheck, Foran and Mannering, three blokes who would be automatic selections in any full-strength Kiwis team and with Mannering offering plenty of mana while Tuivasa-Sheck and Foran play crucial positions in the spine, their collective influence is obvious.

I have no context or excuses for the forward pack and that's where most of the disappointment must sit. The forwards were pretty bad and I - as the excuse maker - must cop that on the chin.

We also need to factor in that this simply isn't the same Kangaroos team that the Kiwis have beat up in recent times. Not only has Mal Meninga enjoyed a healthy roster of the best Australian talent to chose from - unlike the 2014 Four Nations -  but he's reinvigorated the Kangaroos culture which simply wasn't delivering under Tim Sheens. To some extent, we have to believe that the Kangaroos didn't allow the Kiwis to play to their strengths; instead of dominating the area around the ruck with a powerful, mobile forward pack, Australia made the Kiwis' middle defenders do plenty of work around the ruck.

This all serves as reason why we shouldn't be rippin' on David Kidwell, calling for his head as Kiwis coach. If Kidwell leads a Kiwis team including Tuivasa-Sheck, Foran and Mannering to a similarly lacklustre display in next year's World Cup, then sure, we can start to riot. 

In the meantime, Kidwell will now be able to sit down as the full-time Kiwis coach and keep a close eye on kiwi talent in the NRL. Instead of solely focusing on kiwi-eligible players in the NRL every week, Kidwell was taking care of his role as assistant coach with Wests Tigers. To expect Kidwell to suddenly enjoy success after finishing up with the Tigers and then spending a few weeks with the Kiwis is unrealistic. Unrealistic, like assuming that the Warriors will be as good without Tuivasa-Sheck, as the would be with him ... or as crazy as thinking that Johnson is as good as Thurston and Cronk.

The Four Nations sucked from a Kiwis perspective, yet this team and coach Kidwell can only be judged by what they do at the World Cup. Just as this Kangaroos team under Meninga can only be judged by what they do at the World Cup.