While North Queensland snatched a 2015 Grand Final win away from Brisbane, we tend to forget that the Broncos were right there with the Cowboys until the footy gods stepped in. Kodi Nikorima's injection of speed and razzle dazzle off Brisbane's bench wasn't crucial to their success in 2015, it definitely helped and the rotation that coach Wayne Bennett settled on in giving Andrew McCullough a spell to bring Nikorima on for 10-20 minutes was a low key piece of coaching wizardry.

Despite this and despite playing more minutes in 16 games last season than he did through 20 games in 2015, Brisbane left it until September last year to re-sign their exciting utility. Just as Brisbane had to let Kodi's younger bro Jayden head to the Roosters, interest from clubs such as Melbourne, the prospect of greater responsibility as a starter and Brisbane's typical salary cap constraints almost led Kodi's departure.

Coach Bennett doesn't lose too many players that he wants to keep and the Broncos ended up re-signing Nikorima until the end of 2018. 

Andrew McCullough won't give up his starting dummy half spot any time soon and he's probably a fair chance to step into the Queensland No.9 jersey when Cameron Smith retires, there's noise around Ben Hunt but I don't think Bennett will want to break up the Hunt/Anthony Milford combination until he's given them every opportunity to fulfill their potential and Darius Boyd still has years of fullback greatness ahead of him. So where does Nikorima fit in?

Hunt could leave, that's always a possibility and Nikorima led the way for Jayden in being capable of playing any spine position. But this season Nikorima will almost certainly settle back into his bench utility spot, the only splash of funk could come with McCullough staying on the field when Nikorima is brought on. Corey Parker has left the No.13 jersey up for grabs and while Josh McGuire can play 80 minutes through the middle, Bennett will appreciate the options that having Nikorima on his bench offers - especially as he juggles minutes and weaves his way through the Origin period.

When Nikorima comes on to play dummy half he offers a different package to McCullough, this allows the Broncos to attack the ruck area with speed and all it takes is one or two darts from Nikorima to change a game. In round 17 of last season, Nikorima's season came to an end with Nikorima torched by a rampant Suliasi Vunivalu on the wing, leaving the field with a bung shoulder. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Broncos didn't go deep into the Finals without Nikorima.

During Brisbane's 2015 Grand Final campaign, Nikorima averaged 9.64m/per-carry and 0.3 tackle busts/per-carry. Keep in mind that Nikorima only averaged 3.4 carries/per-game which means that he didn't get many opportunities to run, but when he scooted out of dummy half, he sliced the defence open. Compare that to McCullough's 2015 work in which he averaged 8.35m/per-carry and 0.11 tackle busts/per-carry; it's clear that Nikorima is more dynamic.

Even last season saw a similar disparity with Nikorima rolling through 9.01m/per-carry and 0.20 tackle busts/per-carry vs McCullough's 8.09m/per-carry and 0.9 tackle busts/per-carry.

This came as Nikorima played more minutes in fewer games as well as averaging 4.3 carries/per-game via the increase in minutes, highlighting a bit of a promotion in how Bennett used Nikorima. 

Regular readers will know how I feel about the Kiwis' Four Nations 'failure' as I have said many times not to judge the Kiwis or coach David Kidwell on a Kiwis team that doesn't have Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Kieran Foran or Simon Mannering in it. Stretch that further to the absence of Manu Vatuvei, Sio Siua Taukeiaho, Dean Whare and Peta Hiku and it's really quite dumb to rip on the Kiwis or Kidwell.

A low key absence was also Nikorima, who had previously come off the bench for the Kiwis and replaced Issac Luke. Lewis Brown is a solid footy player and a valuable squad member as he covers a variety of positions, you'd struggle to argue that Brown is a better x-factor dummy half than Nikorima though. A Kiwis team with a spine of Tuivasa-Sheck, Foran, Shaun Johnson, Luke and Nikorima on the bench is a lot different to a Kiwis spine of Jordan Kahu, Thomas Leuluai, Johnson, Luke and Brown off the bench.

A World Cup spot is the carrot for Nikorima and if he can stay healthy, with the security of a two-year deal and obvious faith shown in him from Bennett, a strong season for Brisbane will almost certainly result in Nikorima making the Kiwis squad. It'll almost certainly result in a highly entertaining Brisbane Broncos team this season that could be difficult to contain.