The Third Niche Cache Maori All Stars
OG screenshot.
Once upon a time, Aotearoa Maori played in the Rugby League World Cup. How about that? It'd be cool to see them in the World Cup again and perhaps with an Indigenious Australian team in there as well, but with rugby league spreading its tentacles further than ever, there's no real need to have two teams out of Aoteroa or Australia. Instead, we've got the third annual Maori All Stars team and as always, this is a combination of Maori from Aotearoa and Australia, hence the All Stars tag.
Fullback
Kalyn Ponga
Hailing from the Manawatu, Ponga was an early selection for Aotearoa Maori to play against Aotearoa Residents last weekend but had to withdraw due to injury. Despite plenty of outside backs depth, Ponga is still the best fullback option and the thought of Ponga combining with Benji Marshall is enough to get me fizzing. We didn't see him too much this season - as I predicted - with North Queensland Cowboys having depth that was better suited to the wing, but we know that Ponga is likely to be Newcastle Knight's fullback for the next few years and this could be the start of his Maori legend.
Wings
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Jordan Rapana.
Two easy selections who don't need too much written about them as they are current Aotearoa Kiwis reps and veterans of our Maori All Stars. Watene-Zelezniak's from the Waikato and Rapana is from Wellington and both are in my stronges Kiwis RLWC team as the wingers.
Centres
Jordan Kahu, Dean Whare.
Same story for the centres, although Joseph Manu was nipping on Kahu's heels for one of these centre spots. Whare is Aotearoa's best centre and Kahu would have been a likely selection for the Kiwis but was unavailable through injury, with Whare from Rotorua and Kahu from Wellington.
Halves
Te Maire Martin, Benji Marshall
The youngin' and the OG, the next Benji Marshall and the Benji Marshall. Marshall continues to show what an Aotearoa legend he is after moving to Brisbane Broncos where he played a variety of positions and did whatever Wayne Bennett asked of him, now he's off to Wests Tigers to link up with his former club. Marshall is enjoying a bit of a resurgence in his twilight years and he's proven that he still has a lot to offer in the NRL, plus he's willing to accept cheap deals that benefit the clubs and the importance of that can't be under-stated.
Marshall will guide Martin around, on the field and in camp. Martin earned selection via a decent NRL Finals campaign in which he wasn't asked to do a whole lot but he managed to produce a few key moments of magic that resulted in points. This showed me that Martin has the same big-game-temperment as Marshall and I'm just happy that their careers are currently overlapping.
Middle Forwards
Jesse Bromwich, Adam Blair, James Tamou, Issac Luke.
Simply as OG tu meke Maori as it gets. The mana here speaks for itself.
No need to differentiate between the three props as most tend to do by having two props and a lock. Blair balances out the attacking oomph offered by Bromwich and Tamou with his defensive nous and they are all mobile enough to plug gaps defensively.
Edge Forwards
Tohu Harris, Alex Glenn.
After a season plagued by injury, Harris emerged in the latter stages of the season to gain some consistency and finished the season in his rightful spot as a top-five edge forward. A fantastic Grand Final was the climax as Harris was a nightmare to defend against and led Melbourne's tacklers, all while showing off some funky skill. The lad from Hastings returns to Aotearoa for next season and is partnered in the Maori All Stars by Alex Glenn, who was among Brisbane Broncos best each and every week.
Glenn did enough to keep Kevin Proctor out, even with Glenn having to shift to the right edge after playing this season on the left for Brisbane. Don't sleep on how important consistent minutes has been for Glenn as he really started to shine once he got given 80-minute duties on the left, although he did look low key impressive in various shifts through the middle as well.
Bench
Kodi Nikorima, Kenny Bromwich, Joseph Tapine, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
Gotta find a spot for the hearty Waerea-Hargreaves, even if he did slip up in the Roosters Finals loss with a few silly penalties and what not. Most weeks he rolled through some hefty stats and deserves to sit alongside those grizzly OG Maori middle forwards, he's just not quite on the level of the others - I'm low key intrigued by how Waerea-Hargreaves goes in this RLWC yo.
Nikorima is my favourite bench x-factor player in the NRL, even if he did manage a promotion this season to the halves. He's so fast and skillful out of dummy half that he'll always play this role as long as he's not needed in the halves for the Maori All Stars and with Kenny Bromwich coming off the bench as well, there's a serious dose of skill and footwork there. Kenny has the most slept on skill in the NRL, plus Joseph Tapine adds some size to this bench which gives the Maori All Stars all sorts of mobility and funk.
Peace and love 27.
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