Keeping expectations reasonably low, yet full of hope was a key point heading into this Aotearoa Kiwis Rugby League World Cup campaign. Those expectations remain at that same level based on the idea that this is a rather longer tournament and a lot can change over the course of three or four games. There's definitely room for hope to grow and that's going to be my theme of this World Cup for Aotearoa; rid yourselves of expectation and fill up your loins with hope.

Aotearoa looked fairly good against Samoa, I've got to keep it real about Samoa though as they weren't very good. Some headlines praised Samoa for their effort against Aotearoa and yeah sure, Samoa were brave and fought valiantly, but you have to expect that in international footy. See the difference? You don't hope your lads leave it all out on the park when representing their country, you expect it.

Samoa certainly tried hard, they were just mediocre. There's plenty of room for Samoa to grow and they'll suss out the fact that there's a limit on your performance level when your key play-makers are Ben Roberts, Joseph Paulo and Young Tonumaipea - more on that in the international debrief coming in the nek few days. Aotearoa's defence looked solid, yet Samoa didn't really throw any complex schemes at the Kiwis and barely got momentum from which to run plays at a Kiwis defensive line that were scrambling.

Aotearoa looked good in attack, yet that Isaac Liu try signified some reasonably crappy Samoa defence. I won't go all in on hating on Samoa's defence because this leads me to a low key point that others will overlook when they celebrate the performances off the bench from Nelson Asofa-Solomona (told y'all), Isaac Liu and Dany Levi. This point will also be lost as people ponder this funky Kiwis style of footy that is all tempo and offloads; Aotearoa ground Samoa down and enjoyed the fruits of their labour in the second half when four tries were scored in the last 30 minutes.

The speed and tempo from Aotearoa's entire forward pack - plus Roger Tuviasa-Sheck who is as good as a Martin Taupau or Jason Taumalolo when he's running - made if bloody difficult for Samoa to stay in the game. Keeping up is all good for 40 minutes, but as Aotearoa rolled through their rotations, keeping up turned into Samoa sitting on their heels as Frank Pritchard did for Liu's try, or as Samoa did whenever Taupau, Asofa-Solomona etc ran the footy.

NAS was nek-level and 181m from 18 carries is bonkers (10.05m/carry). This is standard NAS business and you can not be surprised or gob-smacked if you've watched Melbourne Storm in the past 18 months, or read the Niche Cache. What made life difficult for Samoa is that this Aotearoa forward pack isn't just NAS, there's Martin Taupau's 162m from 14 carries (11.57m/carry), then Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and his 172m from 19 carries (9.05m/carry), Russell Packer chipping in with 96m from 10 carries (9.6m/carry) and Liu's 105m from 11 carries (9.54m/carry).

Joseph Tapine and Simon Mannering then take carries and jink their way between defenders as well. Samoa weren't just trying to tackle big blokes, they were trying to tackle blokes who are mobile, have footwork and run funky lines thanks to their mobility. Ol' mate Darryl Halligan crowed "everyone's got footwork now" after Liu whacked an uso to break the line, this is incredibly silly and I hope all of y'all aren't that silly.

These lads showcase their footwork every week in the NRL, hence they've been selected in this team, hence why Tapau, Tapine, NAS and Liu catch the eye in the NRL. This suits how Aotearoa is playing, although I'm very interested to see how this style develops over the tournament as going all-in on a style of play will be easy-picking for Australia - unless you execute it perfectly and can then stop Australia. Australia will be watching, they'll suss this out.

There is variety here though and it's important to have Adam Blair, Waerea-Hargreaves and Packer offering a different style. Different running styles, different body shapes, different sizes, different ways of eating metres ensure that every carry is different and that's a nightmare to defend. Or, more notably, it's a nightmare to wrestle against and slow down the ruck.

Shout out to Waerea-Hargreaves too. This dude was apparently told he didn't make the cut, then told he was back in and then he wasn't named in the initial 17 only to come in when Kenny Bromwich was ruled out. That's reason to be a bit meh, however Waerea-Hargreaves slotted in perfectly and along with Taupau they looked like certified international props. Chur to Waerea-Hargreaves and also a low key salute to the culture vibes David Kidwell has put in place so far in camp.

This game was won through the middle, plain and simple. There are minor takeaways from the backline stuff and it's obviously going to be interesting what happens at centre with Gerard Beale shot by the sniper. Peta Hiku and Dean Whare are in the squad already, so the person Kidwell calls into the squad will likely be a depth option and I'd like to see Joseph Manu offered spot.

Didn't really learn too much about Shaun Johnson and Kodi Nikorima as they weren't tasked with having to go set for set with Samoa. They didn't need to earn repeat sets or peg their opposition down their end and were also rolling with quick play-the-balls constantly, so let this combo simmer some more and we'll take this learning process slowly. Johnson's short-kicking game is a thing of beauty, that's for sure and his grubber's that curve away from the defender, picking up pace in the process get me frothing.

Also getting me frothing and for me is the most exciting aspect in terms of looking ahead to the rest of this RLWC for Aotearoa is Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. Mr 200m was fantastic all season for the Warriors in his debut season as skipper and guess what? He continued this for Aotearoa with 202m from 19 carries in the sort of performance we haven't seen too much of from Tuivasa-Sheck in the black and white jersey; he was slick as a winger and has then featured sporadically or not as dominant.

He didn't need to do too much for his try as that was all Nikorima, but Tuivasa-Sheck was there in support. This sort of start to the tournament for Tuivasa-Sheck is a great sign as the thought of him playing his best footy with such dynamic players around him, is a lovely thought. There are offloads throughout this Kiwis team, there's speed, power and footwork and skill (lots of players who can pass both ways in crisp fashion) which is ideal for Tuivasa-Sheck.

I also noted Tuivasa-Sheck doing a fair bit of talking in the post-try huddles and we've got to remember that Adam Blair isn't going to play 80 minutes as skipper. Shaun Johnson kicks the goals, so he's not in the huddles and my other observation was the connection and body language players had with Mannering, reinforcing the idea of Mannering oozing mana. Tuivasa-Sheck's a genuine leader as well though and when he speaks, his comrades listen which is fantastic.

If you've made it this far, you deserve a little treat, or a piece of advice which stems from the news around Tuivasa-Sheck last week; stop caring, stop guzzling information from media are just really silly.

First and foremost, if you have enough time to sit around and really pay attention to every rumour or possible piece of news that the mainstream media post, you need to get a hobby.

Go do something, work hard at something and experience life because these rumours etc don't make your life better, they don't make you cooler. Especially when the mainstream media has done nothing to earn your trust and keep throwing out stuff because y'all eat it up like hyenas.

Especially when something like Tuivasa-Sheck's (I don't know what to call it so I'm gonna call it...) shit involves Aotearoa's beloved All Blacks. Kiwi mainstream media can't get enough of a weird rumour that involves the All Blacks because well, it's Aotearoa.

The Niche Cache don't deal in rumours or whispers unless there's evidence, or at least reason to believe that it's plausible. Then it's got to actually be of interest right now and why on Earth should the Niche Cache care (if this started with an actual concrete nugget of information - evidence) about Tuivasa-Sheck wanting to play rugby in 2019. There's a Rugby League World Cup on right now, so let's flood the streets with Rugby League World Cup hype and drown out the kaka.

Peace and love 27.

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