After older bro Jesse re-signed with Melbourne Storm, it made sense that Kenny would also extend his stint with the Storm until the end of the 2020 season. This adds a few more seasons on to the deal that Kenny signed with Melbourne last year and as I explored here, Melbourne will maintain a strong #KiwiNRL presence with Kenny set to enjoy more responsibility with the departures of Kevin Proctor and Tohu Harris.

In their press release, Melbourne Storm highlighted Kenny's leadership capabilities and it's fairly cool that the San Antonio Spurs of the NRL have a pair of brothers from Aotearoa as the blokes to lead Melbourne beyond the big-three era. Kenny has started the season playing on the edge - he and Felise Kaufusi have are directly filling holes left by Proctor's departure and Harris' injury - but when Harris returns we could see Bromwich move back into the middle where he was dynamic last season.

Either way, Kenny is a key man in Melbourne's forward pack. He's versatile and is nicely suited to the quicker tempo of the NRL these days, offering some nimble balance with Melbourne rolling out plenty of size. 

That Melbourne have secured the futures of two core club-men while they juggle their roster around the big-three's big salaries is a wise move. They will have to unload a few more players but have chosen to keep the Bromwich bros to build around and while we know where Jesse fits in, Kenny's ability to play multiple positions leaves a bit of intrigue as to what Craig Bellamy has planned for him in the coming seasons.

David Kidwell looks set to get some coaching help for the Kiwis with former England coach and Aotearoa Warriors assistant coach, Steve McNamara stepping in alongside Kidwell. McNamara was the unfortunate bloke to make way for Wayne Bennett and given that England sit behind Australia and Aotearoa, McNamara did a fine job in keeping England in that mix. 

Many folk were highly critical of Kidwell as the Kiwis struggled at the Four Nations, which was fair as the Kiwis under-performed but it was also rather dramatic. Sure, Kidwell was Stephen Kearney's assistant and there was a seamless look to that transition but Kidwell spent 2016 worried about his job with Wests Tigers and was given a swift learning experience as he was thrown into the deep end of the pool with the Four Nations. 

That's definitely giving Kidwell the benefit of the doubt, however it's common sense to believe that Kidwell will be far better for the experience in what is a World Cup year after all. The short-term pain was the Four Nations with the mid/long-term goal being the World Cup, part of that involves Kidwell establishing a strong support crew aside from his England gig, McNamara has plenty of experience in an assistant role. 

It is World Cup year folks, so every second week of the NRL season I'm going to drop a Kiwi All Stars team based on the NRL. Keep an eye out for it in something like this or in the #KiwiNRL Stocks...

Fullback: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Wings: Jordan Rapana, Jordan Kahu.
Centres: Solomone Kata, Brad Takairangi.
Halves: Te Maire Martin, Shaun Johnson.
Middles: Jesse Bromwich, Adam Blair, Jason Taumalolo.
Hooker: Issac Luke.
Edges: Manu Ma'u, Simon Mannering.
Bench: Suaia Matagi, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Kenny Bromwich, Martin Taupau.
18th/19th: Brad Takairangi, Zane Musgrove.