Spring Internationals: Aotearoa Kiwis Get The W
And just like that; everyone loves kiwi rugby league. Aotearoa's Kiwis squeezed past Australia 26-24 to get their spring internationals window cracked open, filling everyone with good vibes and hope that the rise of the #KiwiNRL can be matched, enhanced by Aotearoa's national team. I have taken the route of looking into the discussion around Kiwis support with the Tonga vs Australia came approaching, so check that out and I'll otherwise stick to the footy here.
Leading into this game, I was hopeful thanks to the absences of Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Jonathan Thurston, Billy Slater and even Greg Inglis. We can go further in highlighting the absences of other OG Kangaroos; Darius Boyd, Sam Thaiday, Matt Scott, Paul Gallen etc. All these guys formed a Kangaroos group that already had combinations and chemistry established, so coming into Kangaroos camp only required a bit of a re-fresh of their Kangaroos systems and they were good to go.
Let alone the in-game management and performance of the big-four. Suddenly, Australia have none of that and while you can still look at Australia's squad and view them as a better team, international footy is different. All those legends of the game, weren't just masters of NRL footy or State of Origin, they were masters of all three formats and were the best because of how they dominated international footy.
International footy is different because national pride is involved, whanau and bloodlines are involved; let alone it being an Aotearoa All Stars team full with funky talent. Hence, when we see Brandon Smith tearing up, or Dallin Watene-Zelezniak's vigour front and centre of the haka or hear any of the players talking about the pride they have in representing Aotearoa, we know that there has been a bit of a shift.
The Kiwi were great in executing their skills and plans, yet that injection of nek level pride and passion gave them the edge. We have now been given a fantastic example of how it doesn't take a hearty kiwi to spark that as coach, it simply takes a good coach to pull on the heart-strings of his players. David Kidwell was celebrated as being a passionate kiwi, none of which translated on to the field while Michael Maguire is a genuine head coach and part of that role is to rally your troops together.
It's hard to suggest that this is a fresh Kiwis group when so many veterans are involved, so many guys who have been there in recent years. What we do have, is a nice mix of younger lads, grizzly international soldiers and a coach who brings it all together. This was a team with Kevin Proctor filling an edge spot, Kenny Bromwich playing hooker off the bench and a line of middle forwards that could have been rolled out five years ago; Jesse Bromwich, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Adam Blair.
Obviously Smith, Joseph Manu, Esan Marsters and Ken Maumalo add a hefty dose of exuberance as they all came into Kiwis camp hot off of fantastic NRL seasons. It's the culmination of everything though that gave this Kiwis team the edge, perhaps most evident in the performance of Shaun Johnson who calmly steered the Kiwis around and pegged Australia deep in their own territory for much of the game.
Who cares about player of the match. Honestly, it's not worth debating. I'm merely saying that Johnson's experience and know-how was part of the culmination, which has me low key intrigued to see how his combo with Kodi Nikorima develops. They worked brilliantly together and switched up their looks so that their schemes always had a different shape to them; not so much left-right, more based around the two working together to get the footy where it needs to go.
When you have two strike centres, that makes a huge difference and the halves have far more options. They can either hit Marsters and Manu early, they can play the line-running edge forwards or have a dance themselves. What ever option they take, compliments the other option because the defence may sit on Johnson and worry too much about Manu for example.
Anyone talking about Manu, also needs to appreciate Marsters. They are equally as talented and Marters played his own role nicely down the left edge. It was a bit weird to see Isaac Liu move from the right where he played for the Roosters alongside Manu, to the left, while Proctor slotted in at right edge. That Roosters combo could take the Kiwis to another level, but it's not overly important as Liu and Manu both played well on opposite edges.
The balance of the forward rotations also caught my attention. Kenny Bromwich did a stint in the middle of the game at hooker and there was no dip in the Kiwis performance, despite Kenny not being as dynamic as Smith. That's because at the same time, Martin Taupau and Leeson Ah Mau were on the field and suddenly, the style of play switches; Taupau's running across field and offloading at ease, Ah Mau's plowing through the ruck area and there is a bit more action out of dummy half from the outside backs.
Then Smith came back on and the style changes again, with Smith exposing a Kangaroos defence that had just watched Kenny Bromwich pass the ball for 20 minutes. I definitely do not believe Kenny is a dummy half on par with Smith and ideally, Kenny doesn't play dummy half, however this is service-able thanks to the variety on offer in this position (Brandon and Kenny) as well as variety in the forward pack; when Kenny is on, then there's more skill and power around him.
Everyone in that Kiwis forward pack offers something slightly different. It just be the body shapes and sizes, or more importantly the way each forward goes about their business. This made it very difficult for the Kangaroos to nulify Aotearoa' dominance through the middle and if we are to simplify this performance down to one key nugget; Aotearoa genuinely dominated the middle of the field vs Australia for the first time in yonks.
It was beautiful to see as Aotearoa steam-rolled their way down the field via their powerful forwards and outside backs who each offer something special. Watene-Zelezniak's kick returns and the willingness of the Kiwis to pass once receiving a kick, thus moving the focus point of the kick return, started the flow and it never stopped.
Also beautiful, was the Kiwis defence. Their try-line defence was the most obvious thing here, however the kicking game of Johnson was complimented by some super aggressive defence which ensured that Aotearoa won those early tackles as Australia tried to get metres. In that regard, Aotearoa won early tackles with and without the footy; the number of times they drove an Aussie backwards deep in Australia's territory went a long way to deciding the outcome of the game.
Just a beautiful game really. Credit to everyone involved and as the glorious leader Watene-Zelezniak noted after the game, this is merely a step forwards. England awaits and while that's a different challenge over in England, the opportunity to further develop combinations and really establish this Kiwis culture, has me fizzing with anticipation.
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Peace and love 27.