The buzz around Tonga's Rugby League World Cup performance largely came from their robust forward pack, led by Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita. Not only did they lead the way on the field in terms of dominating the middle of the park, their decisions to play for Tonga was a celebration of rugby league's standing and potential in the Pacific Islands.

What has been overlooked during the #KiwiNRL takeover is that we are now seeing Aotearoa and the likes of Tonga, enjoy the most depth they've ever had in play-making positions. All stereotypes point to Tonga, Samoa and Fiji have depth in outside backs positions and middle forwards, which can even be applied to Aotearoa as there was a constant rotation at international level of different halves playing alongside Stacey Jones, or Benji Marshall.

Anyone who is unsure of rugby league's growth in Aotearoa, only needs to look at the rather crazy depth and young players rising through the ranks in key play-making positions. It is at this point that I must clarify how I operate under the #KiwiNRL umbrella as I do not wish to discredit, or wrongfully claim Polynesian talent as being products of Aotearoa.

Siliva Havili, Sione Katoa, Ata Hingano and Tuimoala Lolohea have all represented the Junior Kiwis at some stage and were all in Tonga's RLWC squad. Jarome Luai was the Junior Kiwis captain last year and played for Samoa in RLWC, despite not having made his NRL debut and Fa'amanu Brown was a part of Samoa's campaign, he played his junior footy in Christchurch before chasing the dream with Cronulla Sharks. Mason Lino wasn't at RLWC for Samoa, yet he's also a Junior Kiwis rep.

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All of those players named are halves or hookers and besides Luai, all of the others played all their junior footy in Aotearoa.

Siliva Havili: Manurewa Marlins (Auckland)
Sione Katoa: Randwick Kingfishers/Upper Hutt Tigers (Wellington)
Ata Hingano: Pakuranga Jaguars (Auckland)
Tuimoala Lolohea: Marist Saints (Auckland)
Fa'amanu Brown: Hornby Panthers (Christchurch)
Mason Lino: Marist Saints (Auckland)

Just for shits and giggles: Nathaniel Roache could play for Samoa as a dummy half in the future and his younger brother Paul, could bolster Samoa's halves depth as a halves prospect with Canberra Raiders. Both played all their junior footy (league and union) in Auckland and are eligible for Samoa and Aotearoa.

That is to suggest that Aotearoa has played a rather large role in their rugby league development. Instead of claiming the glory for Aotearoa, this is more about rugby league's growth in Aotearoa as more children from different backgrounds around Aotearoa are playing rugby league and this naturally flows into greater depth in all positions, not just the stereotypical positions.

The funk then flows into young play-makers from Aotearoa, who are solely eligible for Aotearoa. Te Maire Martin and Kodi Nikorima lead the way, along with Danny Levi and they were all a part of Aotearoa's RLWC. Brandon Smith is emerging as a beastly nugget for Melbourne Storm under the guidance of Cameron Smith and I've already highlighted how Slade Griffin and Levi may form an all-kiwi hooking rotation for Newcastle Knights this season.

Newcastle Knights don't have a big group of kiwis, nor are they of the highest calibre. There's going to be plenty of game time for Salde Griffin and Danny Levi though and that will offer the #KiwiNRL funk.

Matt McIlwrick is a hooker from Christchurch who is likely to feature heavily in the Wests Tigers team that is stacked with #KiwiNRL talent. Thus giving Aotearoa Levi, Smith, Griffin, McIlwrick and I'll chuck in Manaia Cherrington as well even though he's yet to really establish himself in the NRL. That's five decent hooking options for Aotearoa and the beauty here is that the abundance of players eligible for Aotearoa and the Pacific Islands means that all these international teams can flourish.

Take Manase Fainu for example as he came off the bench for the Junior Kiwis last year and is likely to get an NRL debut as a hooker this season for Manly Sea Eagles. Fainu is a Tongan who has featured heavily in NZRL's Taurahere program (look it up) and while there's a bit of a log-jam in Aotearoa's depth chart for hookers, there is the exact same log-jam in Tonga's depth chart for hookers.

And these log-jams won't vanish in the coming years, if anything they will increase as #KiwiNRL numbers soar, thus bolstering the stocks of Tonga and Aotearoa. The joy here is that which ever route Fainu goes down, the other nation won't be hurt to any great extent; if he plays for Tonga then awesome, if he plays for Aotearoa then awesome because Tonga have options as well.

As for the halves, Hingano could make a long-term commitment to Tonga and Aotearoa wouldn't be in a terrible position as Martin and Nikorima are likely to play plenty of international footy in the coming years. Then there's also a long list of young halves who are yet to crack NRL footy as well.

The best thing for international footy wouldn't centre around who Taumalolo plays for; the best thing for international footy would be to have Lolohea and Hingano playing for Tonga, Brown and Luai for Samoa, then Martin and Nikorima for Aotearoa. We would be looking at a situation where all three teams have very legit halves combinations, thus increasing the standard of footy and this is something we've literally never been able to enjoy before.

Let alone what this would do for up and coming play-makers as they would need to raise their performances to be better than any of those players listed, suddenly there's immense competition for spots in all three teams, in positions where we've never had depth or competition.

This is a natural evolution of the #KiwiNRL takeover as through Aotearoa rugby league, there are more players capable of filling play-making roles than ever before. Because of Aotearoa's population diversity, this then flows into building the strengths of Samoa and Tonga which can only be a good thing as there genuinely is no loser in this situation.

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Peace and love 27.