Don't Forget About How Aotearoa Kiwis Benefit From Australia's Retirements
Through most of my rugby league fandom, Queensland have dominated the State of Origin arena. They have done so largely thanks to the presence of a bunch of lads who are among, if not they best to ever play the game, who also just happened to share and continue to develop a level of chemistry that is barely present at NRL level, let alone those levels above NRL footy.
The same then applies for Australia Kangaroos, who have been able to slide in ready-made combinations of the game's best players while other international teams struggle with the mix and match approach of international footy. Think of our own Aotearoa Kiwis and how we've struggled to roll out consistent line ups and when we do get some level of consistency, those players - especially in key positions - simply don't play enough footy together to get the real benefits of their combination; at least not to the extent of Australia.
This is why, with Cameron Smith and Billy Slater joining Cooper Cronk and Jonathan Thurston in representative retirement after the 2018 State of Origin series, I took a surreal moment to myself. I pondered what it would be like for the Kiwis to play against a Kangaroos team that has none of those champions
Obviously these announcements have seen everyone view them in the context of Origin footy as it's that time of year. Even many of those in Aotearoa would have instantly thought about what the retirements of Smith and Slater mean for Queensland, or New South Wales, before wondering about the implications for the Kiwis. Again, that's completely understandable because we are up to our necks in the Origin bubble.
But damn, hallelujah.
Without Smith, Slater, Cronk or Thurston, Australia instantly comes back down towards the level of Aotearoa and England. How much, is yet to be determined but losing such quality and quality that brought near-telepathic combinations at Melbourne Storm and Queensland into the Australian team, will at least level out the playing field somewhat.
Australia still have plenty of depth, but consider that the players who could replace those greats are either equal to, or slightly below our best Kiwis players in those positions as opposed to clearly better than our Kiwis players (and everyone on the planet). Take hooker for example where Andrew McCullough or Damien Cook (Origin hookers) aren't quite on the same level as Issac Luke.
Or in the halves where Shaun Johnson, Kieran Foran and Benji Marshall are as good as Cameron Munster, Ben Hunt, James Maloney and Nathan Cleary. Regardless of your opinion on who is better etc, you have to admit that the levels have are more even now.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is as good as any Australian fullback who isn't Billy Slater.
Also keep in mind that all those Kiwis examples I've used, are experienced international players. Not only are the levels of quality more even, suddenly there appears to be a legit combination with chemistry for Aotearoa that could have more chemistry/cohesion than Australia.
New South Wales have gone with the full rebuild to coincide with the retirements of the Queensland greats, while Aotearoa will also be in a state of rebuilding with new coach Michael Maguire coming on board. Aotearoa's rebuild is a bit of an illusion though, because Maguire will have at his disposal an experienced group of Kiwis who have all been in good form in 2018.
There will be new, fresh faces like Esan Marsters in upcoming Kiwis squads, but there is a core group of Kiwis who ooze international experience and are still the leading contenders for selection. Please also understand that the Kiwis World Cup teams, do not resemble anything close to the best-possible Kiwis team right now and to judge anything to do with the Kiwis from that World Cup would be lunacy.
As time goes on, I don't really care for this Denver Test;
I did write a few days ago about my hype in what selection decisions Maguire will make, but if NRL clubs hold the power about who is available for selection (as they definitely should), then my interest decreases. That means that I'm cautious about coming to any grand conclusions about Maguire's selection policies or thought patterns from the Denver Test as there is a extreme external variable at work.
This sets up the Aotearoa vs Australia game in Auckland on October 13 as the first major moment of the new era in international footy. Maguire will have likely have more players to pick from and this will be our first chance vs Australia, without the Kangaroos legends. Now I'm low key glad that the World Cup disaster took place, because it result in change and now that change also coincides with an opportunity to be consistently competitive with Australia.
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Peace and love 27.