Aotearoa Kiwis vs England Preview
Two young Maori halves leading the Kiwis
Aotearoa Kiwis coach Michael Maguire's served up a funky Kiwis squad to face England over in that place, in that country and Maguire can rest assured that things will get easier. The context around this Kiwis squad and the Denver Test is what makes it so funky, with Maguire forced to dip into his bag of tricks and deliver a squad that blends the elements of covering unavailabilities, winning an international Test and also ushering in a new wave of Kiwis with the next World Cup in mind.
I gotta get my gut feel out of the way, because that will hopefully re-jig expectations; the Kiwis are underdogs, England are favourites.
And I bloody love that.
England coach Wayne Bennett has named a strong squad. England incredibly settled, effectively re-upping their World Cup squad with the best coach ever, while Aotearoa has a fresh squad with a new coach and a whole lot of uncertainty.
My advice to you is to approach this Test with Aotearoa as the underdog and to be excited about a new era starting. Also know that this is not the strongest possible Kiwis squad and it would be foolish to get down in the dumps about the Kiwis if they are touched up by England as this squad showcases the depth of Aotearoa rugby league more than anything else.
There have been players who have publicly stated their availability/unavailability, but we have absolutely no idea as to the availability of other players and what their respective clubs wanted. That makes it hard to talk about players that Maguire has not selected as it's highly likely that Maguire wasn't given the luxury of choosing and was instead forced into various selections.
Players who weren't publicly made unavailable by their clubs, but who I suspect would be in Maguire's planning are; Jesse Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich, Alex Glenn, Corey Harawira-Naera, Dean Whare and Kevin Proctor. We also need to consider that Jordan Rapana and Benji Marshall are currently injured and would have been in the mix, while Kieran Foran doesn't appear to be close to warranting international selection at the moment ... and is also injured.
Here is a team featuring players who weren't selecting, but who are realistic selection options, or are in the wider Kiwis mix.
The Unavailables
Fullback: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Wings: Jordan Rapana, Malakai Watene-Zelezniak.
Centres: Dean Whare, Joseph Manu.
Halves: Benji Marshall, Shaun Johnson.
Middles: Jesse Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich, Adam Blair, Brandon Smith.
Edges: Corey Harawira-Naera, Tohu Harris
Bench: Danny Levi, Alex Glenn, Kevin Proctor, Zane Tetevano.
Maguire has named a few fullback options in Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Peta Hiku and Jordan Kahu all in the squad. Watene-Zelezniak has consistently been one of Penrith's best since moving to fullback and that has coincided with Penrith catching fire in the NRL, thus making Watene-Zelezniak my best option at fullback.
Hiku, Kahu and Esan Marsters are the centres in the squad and like Watene-Zelezniak, Marsters' form for Wests Tigers warrants a starting spot. Kahu has slid back into centre for Brisbane Broncos after breaking his jaw and I'd prefer him at centre ahead of Hiku, which could make Hiku surplus to requirements in the backline if Ken Maumalo and Jamayne Isaako are selected as the wingers.
There's a fair chance that Hiku could be selected on the wing and with Kahu and Marsters in the team to kick goals, there's no need to select Isaako based on his goal-kicking. Maumalo offers a unique package with his running, which has me narrowing it down to a battle between Hiku and Isaako for a wing spot.
That means that I've got either Hiku or Isaako missing out on a top-17 spot. Regardless of how the outside back group looks though, I'll be happy with the combinations and will be more intrigued in the insight gained as to how Maguire's thinking when he selects the outside back combination.
A halves combo of Te Maire Martin and Kodi Nikorima puts Aotearoa's play-making depth on full flex mode as we've rarely seen Aotearoa roll out two young halves. That automatically brings with it difficulties though and anytime there is a young halves combo selected, expectations need to be adjusted.
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Neither Martin nor Nikorima is a dominant organiser, which presents problems and neither of them have been in great form for their respective clubs. That ultimately leads me to be cautious about any hype, yet I am very excited to see these two play together and more than anything I'm just eager to see what happens.
As Issac Luke has shown he's more than capable of playing 80 minutes at a high level, this will allow Maguire some wiggle room with Slade Griffin. Griffin isn't going to offer impact and x-factor off the bench, as Nikorima has previously done or as Levi and Smith may do, but Griffin can play alongside Luke as a middle forward and plug various holes in the forward pack if required.
I would expect Griffin to give Luke a spell and keep Luke fresh for an explosive style of play, which will change how the Kiwis attack; Luke is all-round brilliant, while Griffin's game is all about service and effort.
Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Joseph Tapine are the edge forwards selected and while Leeson Ah Mau, James Fisher-Harris and Isaac Liu have done a bit of edge, Faitala-Mariner and Tapine are the likely starters.
This leaves Ah Mau, Fisher-Harris, Liu, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Martin Taupau and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves as the middle forwards.
As the senior forwards, Taupau and Waerea-Hargreaves would be the likely starters. Both Asofa-Solomona and Fisher-Harris have spent much of this season starting in the middle of the park as well, putting them as the leading contenders for the remaining middle starting spot. I'd lean towards Fisher-Harris starting as he'll be tasked with shutting down the Burgess brothers, then bring on Asofa-Solomona to bring the ruckus.
Maguire will then have to chose between Ah Mau, Ese'ese and Liu for two bench spots, unless Griffin is not selected and then we could see all three feature on the bench. I've got no idea about Maguire's preference here and how he builds his forward pack is another major point of intrigue; Ese'ese feels like the likeliest to miss out.
This is still a big, powerful and skillful Kiwis squad selected by Maguire and while they lack the experience of England, it's an exciting squad that will pose problems for the Poms. Whether or not Aotearoa can control the game and establish a grind with England through their kicking game, well, that's another question. One of Maguire's key tasks this week will be to extract the best out of Martin and Nikorima, how these play-makers respond to Maguire could tell us a lot about Maguire's future as Kiwis coach.
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Peace and love 27.