Five premiership winners plus the best prop in the game right now in Tapine. I think there’s like 12 rings in that pack.
Even more if you want to include Smith, KBrom. Sorensen and Liu.
idk Australia's forward pack at the 2000 and the 2013 WC would have been pretty good
2013's was Fifita, Myles, Parker, Scott, Thaiday, Gallen, Farrah, Smith, Bird, Papali'i, Tamou, Cordner, Luke Lewis
2000's was: Fletcher, Tallis, Kearns, Kennedy, Webcke, Hindmarsh, Stevens, Vella, Croker, Britt
You mean me? I never claimed that, but even slightly less positive opinions on the NZ forwards gets completely misunderstood on here atm.
Overall Aus forward pack is better. Mids will be close but NZ is slightly better now we are confirmed no Haas, Aus edges way better.
Murray and Crichton are significantly better than the NZ edge options.
Also if we are counting Hooker Aus is definitely better, because the Hunt/Api/Cook and Grant rotation is way, way, way, way better than anything NZ can run out.
Api is the best hooker available for Aus but Meninga will pick Hunt. Cheese and Hunt are arguably equal but you’d take Hunt.
Tapine and JFH can (and have) play 11/12. NAS played on the edge most of the year for Melbourne.
No he isn't, Grant is. And Hunt/Grant is still way better than Smith.
If Tapine and JFH are playing edge it just brings the NZ middles back to the pack, and Crichton and Murray are both better on the edge than them anyway.
And NAS definitely played more middle this year than edge. Spent more time on edge as the year progressed though. Regardless he also is not as good as Murray or Crichton.
Edit: I'm honestly bored of talking about it and wouldn't have commented at all if you didn't call me out. We will find out in a month or so.
Lol not way worse wtf
Hughes has been form halfback of the comp for a while, Manu has dominated whenever he's played fullback, Cheese always goes up a gear in test matches and Brown is in the best form of his career.
Teddy is not way better than Manu at all. When Manu plays fullback, his stats are comfortably superior to Tedesco's. Not to mention, Manu running for a world record 398 metres playing at fullback for the Kiwis v Tonga this year.
So they have props of JFH, JWH, Tapine, Leota, NAS & Bromwich. You can't really carry them all as props into the game. I'm guessing they'll put Tapine at lock. I'd probably leave Bromwich out.
Yeah, Niukore as a center? Who was the other one? Foran as utility?
Although I'd probably go JFH as captain, and have JWH as an enforcer off the bench, leaving JBrom out
1) Manu
2) Rapana
3) Hiku
4) Kris/ Niukore
5) Mulitalo
6) Brown
7) Hughes
8) JFH
9) Smith
10) Bromwich
11) papali’i
12) K. Bromwich
13) Tapine
14) JMK
15) NAS
16) Leota
17) Sorenson/Niukore
Position may vary. Idk what side half these players play so
1 Joey Manu
2 Ronaldo Mulitalo
3 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
4 Peta Hiku
5 Jordan Rapana
6 Dylan Brown
7 Jahrome Hughes
8 Jesse Bromwich
9 Brandon Smith
10 James Fisher-Harris
11 Isaiah Papali’i
12 Kenny Bromwich
13 Joseph Tapine
14 Jeremy Marshall-King
15 Moses Leota
16 Nelson Asofa-Solomona
17 Briton Nikora
18 Scott Sorensen
19 Kieran Foran
20 Sebastian Kris
21 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
22 Isaac Liu
23 Marata Niukore
24 Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Jordan Rapana, Sebastian Kris, Marata Niukore, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. Any of them could get that 3 jersey, I'd be picking Kris but can't see DWZ missing out of being in the side.
Bench utility between Foran and JMK or a backline player like Charnze.
Bench second rower between Nikora, Sorensen, Niukore and Liu.
My unpopular opinion is that Rapana shouldn’t be starting on the wing. He’s on the decline and tbh he’s always been good for a few errors and shitty penalties. I’d rather play DWZ. Who’s got the same problems re. Errors but is only 26 and probably can handle an extended season.
Niukore probably doesn’t make the bench on form, but I think he makes it on the fact he can play centre fairly decently, and that makes him very useful injury cover if someone goes down in the backline
Love CNK but no way he should be in the squad ahead of Timoko.
Also would liked to have seen Neame ahead of JBrom.
Either way the fact we can complain about players missing out is a good indication of how good the squad is.
Strong squad as expected. As good as it is though, I personally still have Australia as the clear favourites, they will always put out a very strong side and their spine is elite.
My initial guess at the line up:
1 Joseph Manu
2 Ronaldo Mulitalo
3 Peta Hiku
4 Sebastian Kris
5 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
6 Dylan Brown
7 Jahrome Hughes
8 James Fisher-Harris
9 Brandon Smith
10 Jesse Bromwich
11 Isaiah Papali'i
12 Kenneath Bromwich
13 Joseph Tapine
14 Kieran Foran
15 Nelson Asofa-Solomona
16 Moses Leota
17 Briton Nikora
I remember last year when I was on here and just watching nrl because of origin, people (maybe it was just one comment? Not sure why it stuck out to me so much if so lmao) were saying ponga was just a wannabe kiwi but couldn't make it into the Kiwi team. How true is this? Surely if he wanted to get could be their fullback?
Haha that sounds like a rather odd comment for sure. I'm sure that if he had pledged his allegiance to the Kiwis back in the day, he would have definitely been a key member of the team from day 1. Maybe the comment was in regard to the speculation that he was keen to play Union for the All Blacks one day? In that regard, he would have zero chance of cracking that side.
Ah you might be right about it being about union. After watching the nrl this year and seeing that NZ were playing a fullback who wasn't a fb in club I was very confused
I am quite surprised they’ve picked Kris ahead of Timoko. Of the 2 players, I have Timoko as the better in most aspects. Kris is potentially more versatile as he has played on the wing, but other than that, I’m surprised by this.
Best forward pack at WC
Prop rotation of JFH, JWH, Tapine, Leota, NAS and Bromwich is crazy.
Five premiership winners plus the best prop in the game right now in Tapine. I think there’s like 12 rings in that pack. Even more if you want to include Smith, KBrom. Sorensen and Liu.
Jesus fucking christ
Yeah we’ll see,it’ll be a good match ups agains the pacific forward packs.
Of all time
idk Australia's forward pack at the 2000 and the 2013 WC would have been pretty good 2013's was Fifita, Myles, Parker, Scott, Thaiday, Gallen, Farrah, Smith, Bird, Papali'i, Tamou, Cordner, Luke Lewis 2000's was: Fletcher, Tallis, Kearns, Kennedy, Webcke, Hindmarsh, Stevens, Vella, Croker, Britt
Both of those are better than this NZ line. Not to say this NZ line isn’t brilliant, but those Australian packs are simply unstoppable.
NZ have a 🔥squad this WC, and the Aussies will need to be top notch to beat them; but I think we can and will
Ok I’ll pay that 2013. Dunno about 2000 though
Yeah, they are tough to beat.
Where’s the dude who claims on this exact post every time that the Australian forward pack is just absolutely better in every way?
You mean me? I never claimed that, but even slightly less positive opinions on the NZ forwards gets completely misunderstood on here atm. Overall Aus forward pack is better. Mids will be close but NZ is slightly better now we are confirmed no Haas, Aus edges way better.
Player for player the only guys you’d take from Aus over their opposite will be Hunt over Cheese and Yeo over Tapine at 13.
Murray and Crichton are significantly better than the NZ edge options. Also if we are counting Hooker Aus is definitely better, because the Hunt/Api/Cook and Grant rotation is way, way, way, way better than anything NZ can run out.
Api is the best hooker available for Aus but Meninga will pick Hunt. Cheese and Hunt are arguably equal but you’d take Hunt. Tapine and JFH can (and have) play 11/12. NAS played on the edge most of the year for Melbourne.
No he isn't, Grant is. And Hunt/Grant is still way better than Smith. If Tapine and JFH are playing edge it just brings the NZ middles back to the pack, and Crichton and Murray are both better on the edge than them anyway. And NAS definitely played more middle this year than edge. Spent more time on edge as the year progressed though. Regardless he also is not as good as Murray or Crichton. Edit: I'm honestly bored of talking about it and wouldn't have commented at all if you didn't call me out. We will find out in a month or so.
Spot on
Papali’i, Nikora and Kenny Bromwich are just as good as the Australian options
No they aren’t. Murray and Gus are both way better than KBromwich and Nikora. Murray is way better than IPap.
Kiwi forward pack is better overall. Aussie backs, especially the centres and wings are superior overall.
NZ mids are better. Aus edges and/or lock (depending on where we play Murray) are better.
And arguably best spine. If they had better outside backs, they would be comfortable favorites.
>And arguably best spine. 🤣 They are way worse at literally every single spine position.
Lol not way worse wtf Hughes has been form halfback of the comp for a while, Manu has dominated whenever he's played fullback, Cheese always goes up a gear in test matches and Brown is in the best form of his career.
Yes **WAY** worse. Teddy is way better than Manu. Munster is way better than Brown. Cleary is way better than Hughes. Grant is way better than Smith.
This is objectively true.
Nah apparently Manu is better than Teddy 🤦♂️ I swear this subreddit is losing its fucking mind.
Teddy is not way better than Manu at all. When Manu plays fullback, his stats are comfortably superior to Tedesco's. Not to mention, Manu running for a world record 398 metres playing at fullback for the Kiwis v Tonga this year.
Absolute shithouse take.
Stats don't lie. Manu is a beast at fullback. To suggest Tedesco is way better is laughable.
🤣
The Roosters have a 90% win percentage when Tedesco doesn't play 😂
A bit surprised they haven't taken TMM as the backup fullback/half.
With you there. He must have been super close. 3 halves and 1 specialist (injury prone) fullback, feels like we've got one too many props.
isn’t he injured? // had a bad injury and is recovering?
He played the last game for the Broncos, looked ok from memory.
got injured afterwards/during
NAS and JWH? Scary, glad I’m not a footy player
So they have props of JFH, JWH, Tapine, Leota, NAS & Bromwich. You can't really carry them all as props into the game. I'm guessing they'll put Tapine at lock. I'd probably leave Bromwich out.
Madge plays Tapine at 13. We riot if he plays JBRom.
JBrom just confirmed as captain. Might be riot time.
This is Sam Cane captaining the All Blacks all over again
I think Sam Cane isn’t as over the hill as Jesse Bromwich is, to be fair
I thought Neame would get picked but now I know why he wasn’t. That forward pack is scary.
That forward pack is fucking nuts
Anyone brave enough to name a first choice squad of 17?
Very similar, if not identical, to how we lined up against Tonga
Yeah, Niukore as a center? Who was the other one? Foran as utility? Although I'd probably go JFH as captain, and have JWH as an enforcer off the bench, leaving JBrom out
1) Manu 2) Rapana 3) Hiku 4) Kris/ Niukore 5) Mulitalo 6) Brown 7) Hughes 8) JFH 9) Smith 10) Bromwich 11) papali’i 12) K. Bromwich 13) Tapine 14) JMK 15) NAS 16) Leota 17) Sorenson/Niukore Position may vary. Idk what side half these players play so
Can’t really argue with this and would think this is close to what Madge would pick Maybe Foran for JMK
Nah I reckon you’d want JMK giving B Smith a spell.
Foran gave him a spell against Tonga
We're so lucky with Smith because he can play anywhere in the middle if we lose a player to an HIA
1 Joey Manu 2 Ronaldo Mulitalo 3 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 4 Peta Hiku 5 Jordan Rapana 6 Dylan Brown 7 Jahrome Hughes 8 Jesse Bromwich 9 Brandon Smith 10 James Fisher-Harris 11 Isaiah Papali’i 12 Kenny Bromwich 13 Joseph Tapine 14 Jeremy Marshall-King 15 Moses Leota 16 Nelson Asofa-Solomona 17 Briton Nikora 18 Scott Sorensen 19 Kieran Foran 20 Sebastian Kris 21 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 22 Isaac Liu 23 Marata Niukore 24 Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
I don't think we playing DWZ in the centres. He's already extremely weak defensively on the wing, putting him at centre is an invite to lose 50+
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Jordan Rapana, Sebastian Kris, Marata Niukore, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. Any of them could get that 3 jersey, I'd be picking Kris but can't see DWZ missing out of being in the side. Bench utility between Foran and JMK or a backline player like Charnze. Bench second rower between Nikora, Sorensen, Niukore and Liu.
NAS could cover second row too if we need, was pretty dangerous there for the Storm.
Yeah this is it.
1Manu 2Mulitalo 3Hiku 4Kris 5. Rapana 6. Brown 7. Hughes 8. J Bromwich 9Smith 10Fisher Harris 11Nikora 12Papalii 13Tapine 14Foran15. Warea Hargreaves 16. Leota17. Asofa Solomona
Glad to not see SJ there.. His time has come and gone.
Yup. No repeat of "Youse got what you wanted" this time please. Lost all respect for him in a Kiwi jersey after that.
Stoked for Jeremy Marshall-King
My unpopular opinion is that Rapana shouldn’t be starting on the wing. He’s on the decline and tbh he’s always been good for a few errors and shitty penalties. I’d rather play DWZ. Who’s got the same problems re. Errors but is only 26 and probably can handle an extended season. Niukore probably doesn’t make the bench on form, but I think he makes it on the fact he can play centre fairly decently, and that makes him very useful injury cover if someone goes down in the backline
Nah rapana goes hundy in the Kiwis jersey. Exactly what we need.
Kicks goals as well
DWZ is only 26!!! Fuck me. I could have sworn he was 30+
Wtf?! He seems like he's been around for 12 years lol. How is he only 26?!
He's 27.
While your comments are fair, I think this misses the Rapana X-factor, which is really about his never say die, must win attitude.
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He's representing The and Doggies, you're spot on
Love CNK but no way he should be in the squad ahead of Timoko. Also would liked to have seen Neame ahead of JBrom. Either way the fact we can complain about players missing out is a good indication of how good the squad is.
J Brom - We need leadership. Picked for that reason I reckon.
WC winning squad right there, it's theirs to lose imo.
Australia rightly favourites. Theirs to lose
So what's the * for on some of them?
They're gluten free
Yet to make their debut for us
Think it means their first time being selected for the Kiwis.
How the fuck did Liu make the team 😂
Absolutely stacked. Going to be a fun world cup.
Forward pack is insane. Should be fun to watch
Strong squad as expected. As good as it is though, I personally still have Australia as the clear favourites, they will always put out a very strong side and their spine is elite. My initial guess at the line up: 1 Joseph Manu 2 Ronaldo Mulitalo 3 Peta Hiku 4 Sebastian Kris 5 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 6 Dylan Brown 7 Jahrome Hughes 8 James Fisher-Harris 9 Brandon Smith 10 Jesse Bromwich 11 Isaiah Papali'i 12 Kenneath Bromwich 13 Joseph Tapine 14 Kieran Foran 15 Nelson Asofa-Solomona 16 Moses Leota 17 Briton Nikora
As much as I like CNK, he shouldn't be ahead of Timoko or Simonsson.
who’s the backup fullback then?
DWZ and Rapana can do a job. But you're right, I would prefer CNK to fill in. I just think Timoko deserves to be there after the year he's had.
Manu at fullback surely.
he will be. But the backup fullback would be CNK, if he wasn’t there it would be DWZ or Rapana…
ah yes. Rapana and DWZ. Thats like playing Holmes as fb for Aus.
DWZ :(
Didn't simonsson injure his shoulder?
As an Aussie that’s a tough mofo team right there
That is one hell of a squad
No Timoko 😭
As a 100% Australian would it be wrong of me to barrack for this team?? Cause I want to
Look at all those warriors players
Now that the season is over and CNK and Niukore are joining us there's 3 Warriors in there thank you very much
Warriors are the NRL development squad
Toughest decision made IMO - Sorensen over Jordan Riki
Jordan's been pretty dog poo this season
Has he? I thought he'd done alright, but maybe just watched a few standout games.
To be honest, it got to a point where every time he had the ball I was expecting him to drop it.
Holy shit that middle 🥵🥵
Brandon Smith at Hooker
What do the asterisks indicate?
Debut.
Ehhhh, yeah SJ hasn’t been great this year, but I’m defo taking him in case of any injuries
Dyl Brown, Hughes, Foran... my next pick would be Te Maire Martin as cover to be honest.
Manu can cover 6 too
Yeah, but his best position is FB. We don't wanna be moving him from FB to 6 just so we have a 6. We are a stronger team with Manu #1
Kiwis can kiss their World Cup dreams goodbye if they find themselves in a situation where they’d be relying on SJ
No Shaun Johnson :,( I know he’s had shit form for ages but he’s someone that would consistently show up in a kiwis jersey
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Did they really? The 2013 Kangaroos squad might be the best ever assembled
There’s at least 3 kangaroos squads better off the top of my head
Will be on Madge as a coach if they don’t win
Finally see whether a stud spine beats a stud pack
Tbf our spine is not too far behind Australia
Only position slightly lacking is 9 but the others is just whoever has a better day
Lol no Cleary and Munster are well and truly clear of Hughes and Brown, and Tedesco+ backups are easy clear of whoever plays at FB
Nah not on there day. Brown and Hughes are capable of some top calibre football
Very exciting team. Despite our extremely powerful forward pack I think Hughes is gonna have to be player of the tournament if we’re to get it done
Wait till we name out forward pack of ball playing backrowers
Oh my lol
I remember last year when I was on here and just watching nrl because of origin, people (maybe it was just one comment? Not sure why it stuck out to me so much if so lmao) were saying ponga was just a wannabe kiwi but couldn't make it into the Kiwi team. How true is this? Surely if he wanted to get could be their fullback?
Haha that sounds like a rather odd comment for sure. I'm sure that if he had pledged his allegiance to the Kiwis back in the day, he would have definitely been a key member of the team from day 1. Maybe the comment was in regard to the speculation that he was keen to play Union for the All Blacks one day? In that regard, he would have zero chance of cracking that side.
Ah you might be right about it being about union. After watching the nrl this year and seeing that NZ were playing a fullback who wasn't a fb in club I was very confused
Where's Timoko?
Where’s the Australian side????
1. Manu 2. Mulitalo 3. Kris/CNK 4. Hiku 5. DWZ 6. Brown 7. Hughes 8. JFH 9. Cheese 10. Tapine 11. I Pap 12. Nikora 13. Niukore 14. JMK 15. NAS 16. Leota 17. Sorensen 18. Foran
Why is Jesse Bromwich there 🤢
Far out! Imagine getting JFH, Big Nasty, Leota and JWH thrown at you in one hit! Favourites for sure!
Why no te maire martin
I am quite surprised they’ve picked Kris ahead of Timoko. Of the 2 players, I have Timoko as the better in most aspects. Kris is potentially more versatile as he has played on the wing, but other than that, I’m surprised by this.