I'd prefer The Last of the Mohicans to be honest.
Let me ask you this - are you ok with us losing a test series to England through lack of experience in the halves?
If you are, then this is where you and I differ as fan's. It's a risk not taking the best available players on tour and while I'm happy with Kearney's coaching record to this point I'm not happy to wear a series loss to England in the name of development (or to be honest personalities). Kearney is taking a gamble on the pack doing the job for him, and TBH it's a decent roll of the dice such is the form of the players in that pack, but it's still a gamble. I don't like gambling with the Kiwis.
Also, TBH I think team culture gets over done by coaches, by the media, by fans. Also, a good culture shouldn't be my way or the highway anyway.
Also, regarding your final point, if they can afford to take risks with their model then you'd think that including an in form, experienced half, who has modified his playing style since last in the team, who has made all the right noises about fitting in - would be an acceptable risk to take.
I wouldn't be happy with a series loss.
A lot of what drives my opinion is really stuck in the past when Kiwi sides used to really piss me off. Probably time to move on (they are my favorite team and I never missed a game...the thing I hated about them all these years was their failure to learn from the same mistakes).
I take your point about culture, it's a bit of a buzz word and people throw it around without substance.
I think the issue is quite complex, if you look at the very small sport that rugby league is in NZ, then add the lack of resources, then the way that our players are developed is always going to be behind the Aussie systems.
So it's more about systems than 'culture'. In truth a lot of recent success is down to players that have been trained in the Australian systems. Where we produce explosive athletes (generalisation) they develop endurance athletes (partly physiology, largely the intensity of competition from grass roots up that they get exposed to....and lastly coaching resources over there) Marshall is actually Aussie groomed himself (As a rugby league player).
The Apex of their systems is the SOO, that series is built on the psychology of the sport (defensive mentality, driving hard for eighty minutes, low errors etc....not necessarily the attacking side of the sport). Playing for your mates blah blah blah. Not trying to tell anyone how to suck eggs here, just pointing out why I think NZRL are 'culture' / systems driven now.
Rumor has it the Kangaoos (ironically) are a divided unit along Origin lines, so yeah there is two sides to every point of view.
You made a really good point about the Marshall situation (thought about that a fair bit and it's hard to argue that they should be able to make an exception if their model is sound).
In a way....not being able to bridge peace with Marshall reflects negatively on their model...you could say they aren't prepared to back themselves.
Perhaps Wayne Bennett needs to remind Kearney of one of his biggest coaching mistakes.
Alan Langer was let go because of Bennetts model of releasing players before they went into decline.
Bennett corrected that, perhaps Kearney et al need to look at that example, however Kearney is not Bennett (ones the greatest coach that ever lived the others Stephen Kearney).
