Pre-season delay foils Nikorima's All Stars plans

Kodi Nikorima anticipated he'd be in camp with the New Zealand Maori for next Friday's Harvey Norman All Stars game but a late start to the pre-season has put paid to those plans.

Nikorima thought he would be a part of the Maori squad up until last Thursday night when he received a text from Kiwis teammate Adam Blair questioning why the Broncos halfback had "pulled out" of the side.

When it comes to representing his Maori heritage, nobody is prouder than the Palmerston North-born playmaker, so it was a surprise to most, even himself, that he'd been ruled out of contention by Brisbane.

New head coach Anthony Seibold preferred that he would keep working with the club's conditioning staff following a late start to pre-season training after representing New Zealand in their three-Test tour of England in November.

"With being away [with the Kiwis end 2018 tour] and coming back into training later than usual, I hadn't had much of a pre-season, so the staff made it clear they wanted me to do more pre-season training, hence why I was pulled out of the All Stars game," Nikorima told pan66.com.

"I really wanted to play under Stacey [Jones]. All Stars is more than a game. It's a chance where you get to represent your culture and your family.

"I'm a proud Maori boy and would've loved to have gotten to experience what it would have been like playing with other Maoris and the whole week leading up to it."

The Maori side will take on the Australian Indigenous All-Stars at Melbourne's AAMI Park on Friday, February 15.

Nikorima has heard plenty of great things about the Indigenous All Stars camp from his Broncos teammates over the years.

"I remember James Roberts talking about past All Stars camps, how he and the other boys loved being in that camp, how you get to learn more about your culture while giving back to the community," he said.

Kalyn Ponga and Jahrome Hughes will link up as the halves for the Maori side, with Nikorima admitting he would have loved to have played alongside Ponga.

"Would have been awesome to have potentially been able to play with Kalyn, we actually were in a Kiwis camp together a few years ago so I'd at least met him back then," Nikorima said.

"The other big one that would have been amazing would have been potentially pairing up with Benji Marshall again, but he's obviously ruled out due to injury which is unfortunate.

"I think both teams are super strong. The Indigenous boys have a strong backline whereas the Maori probably have the better forward pack."

Nikorima was full of praise for his new club coach, saying Seibold could have the side playing more off-the-cuff footy in 2019.

"I really like Seibs, he obviously brings a different training structure and game plan to what we've previously been used to.

"In saying that, I think it will only benefit myself and Tony Milford, you'll probably see the ball in our hands a lot more playing off the back of the forwards.

"I'm really embracing the training at the moment and have been loving every second of it."