NZ Kiwi Ferns coach Ricky Henry has named his first team for the Rugby League World Cup, with plenty of strikepower across the park to face France on Thursday morning.
Henry's happy for defending champions Australia to carry the heavy favourites tag into the tournament, but insists no-one should hand the trophy to the JIllaroos just yet.
"We're quietly confident with the calibre player that we've got and how we're travelling as well," Henry said.
The Ferns have every reason to be confident, with a strong stock of NRLW experience in the squad and the best local New Zealand talent in the mix too.
Henry's named a strong backline to kick off the tournament, with Dally M Medal winner Raecene McGregor and Autumn-Rain Stephens-Daly in the halves, Apii Nicholls at fullback and captain Krystal Rota at hooker.
While the strength is clear on paper, Henry admits he's still tinkering slightly, as they aim to build into the tournament, with Stephens-Daly able to play fullback as well.
"It's not the normal set up you'd have, with two halves, but we sort of felt that we could get more penetration out of our fullbacks with Apii Nicholls and Autumn, who's played there as well," Henry said.
"We're going to try something here and we believe it's going to come off. I guess, for us, in the end, it was about trying to pick the best team across the 17, so that was our thinking there.
"There's lots of competition in our team, and we like that, we encourage that and want to make sure it's something that remains in the campaign."
While France will be the first obstacle, the clash everyone has circled on the fixture list will come against Australia on Friday, November 11 (NZ Time).
Henry wants to ensure everyone in the squad is match fit and ready, come the business end of the competition.
"We've had to try and pick the best team that will hopefully get us a win against France, but also play a bit of a long game.
"Just to get some players... I don't think they're not fit, they're just not game ready, but that's going to be the same with a lot of other nations as well.
"We'll work on that and get our players that need to get game ready some time."
Kiwi Ferns: 1-Apii Nicholls, 2-Katelyn Vahaakolo, 21-Shanice Parker, 4-Page McGregor, 5-Madison Bartlett, 3-Autumn-Rain Stephens Daly, 7-Raecene McGregor, 8-Mya Hill-Moana, 9-Krystal Rota, 10-Annetta-Claudia Nu'uausala, 11-Roxette Murdoch-Masila, 12-Amber-Paris Hall, 13-Georgia Hale
Interchange: 14-Nita Maynard, 16-Charlotte Scanlan, 18-Otesa Pule, 23- Brianna Clark
