In a different league

Why a code switch in the new series of Match Fit has refreshed the show.

- RUSSELL BROWN

MATCH FIT: LEAGUE LEGENDS, Three, 7.30pm, Wednesday, April 12

It would have been reasonable to wonder where Match Fit could go after two seasons. Were there many more widely recognised retired rugby players prepared to strap on the boots? What hadn't been done? It turns out it's gone to a new level.

From the opening minutes of Match Fit: League Legends, there's a sense that the former rugby league legends have a different sense of camaraderie, and perhaps a different place in the hearts of the public. That's boosted by t presence of Tawera Nikau as the team's head coach of the bid to get fit for a match with the Australian oldies team, the Kangaroos Classics. It has the makings of a hit.

"I definitely think so," says Nikau. "I think just with the communities that our players live in, how they're involved with their local communities, it'll be really great." The league version also gets into men's health issues - and in particular, those of Māori and Pasifika men - more quickly and more deeply than the previous seasons.