"Yeah, that's where I would have ended up if we didn't move. One hundred per cent, if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be at this point now so I can't thank them enough. They moved over for us boys. We grew up playing league and it isn't that big in Christchurch so we moved over to Brisbane."
Within a year he was spotted by Broncos talent scout Cyril Connell and signed to the club as a 12-year-old, with Jayden following in his footsteps.
"That's where he found me, in Brisbane. I made the Queensland Under 12 Schoolboys and then got offered a contract."
Both brothers featured in Brisbane's pre-season trials earlier this year while Kodi turned in impressive performances at the NRL Auckland Nines, with his dazzling footwork and speed seeing him combine well with the likes of Ben Hunt and Ben Barba.
"The atmosphere was awesome and just playing with the likes of Corey Parker, Sam Thaiday and Ben Barba. Having those guys around you was a pretty good experience and something that I'll cherish."
Rave reviews quickly had him in line to claim the Broncos No6 jersey, made famous by names such as Wally Lewis, Kevin Walters and Darren Lockyer, but the 20-year-old says he hasn't been paying attention to such talk, while a mid-season switch to fullback has him comfortable in both roles.
"If the opportunity came [to play five-eighth] I'd take it with both hands and just play footy. If you think about it too much you'll get sidetracked so you've just got to stay on your game. I prefer five-eighth but I grew to love fullback this year. I like a new challenge and quite like that role."
He is unsure where his positional future lies in 2015 but is looking forward to learning more under the guidance of returning Broncos coach Wayne Bennett.
"I'll have a meeting with Wayne and we'll sit down and talk about that. It's pretty exciting. You just have to look at his record and know he's a good coach, so I can't wait."
Despite the Junior Kiwis being brought together with limited preparation time, a mid-season camp in Sydney enabled the players to get to know each other.
"We had a leadership group come together in Aussie when the Kiwis played the Anzac test so that was good and now we've got a pretty strong bond in camp."
He expects his side to rely heavily on their big forward pack and says they will aim to play an up-tempo style against what is an experienced Australian side, featuring several NRL regulars including Clint Gutherson [Manly] and Josh Valentine [Cronulla].
"Definitely up front we've got big boys in the forward pack and then hopefully we can play off the back of their go-forward. We've also got some strike out wide.
"They've got a lot of NRL experience which we don't have and they'll be hard. It should be a tough game. It's exciting, so I can't wait."
