New Kiwis head coach Michael Maguire has wasted no time stamping his mark on the New Zealand rugby league set-up.

Maguire intends disestablishing the role of captain in favour of a leadership-by-committee approach when he announces his first squad later this week.

"At the moment, I'm probably going to go down the path of not having a captain," he told Newshub."So, something a little different."

The 44-year-old Canberran confirmed a group of players will share the core captaincy responsibilities.

"It will be very open in how we go in, but obviously there are some key players there that I've got relationships with and had many conversations with to this point."

Adam Blair, who skippered the side at the 2017 World Cup, will continue to lead the side out onto the field.

"I've had a lot of good conversations with [Blair] and we want to bring leadership as a major part of who we are as a team.

"I want to see the leadership come out in the group. It's going to give everyone an opportunity to show where they're at.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the leadership rise within the team."

Precisely how that that manifests itself on the field remains unclear, but it's the same structure Maguire used during his 2014 NRL Premiership-winning campaign with the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

It hasn't been the most straightforward transition to the international fold for Maguire.

He's had to contend with a host of injuries to critical players, including the likes of Canberra winger Jordan Rapana and Melbourne prop Jesse Bromwich.

Added to the international retirements of veterans Simon Mannering, Ben Matulino and Russell Packer, and his squad's depth for the ground-breaking test in Denver is suddenly looking decidedly thin.

Given the exceptional travel demands involved, there some NRL clubs are also reluctant to release their players for international duty. With the 19-man squad scheduled to be named on Sunday, the clock is fast ticking.

"At the moment, we're still waiting on a few," said Maguire.

"Some clubs have had some challenges and I understand those sorts of things. It's up to them to come out and state whether they're going to have their players available."

That includes the Auckland-based Warriors, which will have several players affected.

Maguire says selection of critical players recently hobbled by injury, like Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Issac Luke and Shaun Johnson, will depend on how they emerge from their Friday clash with the Cowboys in Townsville.

Far from deterred by such setbacks, Maguire instead sees a silver lining with the potential absences - the chance to blood some less-experienced players to the game at test level.

"You'd like to have a lot of those players available, but from a starting point, it's actually quite exciting to be able to give young players a jersey," he said.

"I'm looking forward to a few phone calls over the next couple of days. You can actually tell these young players that they're going to represent their country.

"I've had quieter conversations with those guys that the opportunity might be there and the excitement you get down the phone is great."

It all ties in with one of Maguire's main focuses in his new role - reinforcing the unique privilege involved with representing your nation.

"The biggest thing I want to push out there at the moment is that the Kiwis jersey is the highest of accolades. When you put that jersey on, you're representing the people of New Zealand and I think it's the highest of honours in the game.

"You do get a big connection with the NRL playing group and club that you're playing for, but it doesn't come around very often that you play for your country."

Maguire wants to make that sense of pride the cornerstone of his new playing group.

"We're just starting to lay the seeds of where we want to take the jersey," he said. "When you put that on, you're putting everything on the field and that's the style of player I'm looking to now."

Newshub.