But Dunedin-based national selector Terry Scott told the Otago Daily Times that there is no complacency in the New Zealand camp.
"If we are not successful at World Bowls, the results we have had this year in the Asia- Pacific championships and the transtasman series will pale into insignificance," Scott said.
"It means very little if we are not able to take that form through to World Bowls."
Bowls New Zealand knows that High Performance Sport New Zealand funding depends on results at World Bowls. The financial health of the sport depends on the results of the elite bowlers in major international events.
Scott was pleased by the performance of the New Zealand team at the Asia and Pacific championships in Adelaide.
New Zealand won three gold medals, a silver and two bronze medals.
"It was a pleasing result to get six medals from the eight events," Scott said. "We have to be happy with that."
It was a significant improvement after the disappointing result at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010 when New Zealand's only medal was won by Val Smith, who was runner-up in the women's singles.
"Four medals was the target that we wanted to achieve at the championships," Scott said. "To exceed that was good."
Gold medallists from the 2008 World Bowls in Christchurch Andrew Todd and Russell Meyer have ruled themselves out of contention for selection next year by not entering the national champs.
Scott indicated that the team for World Bowls is not set in concrete and the door remains open to players who are able to force themselves into consideration over the next few months.
The incumbent players should not take selection for World Bowls as automatic.
"We have some very good under-25 players who are knocking on the door." One of the most promising is Mandy Boyd (Johnsonville), who was in the winning fours team at the national championships in Dunedin last season.
The Hawkes Bay bowler is one player who has emerged from the Bowls New Zealand programme in secondary schools. She won the girls singles title at the New Zealand secondary schools championships in 2008 and 2009 and is a member of the Black Jacks squad.
The one exception would be Jo Edwards, who came back into the Black Jacks for the Asia and Pacific championships and won a gold medal in the pairs and the fours.
Edwards took a break from the Black Jacks after World Bowls in 2008 and has come back into the fold.
"She is the best female bowler in the world," Scott said.
"Her record has been phenomenal over the past 12 months and it has proved how valuable the break was. She is a pretty classy player." The World Bowls team is expected to be named after the Six Nations event in Adelaide in May.
Teams competing will be Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Africa, Scotland and Fiji.
It is a five-person team contest but New Zealand intends to take seven men and seven women in what will be the final trial.
"Selection will not be just based on that event but it is another tool that we will be using for our selection," Scott said.
The New Zealand selection panel intends to use the rotation system to find the best team for World Bowls.
"In each round there will be two men and two women standing down."
Otago's representative in the Asia and Pacific team Shaun Scott won a bronze medal in the triples at Adelaide.
"I would have liked to see him go another step forward, particularly in the singles, " Terry Scott said.
Shaun Scott was beaten in the quarterfinals by Australian Brett Wilkie, who is ranked No 2 in the world.
"It was his worst game of singles at the championships," Terry Scott said. "He was well and truly beaten."
Shaun Scott was also below par in the semifinals of the triples.
"At the nitty-gritty end of the tournament he let himself down a little bit," Terry Scott said.
New women's international Leanne Curry was another bowler who played well during section play but was not able to reproduce her form in the final.
