Kirk, who was in Dunedin yesterday for a Forsyth Barr board meeting, and to catch up with family, said he really enjoyed last year's World Cup and had been impressed by the standards set by the All Blacks this year.
"I think the All Blacks have made a great transition ... with a number of players moving on and a number of younger players coming in. With those experienced players still there, they have begun the regeneration of the team," Kirk said.
"One of the most important things is they have made a commitment to perform well after winning the World Cup. They are not the sort of team which want to be known as the guys that peaked at the World Cup, and they want to now establish another era of All Black success."
Kirk, who also spoke at a Club Otago luncheon to raise funds for the Otago Medical Research Foundation at Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday, is the New Zealand Rugby Players' Association president but apart from that, not overly involved in the game.
He was still a keen watcher from his Sydney home and said the Wallabies did face significant challenges.
"They do have limited depth and they have had a lot of injuries. At the moment you would have to say they do not have the players of the calibre of New Zealand in a lot of positions.
"It is pretty hard under those circumstances.
"Right at the moment, there is a bit of a sense in Australia that the team was not playing the sort of attacking exciting style of rugby that the Australians like to see. It is a very competitive environment over there with the NRL, AFL. They are not my games but they can be seen as good spectacles. If Australian rugby union is playing a style of rugby which is not a good spectacle, it does turn the marginal supporter off a bit."
He said Australian could get back on track although beating the All Blacks was obviously a big problem. Wallabies coach Robbie Deans was in a game where results counted, Kirk said.
"The Australian Rugby Union wants to keep and support him and Robbie knows it is on him and the team to perform and they want to keep him."
Kirk, who made his first class debut for Otago in 1982 while a medical student at the University of Otago, had been the only All Black captain to lift the World Cup before Richie McCaw and his All Black side won the tournament last year.
Kirk (51) was at the final in Auckland and said it was great to see the All Blacks get the monkey off their back.
"It was a great World Cup, a real Kiwi World Cup. We did it our way.
"We deserved to win. In that second half what was going through my mind was, we are going to get behind here ... I was sure we were going to have to give [away] a penalty or something.
"But it never happened, thank goodness."
