Paul - at a certain level of quality, the word' best" becomes one of personal opinion rather than reality. The "best" rod is one which suits you and which you like best. Once you are getting into rods like Carpenters. Smiths, Fisherman etc, you've got a top quality product so it really becomes one of personal preference.
What you want to make sure of is that you get a rod that is suited to you and the type of fish you want to catch. Rods like the WV80 and the Komodo Dragon are elephant guns. They are made to fish really heavy line for big GTs. That said, they will be no use to you unless you can fish 12-15kg of drag or if you're primarily fishing for 15kg GTs.
I have both of these and the quality is not in question. I probably have a preference for the Komodo Dragon but that is entirely a personal thing.
In terms of length, well, the longer the popping rod, the better your casting distance. the Komodo Dragon is 7'6" whilst the WV80 is 8' long. The length of a popping rod is a compromise. You need length for casting but when you hook a fish, you nearly always wish it was the length of a jigging rod.
Heavy popping is murder on equipment so don't worry, opportunities will definitely arise from time to time to replace/upgrade your equipment.