Hi mate, hope you had a good season of shallows snapper fishing in Tauranga. It's fun to go to a boat show with a shopping target in mind.
There are two very distinct lure set ups for snapper - one is for slow jigs such as kaburas, inchikus, and I think, fluttering flat fall type jigs. They are usually shortish, softer action overhead rods for reels including baitcasters.
The other is for soft baits and micro jigs.They tend to be longer, and used with spinning reels. Kaveman on the forum markets some rods for that type, and is very knowledgeable on micro jigging.
The above are generalisations. Some soft bait experts such as PJ prefer overhead set ups for various reasons. And I'm sure you can bottom bounce softbaits on a slow jig rod, it's just not ideal.
Depending on what kind of lures/jigs you are thinking of, that'll be what outfit to concentrate on. Someone like Uncle could give you some great advice on the best lure/jig gear to use off Matakana etc.
For what it's worth, my take on retail combos is to be careful. Often, retailers sell a great reel with a mediocre rod (sometimes by a name brand, but exclusive to their store), basically throwing in the rod for not much more than the full cost of the reel. They tend to have cheap guides and reel seats etc.
OR they pair a great rod with a cheapie reel to meet a certain price point, but that's less common.
If you go the spin way, I think it's hard to beat a Shimano Stradic FK in terms of bang for buck. I only buy Daiwa reels overseas given the ridiculous price differential we pay here for Daiwa versus say Australia.
And I'd recommend a spin rod that is at least 7'6".
At last year's On Water Boat Show I heard well known angler/writer manning the Top Catch display telling a customer one of the white Abu Garcia Veritas rods was the best soft baiting rod ever made. The pitch worked and hopefully the angler has been happy with his purchase ever since!