Hi Mick,
6 years ago I used to live up the coast, picked a second hand rod for $70 not sure what rating it was. But it was a 9" carbon composite custom made. I only used it along the break wall, matched with my daiwa certate 4000 with 50lb braid. Caught many jews on it, but the best one on plastic was a 22kg speciment just 3 meters off my feet. The reel struggled a bit but the rod could have taken a bit more. The unfortunate thing was when I moved back to Sydney, some low life pinched my combo off my ute :ranting2:
Anyway, back to your query. My suggestion is that a 9" rod is a must and i'll probably go a bit bigger on the reel as i've lost many good fish on my daiwa sol 3000. Going for jewfish, you have to be prepared that fish of a life time. My theory on jewfish fishing is that every thing's got to be perfect including your knots. If it's not perfect, do it again.
Hope you can find what you're looking for. Tight line