All Blacks 2025
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@Kiwiwomble With JB away this season keep an eye on Riley Higgins for this exact reason - he clocked almost double the amount of offloads compared to the next guy through NPC.
The crash or shovel ball 12 role that Jordie has taken on - its hard to tell if its a refection of his own skills, the defence he faces or the game plan but its tough to watch
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@DurryMexted said in All Blacks 2025:
@Kiwiwomble With JB away this season keep an eye on Riley Higgins for this exact reason - he clocked almost double the amount of offloads compared to the next guy through NPC.
The crash or shovel ball 12 role that Jordie has taken on - its hard to tell if its a refection of his own skills, the defence he faces or the game plan but its tough to watch
Riley Higgins will be a better 12 than Jordie. He's gifted with all the skills and footwork in the world and needs to take his chance this year with the Canes. He's my breakout player for 2025 and will be in my fantasy side to kick off the year. Higgins is unmatched in NZ IMO when it comes to breaking the line through smarts and footwork, his offloading ability is second to none as well, he just needs to sharpen up on defence but he has every chance to do that in Super. His stats in the NPC show how completely dominant he was and he's already been a massive part of two NPC championships that Wellington has won in the last three years which shows he performs when it matters.
Jordie also had an average season for the Canes before again being an automatic selection at 12 for the ABs. Another player not in form that Razor picked on previous experience.
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@DurryMexted said in All Blacks 2025:
The crash or shovel ball 12 role that Jordie has taken on - its hard to tell if its a refection of his own skills, the defence he faces or the game plan but its tough to watch
his crash ball has dropped right off. Genuine crash balling would mean drawing in defenders - I don't see him doing that. With his frame, he should be a threat to run into or through the tackle. He's playing more like Havili than SBW at 12, and that does my nut given his potential upside.
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@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
The pattern, tactics and strategy you are speaking of clearly didn't work that well last year
I didn't say they did ...
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@nzzp said in All Blacks 2025:
@DurryMexted said in All Blacks 2025:
The crash or shovel ball 12 role that Jordie has taken on - its hard to tell if its a refection of his own skills, the defence he faces or the game plan but its tough to watch
his crash ball has dropped right off. Genuine crash balling would mean drawing in defenders - I don't see him doing that. With his frame, he should be a threat to run into or through the tackle. He's playing more like Havili than SBW at 12, and that does my nut given his potential upside.
its actually reminding me of Gilbert for the Highlanders, move this tall/big fast (ish) former 15 that covered 10 to 12 looking for the playmaking aspects of those other positions....and try turning them into a battering ram....with at best mixed results
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@nzzp said in All Blacks 2025:
@DurryMexted said in All Blacks 2025:
The crash or shovel ball 12 role that Jordie has taken on - its hard to tell if its a refection of his own skills, the defence he faces or the game plan but its tough to watch
his crash ball has dropped right off. Genuine crash balling would mean drawing in defenders - I don't see him doing that. With his frame, he should be a threat to run into or through the tackle. He's playing more like Havili than SBW at 12, and that does my nut given his potential upside.
I think all other top tier 12s do this better than Jordie at the moment and he’s been in the system since 2017……far too long in the tooth to talk about ‘potential upside’
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@MN5 its bit damning that it feels there are a few guys that seems to get worse the longer they are in the AB environment
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@MN5 said in All Blacks 2025:
@nzzp said in All Blacks 2025:
@DurryMexted said in All Blacks 2025:
The crash or shovel ball 12 role that Jordie has taken on - its hard to tell if its a refection of his own skills, the defence he faces or the game plan but its tough to watch
his crash ball has dropped right off. Genuine crash balling would mean drawing in defenders - I don't see him doing that. With his frame, he should be a threat to run into or through the tackle. He's playing more like Havili than SBW at 12, and that does my nut given his potential upside.
I think all other top tier 12s do this better than Jordie at the moment and he’s been in the system since 2017……far too long in the tooth to talk about ‘potential upside’
when he came in he looked excellent there. But it's been shit for for a while.
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@Duluth said in All Blacks 2025:
It's not utilising the extreme pace of the 13. I would like to see them stand further apart and use the blindside winger more on the shoulder
The obvious benefit being more room for blindside winger and fullback to chose a line hitting a soft shoulder or gap. Especially effective when employed against a rush defence where defenders isolate themselves.
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Jordie is still a good bench solution.
I'm bemused that now the issue is we don't have a player like SBW (and yes his ability to get the ball away was epic but I thought we never saw him in his prime; speed hampered by longterm injuries).
Still, others seem to differ "https://rugbynation.com/blogs/rugby/the-unstoppable-force-of-sonny-bill-williams"
-I don't recall lightning fast footwork when he was an AB. -
I can't see JB replaced at 12, he simply such a busy player there. Not saying he great, but noone looks gangbuster to me. I was prettyhopeful in Higgins, but by geez his defence worries me. Not just his tackling, but how often he seemed to get disconnected. I thought one of Canes strengths last year was how well JB and Proctor combined especially in defence.. Let's hope that Higgins switches on and does similar this season to puy hand up for ABs.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
I can't see JB replaced at 12, he simply such a busy player there. Not saying he great, but noone looks gangbuster to me. I was prettyhopeful in Higgins, but by geez his defence worries me. Not just his tackling, but how often he seemed to get disconnected. I thought one of Canes strengths last year was how well JB and Proctor combined especially in defence.. Let's hope that Higgins switches on and does similar this season to puy hand up for ABs.
He was pretty ordinary in a Canes jersey for the most part in 2024 IMO and as per recent seasons failed to step up when the pressure went on. Three years in a row for the Canes he went missing in the playoffs and he didn't exactly set the house on fire for the ABs either.
He's definitely replaceable but half the problem with the ABs is the Barrett's seem untouchable at the selection table.
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@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
I can't see JB replaced at 12, he simply such a busy player there. Not saying he great, but noone looks gangbuster to me. I was prettyhopeful in Higgins, but by geez his defence worries me. Not just his tackling, but how often he seemed to get disconnected. I thought one of Canes strengths last year was how well JB and Proctor combined especially in defence.. Let's hope that Higgins switches on and does similar this season to puy hand up for ABs.
He was pretty ordinary in a Canes jersey for the most part in 2025 IMO and as per recent seasons failed to step up when the pressure went on. Three years in a row for the Canes he went missing in the playoffs.
He's definitely replaceable.
Witch.
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Would genuinely be stoked if we had a 12 step out of the shaows @Canes4life , just at this stage, I haven't seen anyone.
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@Dan54 said in All Blacks 2025:
Would genuinely be stoked if we had a 12 step out of the shaows @Canes4life , just at this stage, I haven't seen anyone.
Who knows if he'll get enough time to prove himself.. but Zarn Sullivan is going to spend some time in the midfield for the Blues
A big body and a second playmaker skillset
