Exodus 2017
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I thought Vito was a massive loss ,
understand why he went too, but with him, I thought we had a ready made test player waiting in the wings
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I still think Akira Ioane will comfortably make the step up. A few rough edges, but much better raw material to work with.
No need to push the No.6 panic button just yet.
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But that is the problem we have in some areas. It is difficult to hold a ready made player in the wings for a long time. They will never earn the big bucks as a reserve, they don't get the sabbaticals etc.
A reserve/fringe AB is often still a top 10 player in their position in the world and can command a good deal overseas. -
Yeah a young guy like Akira would look ahead and think read and Kai no haven't got too much longer , that could be perfect timing for me if I get my act together.
Then Vito would think my time is now , I haven't got time to wait .
That's where you could say it's disappointing with luatua, he does have time to stake a claim later .
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Well, I'm a bit disappointed - I think M4L explained it best why.
Having said that, Read is no.1 and will be right through to the next WC. Luatua is much better at 8 than anywhere else, so he's not looking at even getting selected if they decide they don't need cover for Read.
Good luck to him, he's very good friends with my cousins and they say he is a super person. Hope he earns a bit of coin and comes back as a veteran player for Super rugby in the future.
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From the article in the Herald today:
Hansen has said in an interview that Luatua's representatives didn't communicate with New Zealand Rugby's contracts team as well as they could have, but Luatua said: "as far as I'm aware everything was on the table. They were aware of my situation.
"I feel like my team communicated that aspect. Whether or not that got to the higher ups I don't know. But my understanding is that New Zealand Rugby were aware of the other offers."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11801221
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@KiwiMurph yeah we just cant keep them all, people move (or don't) for a variety of reasons.
Money isn't always a factor (usually not for those that stay) easy for us to sit here and claim we would do this or that, when most of us have never been in the position to have to make that decision.
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@KiwiMurph said in Exodus 2017:
Good to see he has thought about returning in future. Doesnt sound like there was much NZ Rugby could have done given his priorities.
I'm pleased to see he's been pretty upfront that the cash was just too good to say no to.
That having been said, as I've said before, I'm never happy with anyone leaving to play overseas - especially, when there are important roles they could still be playing here.
They are cashing in on the intellectual property that pretty much all of us have contributed to developing in one way or another.
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If you are in the top echelon of ABs and earn good money (in the $800K to $1M+ bracket) it's easy to say no to tempting overseas offers. But for fringe ABs like Luatua they are probably only earning a fraction of that coin without certain AB selection.
Read's comments about Luatua leaving showed showed both sides of that argument. I'm sure if Kieran offered to swap his salary with Luatua's their respective decisions would be different.
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@Bovidae Yep.
But, my point is a bit different. Luatua notes in his article that his parents had to make sacrifices for him and his siblings had to make sacrifices for him.
But, they're not the only people who had to make sacrifices for him. All the amateur coaches who coached him, and parents who drove him to footy, and the kids who marginally missed selection to provincial and national teams who missed out on specialized coaching all made sacrifices for Stephen's benefit.
I, myself, went to school with Andy Earl and helped refine his tackling technique. Every time Andy smashed me into the deck I was refining his tackling technique and indirectly contributing to the All Black blindside legacy.
I should be fucking compensated for my contribution. Every time one of these professional rugby players ditches NZ I should be paid about 17 cents. Steve Tew should write it into their contracts!
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Pat Lam fired up as being labelled an ex-NZer by Hansen ... He's got a point there, but he is forgetting that he convinced a current All Black to leave the stable and join his stable. So it's kind of fair for Hansen to be pissed about it.
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@MajorRage You can just imagine the smirk on Hansen's face when he said that too.
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@Hooroo exactly, I don't think he has said it as a slur or as an insult, purely as a humorous dig, Lam obviously didn't find it funny.
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@taniwharugby @hooroo yeah I reckon Hansen knew exactly what he was saying and chose his words carefully.
Lam has already sort of chucked out the race card already, and I expect this to be picked up on, circulated and go viral. Before of course, the rugby world police start up and really take this to the next level.
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@MajorRage Zig Zag Yellow??
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@MajorRage expect NZR will need to do a full investigation into Hansen's comments, Tew needs to get ahead of this and apologise now!
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@MajorRage said in Exodus 2017:
But seriously, how thin is Lam's skin?
+1. Ex-All Black is probably what Hansen is going for, although ex-New Zealander does get at the loyalty Lam has to the AB set up and jersey and Auckland/Blues set up and jersey (none). Hansen would have had plenty to do with him while he was at the Blues and probably doesn't rate him highly.
He even got a nice dig in about how he was sacked by the NZRU/Blues. Still obviously very bitter.
As for Hansen, I love the guy and I truly do enjoy him pushing the buttons of Jones and Cheika - when his wind ups are limited to those two it's hard to say it reflects on him. They are clowns and easy tragets.
But you have to imagine Gatland is going to cop some withering comments in the following six months, plus he has always enjoyed a pot shot at Deans - at what point is Hansen being a bit of a dick here?
Probably best to step back from the mic for a bit I reckon.
