EOYT 2017
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@act-crusader said in EOYT 2017:
One thing the selectors have been is quite loyal. Savea/Seta T and Nanai have all been in the mix in past couple of years. In the circumstances, hard to believe at least one won't make it. For me, to go outside that only makes sense if there's a young gun burning it up. Not sure Duffie fits that mould.
The way I see it, Duffie doesn’t need to be the young’un burning it up. To me he is like an early Dagg / Bender type that can break the line, do something out of nothing, without trying too hard.
Given both Dagg and Bender are out then he could fill that void nicely.
Is Havili a certainty to go? Will be interesting to see if he gets another shot in Brisbane. Probably will if Beaudie is out.
While certainty is a big word, I don't see any reason why they would drop Havili - after two faultless performances - for someone like Duffie. The ABs don't need a Duffie type player. Selecting Tamanivalu, or even JSavea, makes far more sense than introducing another newbie they won't need when BFA, Jordie and Dagg return.
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@act-crusader said in EOYT 2017:
One thing the selectors have been is quite loyal. Savea/Seta T and Nanai have all been in the mix in past couple of years. In the circumstances, hard to believe at least one won't make it. For me, to go outside that only makes sense if there's a young gun burning it up. Not sure Duffie fits that mould.
The way I see it, Duffie doesn’t need to be the young’un burning it up. To me he is like an early Dagg / Bender type that can break the line, do something out of nothing, without trying too hard.
Given both Dagg and Bender are out then he could fill that void nicely.
Is Havili a certainty to go? Will be interesting to see if he gets another shot in Brisbane. Probably will if Beaudie is out.
Thinking about it, in the 14/15 hybrid category, fully fit we have BFA/Dagg/Dmac/[NMS]. In the midfield/15 mix Barrett (J) and Havili, with Ngatai on the fringe. In 13/14 slot Ioane (R) and Seta T. Could argue we're best catered for in the 14/15 hybrid department and ought to develop another pure three quarter.
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I have a theory (which may be totally wrong) about where they want to go with Havili. The AB coaches always seem to have a longer term vision than us - and especially the clickbait driven, sensationalist media. I think Havili may be primed - in the mid- to longer term - to be the replacement of BFA, while Jordie may eventually become the replacement of SBW at second-five. DMac is still a bit of an experiment and it's uncertain what role he will play; fullback, first-five (Mo'unga should be in the mix, too) or even halfback. He may, however, also end up being an utility back, which may make him an excellent bench option.
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@pakman My thoughts exactly. I just don't think there's an obvious candidate and I think that - at the moment - Tamanivalu fits that mould best. There are quite a lot of young players emerging from the 2016-2017 NZU20s and it will be interesting how they develop in the next - say two - years.
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@stargazer when I looked forward to a possible RWC mix (as I am sure the selectors are doing as well) it was obvious that somewhere (or in two areas) the back selection has to contain players adept in more than one area. Not just wing and fullback. With the squad sizes as they are you need to have a 9/10 (very rare these days), a 10/15, a 10/12 (again, not very common now) and/or a midfield/wing.
DMac becomes important here as the next decision is which spot he primarily fills. Do you have him in your back three quota or your 10 quota? If you put him in the back three you end up carrying 4 potential 10s and reducing squad options. I think they will have fingers crossed that he shows he can handle time at 10, become the third option there and get room for 2 others to join Bender and Ioane in the outsides quota. -
@act-crusader said in EOYT 2017:
One thing the selectors have been is quite loyal. Savea/Seta T and Nanai have all been in the mix in past couple of years. In the circumstances, hard to believe at least one won't make it. For me, to go outside that only makes sense if there's a young gun burning it up. Not sure Duffie fits that mould.
The way I see it, Duffie doesn’t need to be the young’un burning it up. To me he is like an early Dagg / Bender type that can break the line, do something out of nothing, without trying too hard.
Given both Dagg and Bender are out then he could fill that void nicely.
Is Havili a certainty to go? Will be interesting to see if he gets another shot in Brisbane. Probably will if Beaudie is out.
Thinking about it, in the 14/15 hybrid category, fully fit we have BFA/Dagg/Dmac/[NMS]. In the midfield/15 mix Barrett (J) and Havili, with Ngatai on the fringe. In 13/14 slot Ioane (R) and Seta T. Could argue we're best catered for in the 14/15 hybrid department and ought to develop another pure three quarter.
I might agree if it wasn't for the fact that we are missing our top three 14/15s and another 15. ie. Smith, Dagg, NMS plus Jordie. We have a hole to fill for THIS tour so building overall depth might have to take a back seat for the sake of team balance.
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@stargazer when I looked forward to a possible RWC mix (as I am sure the selectors are doing as well) it was obvious that somewhere (or in two areas) the back selection has to contain players adept in more than one area. Not just wing and fullback. With the squad sizes as they are you need to have a 9/10 (very rare these days), a 10/15, a 10/12 (again, not very common now) and/or a midfield/wing.
DMac becomes important here as the next decision is which spot he primarily fills. Do you have him in your back three quota or your 10 quota? If you put him in the back three you end up carrying 4 potential 10s and reducing squad options. I think they will have fingers crossed that he shows he can handle time at 10, become the third option there and get room for 2 others to join Bender and Ioane in the outsides quota.In that case, a player like Seta could be gold as he covers midfield and wing well. An excellent squaddie and potential bench player. Another in the same category is Ngatai, who can play anyway from 10 out.
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Being in London don't see a lot of NPC. Is there no under 25 loosehead out there making a name for himself? Tim Perry seems a bit old in the tooth and was ranked behind Hodgman at Saders. That said, being part of their scrum factory probably counts for selectors. Graham seemed pretty capable for Chiefs. And I have fond memories of Seiuli destroying Dan Coles in Highlanders BIL match!
I think it's a bit of a perfect storm at loosehead for Tim Perry to be in AB contention (if he indeed is). Not sure he was ever behind Alex Hodgman in the Crusaders' rankings though. I'm not sure Hodgman ever had more than a WTG contract (though I might be wrong on that), whereas Perry has had a full contract for several years. Just 2015 and 2016 he was broken for most of the Super seasons.
Perry is certainly a good loosehead at NPC level, but he's not played a great deal at Super level. I think he's only in contention because of a lot of injuries and I'm not sure why the seemingly more experienced Manu and Graham wouldn't be ahead of him.
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@act-crusader said in EOYT 2017:
Is Havili a certainty to go? Will be interesting to see if he gets another shot in Brisbane. Probably will if Beaudie is out.
I can't see why not. In a 37 man squad you'd surely take two specialist fullbacks and hard to see why (or who for?) they'd switch him out.
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@stargazer said in EOYT 2017:
I have a theory (which may be totally wrong) about where they want to go with Havili. The AB coaches always seem to have a longer term vision than us - and especially the clickbait driven, sensationalist media. I think Havili may be primed - in the mid- to longer term - to be the replacement of BFA, while Jordie may eventually become the replacement of SBW at second-five. DMac is still a bit of an experiment and it's uncertain what role he will play; fullback, first-five (Mo'unga should be in the mix, too) or even halfback. He may, however, also end up being an utility back, which may make him an excellent bench option.
Not sure they'd have thought too hard about planning David's future. Reality is that he's probably only fifth (he may have graduated to 4th) in the fullback queue at present, so it's been a major bonus for him to get some test caps. In fact, DMac has really had Jordie's gametime and Havili has had Dmac's.
Ben Smith and Dagg will be back in the equation next year (though I reckon Israel's future is firmly stamped at right wing now) and I reckon Will Jordan will be pressing claims sooner rather than later - plus who knows who else. Barring injury, Ben Smith is pretty likely to have a lock on the position for most of the next two years, with Jordie getting some time to grow him, DMac getting an occasional look in and David requiring some luck with injuries to get a chance.
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@cgrant One plus about Ngatai, not mentioned above, is that he takes options very well, and thus makes those around him more effective. For me is also more of a direct crash ball threat than Crotty, which is handy when the rush needs to be kept honest.
Midfield is our real work on area, so would like to see six in squad. Room for Charlie and Jack. -
