AB "What could have been" XV
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@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@bones said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:
Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.
He got pretty far up the pecking order to be fair
He got selected based on his physical stats but even the AB coaches couldn’t turn that into a top lock. Basically a modern Mark Cooksley.
That one might have flown over your head.
Ah, the highly original thing where you make all sort of avian-related jokes because his name is Bird. Too complicated for mere mortals.
I cringe when I recall the awful, awful dad jokes Jeremy Thrush was in the mix at the same time .
Yeah but is it worse than hearing a 'breakfast with the ABs' anecdote for the 50,000th time?
No. Obviously.
Liam Squire, Jerome Kaino and Damien McKenzie right?
Tell me more
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@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@bones said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:
Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.
He got pretty far up the pecking order to be fair
He got selected based on his physical stats but even the AB coaches couldn’t turn that into a top lock. Basically a modern Mark Cooksley.
That one might have flown over your head.
Ah, the highly original thing where you make all sort of avian-related jokes because his name is Bird. Too complicated for mere mortals.
I cringe when I recall the awful, awful dad jokes Jeremy Thrush was in the mix at the same time .
Yeah but is it worse than hearing a 'breakfast with the ABs' anecdote for the 50,000th time?
No. Obviously.
Liam Squire, Jerome Kaino and Damien McKenzie right?
Tell me more
Joe Moody was there too
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@act-crusader said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@bovidae said in AB "What could have been" XV:
You could include one of the Gear brothers on the other wing. Neither fulfilled their potential in the black jersey.
I reckon Rico carved out a damn good test career with three other quality wingers around the same time.
Hosea on the hand probably fits the bill. He didn’t translate that Super form to the test level. A bit like a few other players mentioned in this thread, had all the physical attributes but didn’t quite kick on.
Will always remember Rico man-handling Shane Williams, Gavin Henson and other Lions backs in the 2005 tour. He was some player, quite a bit better than his younger brother who only really showed glimpses of what he was capable of.
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@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@bones said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@billy-tell said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:
Nick Allen. He was an outstanding 1st Five.
Dominic Bird. A towering potential. Could have won a place for the next WC if he had stayed in NZ.Bird. One of the must overrated players ever.
He got pretty far up the pecking order to be fair
He got selected based on his physical stats but even the AB coaches couldn’t turn that into a top lock. Basically a modern Mark Cooksley.
That one might have flown over your head.
Ah, the highly original thing where you make all sort of avian-related jokes because his name is Bird. Too complicated for mere mortals.
I cringe when I recall the awful, awful dad jokes Jeremy Thrush was in the mix at the same time .
Yeah but is it worse than hearing a 'breakfast with the ABs' anecdote for the 50,000th time?
No. Obviously.
Liam Squire, Jerome Kaino and Damien McKenzie right?
Tell me more
Joe Moody was there too
Good cross section of teams too - the cliques of the earlier days have well and truly been broken.
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@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:
I have forgot the name of the blindside flanker who could have won the Jonah Lomu Lookalike Contest. He used to make some barnstorming runs. After a few games for the Junior All Blacks, he flew to Japan.
@Bones I'll let you handle this query
It's gotta be Hale TPole eh?
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@rancid-schnitzel said in AB "What could have been" XV:
Not sure why people are putting Leonard in there. He had heaps of opportunities. Was a gun at the very start (knocking Weepu out of the 2007 team) then went to shit.
That is kind of the point. What could have been if kept on that early trajectory. IIRC he had a couple of bad injuries that slowed him down a bit.
Hosea Gear is definitely a good one. I would stick him straight in my XV.
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@bones said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:
I have forgot the name of the blindside flanker who could have won the Jonah Lomu Lookalike Contest. He used to make some barnstorming runs. After a few games for the Junior All Blacks, he flew to Japan.
@Bones I'll let you handle this query
It's gotta be Hale TPole eh?
No, not Hale T-Pole. The guy I forgot the name of was a very big munter, who was bold.
I just remember a game when he was playing for the Junior All Blacks vs the French Barbarians in France. Mils Muliana was also in the team. It was in the early years of the century. -
I think Ron Cribb is a good contender for the team, if he didn't get injured at the wrong time, get caught up in Mitchell being an utter cock, and then in-advisedly take on the NZRU. He also shouldn't have returned to the Blues and stayed at the Crusaders (ugh, did I just write those words).
I think Leonard has a very low ceiling and hit it - his game was based around his speed and without he dropped out of the running pretty quickly. Hindsight would suggest Piri would have been a better option in 07.
@pukunui That backline (with Kahn at 9) in the OP is awesome.
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@Nepia nah Cribb was soft. Missing that tackle on Kefu takes him off the list.
@cgrant Koula Tukino
Team I believe you are referring to is at the bottom of this article.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=158761
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Yes, Tukino ! You are great !
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@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@bones said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@cgrant said in AB "What could have been" XV:
I have forgot the name of the blindside flanker who could have won the Jonah Lomu Lookalike Contest. He used to make some barnstorming runs. After a few games for the Junior All Blacks, he flew to Japan.
@Bones I'll let you handle this query
It's gotta be Hale TPole eh?
No, not Hale T-Pole. The guy I forgot the name of was a very big munter, who was bold.
I just remember a game when he was playing for the Junior All Blacks vs the French Barbarians in France. Mils Muliana was also in the team. It was in the early years of the century.Whoosh
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@kiwimurph I still find it weird how people get hung up on that - considering Kefu was one of the hardest to stop at full flight and a bunch of errors and poor play from other ABs led to it.
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@nepia said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@kiwimurph I still find it weird how people get hung up on that - considering Kefu was one of the hardest to stop at full flight and a bunch of errors and poor play from other ABs led to it.
I was never really sold on him before that tbh , him Flavell and Matua Parkinson would be one of the most penalty prone loose trios I’ve ever seen when they were together at North Harbour
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@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@nepia said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@kiwimurph I still find it weird how people get hung up on that - considering Kefu was one of the hardest to stop at full flight and a bunch of errors and poor play from other ABs led to it.
I was never really sold on him before that tbh , him Flavell and Matua Parkinson would be one of the most penalty prone loose trios I’ve ever seen when they were together at North Harbour
Bunch a flash Harry’s
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@act-crusader said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@jegga said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@nepia said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@kiwimurph I still find it weird how people get hung up on that - considering Kefu was one of the hardest to stop at full flight and a bunch of errors and poor play from other ABs led to it.
I was never really sold on him before that tbh , him Flavell and Matua Parkinson would be one of the most penalty prone loose trios I’ve ever seen when they were together at North Harbour
Bunch a flash Harry’s
Without Cribb being a flash harry you lot would have went down to, I guess, your other lot in the 2000 final.
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@mn5 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
@pukunui said in AB "What could have been" XV:
I would put Guildford in the "dud" or "how the hell did he get capped" XV
Absolutely. Very fast and ran like a spastic. That's about the extent of his abilities.
That was about the extent of Doug Howlett's abilities too, and he (still?) has the AB try scoring record...
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@gt12 said in AB "What could have been" XV:
I personally think Leonard went as far as would have, so I'm struggling to think of a better HB for the bench than Duggan?
In an Evans/Toeavaesque way Byron Kelleher is worth a shot. He got 64 caps so on first glance hard to include him, but for a 1999 debut he only started 10 games (over 25 total tests) in his five first season through 2003. Chopped, changed, dropped for the Cantablacks with three coaches over four years. This after being Super 12 player of the year and starting the semi-final (not well) in 1999.
In an alternate reality it's easy to see him picking up two dozen caps at the start of his career with more consistent coaching/selection and another two dozen at the end had he stayed through 2008-09. Another handful he missed out under Henry just through rotation.
In pure minutes on the field very few in this list potentially could have played more for the ABs than they did if we are playing "what-ifs".
