Canterbury vs Manawatu
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@stargazer said in Canterbury vs Manawatu:
Romano was awesome from the moment he came on. If they take a 4th lock on the EOYT, he should be in the ABs squad again.
Not sure about that. I think Romano will only be in the mix if one of Whitelock or Retallick get injured and they need experience as insurance.
If they want to take a 4th lock they should look at a younger player as development opportunity.
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Good crowd for a Thursday night and an enjoyable night out.
We are pretty difficult watch after the domination in recent years. Cameron with Burliegh outside him seem unable to get the backline going at all, they stand deep and play the game at such a slow pace..
Cameron scored a good try, made some good kicks but let himself down with a couple of appalling missed tackles and a charge down that almost resulted in a Manawatu try. I really hope we've got better options at the Crusaders for a 3rd first five behind Richie and Hunt.
Dalzeill is ineffective, Romano should be starting. Dunshea plays too loose for a lock I reckon, he'd fit right in at the Blues next year if we don't offer him a contract.
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@sammyc 10, 12 and 13 have been a big problem in the three Canterbury games I have seen this year. Unless there is a big improvement I don't see Canterbury making the final. I haven't seen anybody new to get excited over.
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@crazy-horse said in Canterbury vs Manawatu:
@sammyc 10, 12 and 13 have been a big problem in the three Canterbury games I have seen this year. Unless there is a big improvement I don't see Canterbury making the final. I haven't seen anybody new to get excited over.
There’s plenty of young talent at 12-13 around the region but for some reason they picked Burleigh and Beard. A couple of old Clydesdales.
10 I don’t know what the future is, watched a lot of club rugby this year and can’t think of anyone who deserves to be there.
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@sammyc what other 12-13 would you choose. There must be a reason why ray nuu has be loaned to Southland. Other than him the cupboard is bare this year. Poihipi will be back next year and some good young players coming thru. Dallas mccleod , Judah Gawith to name a couple.
Hamish Dalziel is a plodder , will be 4th choice lock at Lincoln next year. Dunshea is more suited to 6.
This year is definitely the weakest Canterbury has been in a long time. Miss Todd , whitelock and mo’unga big time.
As for 1st 5 Fergus Burke is the only one around of any quality that I can think of. -
@chchfanatic said in Canterbury vs Manawatu:
@sammyc what other 12-13 would you choose. There must be a reason why ray nuu has be loaned to Southland. Other than him the cupboard is bare this year. Poihipi will be back next year and some good young players coming thru. Dallas mccleod , Judah Gawith to name a couple.
Hamish Dalziel is a plodder , will be 4th choice lock at Lincoln next year. Dunshea is more suited to 6.
This year is definitely the weakest Canterbury has been in a long time. Miss Todd , whitelock and mo’unga big time.
As for 1st 5 Fergus Burke is the only one around of any quality that I can think of.Seems like you and I have the same conversation every week
Ray Nu'u was loaned to Southland because they wanted experience at 12/13 apparently (Dale McLeod and Dave Hewiitt were very happy to take him).
I doubt very much Razor would have made a decision like that, he tends to back his younger players to perform.My 12/13s would be Nu'u/ Punavai and Brayden Ennor (hope he's back from injury soon)
Agree about McCleod and Gawith, both extrememly promising players.
@Crazy-Horse I'm unconvinced my Maddock/Thorne as a coaching duo. I didn't think Christ's College were that smart tactically under Thorne. It appears to me that they both prefer a steady safe player to one with x factor, which doesn't surprise me given they were both that sort of player.
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Bit tough to be so harsh on the midfield when we've lost Bateman and Thompson from last year (Goodhue and Barrett from the year before) and Ennor since Round 2. Additionally Inga Finau who had been a project, seems to be off the radar entirely this year. Punivai is green but highly promising and has had a couple of nice moments, and Burleigh should offer the steady hand we need outside a young 10 but is yet to find his feet again at this level. Beard I knew little about and hasn't thrilled me. I think in selecting Burleigh and with Ennor coming through the Canterbury staff probably thought we had a first string combo sorted but we've had our depth exposed.
Cameron had his best game this season last night. His biggest issue is he appears to make Mitch Hunt look like a beast. Maybe Hunt plays above his weight and Cameron doesn't; not sure. But the cupboard is pretty bare after him. This is the position where we're really lacking. Makene and/or McKay might also train at 10 so maybe Maddock thinks we're covered but in years gone by where a glaring depth issue such as this has arisen we've typically brought/bought a player in ie the Aussie lock 3-4 years ago, Alby Mathewson last year etc. We probably should have also found some 10 cover. Or maybe bring in the young bloke back from Australia who's with the Crusaders academy in Nelson, who we recently discussed.
I'm ok with the locks. You can't have FABs coming through all the time and we do have one former AB to balance out the rotation. It's possible we could have done more to retain James Tucker but he moved for opportunity when we had greater depth.
Ultimately, it was always going to be impossible to replace Funnell, Bird, L Whitelock, Todd, Mo'unga, Bateman and Thompson straight away and we're enduringb the speed bumps as we rebuild.
