Auckland v Tasman
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Have been impressed with Whetton, looks physical. Hope Highlanders pick him up 😁. Just noticed last night a trend that Gibson gets bossed a little physically at times, good player but needs to sort out if wants to push to ABs. Had hopes for him but think Paapalii will over take him as 7 at current rate.
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@98blueandgold said in Auckland v Ta$man:
Have been impressed with Whetton, looks physical. Hope Highlanders pick him up
LOL, a friend of mine was saying that tonight. Looks taylor made to be a solid Highlanders player.
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@tim said in Auckland v Ta$man:
Whetton has been a real surprise this year. Nailing all his work.
He's a very different player than when left NZ. He's added a lot of bulk and his workrate is getting better each week. Good to see him get through 80
The Blues should be signing him, they need another big lump at lock for when Tuipolotu is injured/out of form.
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@kiwimurph said in Auckland v Ta$man:
@shark said in Auckland v Ta$man:
Oh phew. I thought I'd missed a big game.
Hilarious. You know Auckland are playing better again when Cantab fans are getting chippy. Good to see.
You'd like to think we cared that much about Auckland and the Blues
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@shark said in Auckland v Ta$man:
@kiwimurph said in Auckland v Ta$man:
@shark said in Auckland v Ta$man:
Oh phew. I thought I'd missed a big game.
Hilarious. You know Auckland are playing better again when Cantab fans are getting chippy. Good to see.
You'd like to think we cared that much about Auckland and the Blues
Care enough to come on this thread and attempt to troll multiple times....
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Nick White took over as head coach.
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@shark said in Auckland v Ta$man:
I'm not trolling. I'm genuinely surprised how much is being read into the first few rounds of the competition for Auckland. After all, they made the final as recently as 2015 and what's happened since then?
If you are not trolling you would have read the multiple posts talking about how young this Auckland side is, the fans expectations set at making the semis, nothing more, and 90% of the comments being happy that last years disaster is behind us.
Most were expecting to lose a close game against Ta$man too.
Plenty of us also said it’s too early to read anything in the early rounds due to the quality of the opposition. You ignoring all of that makes your trolling a bit stupid.
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@kirwan said in Auckland v Ta$man:
@shark said in Auckland v Ta$man:
I'm not trolling. I'm genuinely surprised how much is being read into the first few rounds of the competition for Auckland. After all, they made the final as recently as 2015 and what's happened since then?
If you are not trolling you would have read the multiple posts talking about how young this Auckland side is, the fans expectations set at making the semis, nothing more, and 90% of the comments being happy that last years disaster is behind us.
Most were expecting to lose a close game against Ta$man too.
Plenty of us also said it’s too early to read anything in the early rounds due to the quality of the opposition. You ignoring all of that makes your trolling a bit stupid.
So there aren't numerous posts anointing the coach and/or coaches as demi-Gods, average players being talked up for SR, and you yourself suggested the Blues dump Umaga for an immediate change in fortune ala Auckland...? Highly, HIGHLY presumptuous.
And I'M stupid??
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I love how attempting to bring balance and perspective to a thread is considered trolling by the way. Sure I did that by way of a cheeky comment, but the point stands. It's early days; calm the down.
Beat Canterbury also next week and Auckland fans will have something to genuinely get excited about, but don't expect there to be a flow-on effect to the Blues, or potentially long term ramifications in the NPC.
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It’s a weird point of view to not expect improvements from better coaches, when you look at the instant improvements to teams like the Chiefs and Crusaders when they dropped average to poor coaches.
Same thing will happen when we drop Umaga, assuming we keep Coventry and McDonald. If we just do another celebrity coach, then I agree it will be business as usual.
As for Auckland, at the risk of repeating myself, we all have measured expectations (I’ve said semis is a par many times). We are enjoying a dramatic improvement from the last two years.
Even if we lose against Canterbury (and I’d not be surprised, I expected a Ta$man loss too), as long as I see the improvements in defence and the set piece, and progress being made, I’ll be content.
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@shark The thing is, is that I think most Auckland fans on here don't expect to win next week (myself included) and I don't think any of us expect them to go all the way in this comp. All that's happened on this thread is that Auckland fans have gotten excited over upsetting the competition favourites by a massive margin. Is there any harm in that? Also, no-one here expects Auckland's form in this comp after the first 4 games to flow on to SR, no-one's that stupid.
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Maybe I am underestimating Canterbury, but I am expecting Auckland to win. This is not a good Canterbury team (especially the backs) and aren't they at the 'three games in a week' stage of the season?
