The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen
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Pretty sure Wayne Smith said the same thing, as did Isa Nacewa.
I remember hearing Kahui say that Ice was the hardest player to defend. I wonder if Conrad thought the same, because Ice use to give him and Nonu fits all the time.
@canefan said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@antipodean said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
Easy to believe when you consider how young he was, how shy he was and some of the phenomenal stuff he did on the field. Just amazing talent.
His year at the Canes he was clearly an amazing talent. A shame he never stayed
He made Lome Fa'atau look world class that season.
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@Dice said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
Pretty sure Wayne Smith said the same thing, as did Isa Nacewa.
I remember hearing Kahui say that Ice was the hardest player to defend. I wonder if Conrad thought the same, because Ice use to give him and Nonu fits all the time.
@canefan said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@antipodean said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
Easy to believe when you consider how young he was, how shy he was and some of the phenomenal stuff he did on the field. Just amazing talent.
His year at the Canes he was clearly an amazing talent. A shame he never stayed
He made Lome Fa'atau look world class that season.
I think they moved him too soon. Should have stayed at 15 (and at the Canes, the Blues are player killers!!!)
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@canefan all jokes aside, the best footy I saw him play was at 2nd 5 for the Blues. He had matured as a player. He had the speed, vision and kicking game.
I don’t know how to do it, but if anyone can dig up an old post I think by willie the weka who sat near Graham Henry and co at a Chiefs v Blues game and some of the comments overheard about the Toeava vs Kahui matchup.
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@ACT-Crusader said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@canefan all jokes aside, the best footy I saw him play was at 2nd 5 for the Blues. He had matured as a player. He had the speed, vision and kicking game.
I don’t know how to do it, but if anyone can dig up an old post I think by willie the weka who sat near Graham Henry and co at a Chiefs v Blues game and some of the comments overheard about the Toeava vs Kahui matchup.
What was the general gist?
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@Canerbry said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
All talent, no ticker. Should have been sent to the Crusaders for a season or three.
He would've looked awesome with a mullet. Getting even more injury prone probably wouldn't have helped though.
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@Canerbry said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
All talent, no ticker. Should have been sent to the Crusaders for a season or three.
Harsh assessment of Kahui there. Can you remember what WtW heard Ted say about Toeava also?
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@Canerbry said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
All talent, no ticker. Should have been sent to the Crusaders for a season or three.
As opposed to the speeding tortoise Caleb Ralph. All ticker, no talent.
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From late 2009 onwards Toeava was world class as an outside back. SBW arriving in 2010 hoovered up a lot of the opportunities that probably should have gone his way (bench spot, wing vs Argentina in the QF).
Unless there was something particularly unique about Toeava there doesn't seem any reason to abandon the "if you are young enough, you are good enough" approach. Here is a list of players capped for the ABs before their 21st brithday:
Ioane
Joe Roks
Cullen
Lomu
Cane
McCaw
Barrett
Guildford
Mauger
Atinga
Collins
RalphFairly good strike rate.
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I still have to side with Davidav on this one . I would say Toeava had the potential and physical gifts to be a world class player but issues with injury and confidence never allowed him to reach his potential. His error rate was just too high. It was a layup for him to be in the starting XV for the 2011 World Cup and he initially was but I think the cartel simply lost faith in him for the big games.
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@ACT-Crusader said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@canefan all jokes aside, the best footy I saw him play was at 2nd 5 for the Blues. He had matured as a player. He had the speed, vision and kicking game.
I don’t know how to do it, but if anyone can dig up an old post I think by willie the weka who sat near Graham Henry and co at a Chiefs v Blues game and some of the comments overheard about the Toeava vs Kahui matchup.
Yep there was a Super Rugby semi final against the Sharks in Durban where he almost single-handedly won the match for the Blues playing at 12 before going off injured (and then the Blues predictable fell apart thereafter).
I feel like that was an exemplar of his later career - any time he looked like he was about to really fulfil his potential and show people he was the player the Cartel said he was, he'd end up injured.
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@DMX said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
I still have to side with Davidav on this one . I would say Toeava had the potential and physical gifts to be a world class player but issues with injury and confidence never allowed him to reach his potential. His error rate was just too high. It was a layup for him to be in the starting XV for the 2011 World Cup and he initially was but I think the cartel simply lost faith in him for the big games.
he's only 33.
Could have been a starter in 2011, 2015 and 2019 if he'd delivered. A real tragedy that we lost him to NZ rugby.
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The way I remember it , had so many injuries and thrown around in so many positions he never really settled ,
Hard to knock the ab coaching set up at that time, but I agreee with shag , I don’t think they helped his development not just by playing him early, but thrown straight back in to the deep end at times after injuries , when he clearly didn’t look quite right confidence wise with a lack of rugby behind him.
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Man there’s some revisionism here.
Possum in a headlights early on and never ever seemed to go through an AB match without some sort of handling error, dropped ball etc.
He probably would have been better with age but he wasn’t a major loss like losing a player at the peak of his powers.
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@Billy-Tell said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
Man there’s some revisionism here.
Possum in a headlights early on and never ever seemed to go through an AB match without some sort of handling error, dropped ball etc.
He probably would have been better with age but he wasn’t a major loss like losing a player at the peak of his powers.
so why would Hansen identify him as the most talented player he's ever seen?
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@Billy-Tell said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
never ever seemed to go through an AB match without some sort of handling error, dropped ball etc.
Bit like SBW then.
But Toeava had the time to grow and develop. Pity he never really had the chance in Black.
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@nzzp said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@Billy-Tell said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
Man there’s some revisionism here.
Possum in a headlights early on and never ever seemed to go through an AB match without some sort of handling error, dropped ball etc.
He probably would have been better with age but he wasn’t a major loss like losing a player at the peak of his powers.
so why would Hansen identify him as the most talented player he's ever seen?
Never said he wasn’t talented. Just didn’t perform to an amazing level despite all that talent.
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@Billy-Tell said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@nzzp said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@Billy-Tell said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
Man there’s some revisionism here.
Possum in a headlights early on and never ever seemed to go through an AB match without some sort of handling error, dropped ball etc.
He probably would have been better with age but he wasn’t a major loss like losing a player at the peak of his powers.
so why would Hansen identify him as the most talented player he's ever seen?
Never said he wasn’t talented. Just didn’t perform to an amazing level despite all that talent.
Which is why shag has accepted responsibility, thrown in when he wasn’t really up to it , selection error , and probably lessons learned for how they develop the likes of Brodie as a comparison
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@kiwiinmelb said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@Billy-Tell said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@nzzp said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
@Billy-Tell said in The most talented rugby player Shag has ever seen:
Man there’s some revisionism here.
Possum in a headlights early on and never ever seemed to go through an AB match without some sort of handling error, dropped ball etc.
He probably would have been better with age but he wasn’t a major loss like losing a player at the peak of his powers.
so why would Hansen identify him as the most talented player he's ever seen?
Never said he wasn’t talented. Just didn’t perform to an amazing level despite all that talent.
Which is why shag has accepted responsibility, thrown in when he wasn’t really up to it , selection error , and probably lessons learned for how they develop the likes of Brodie as a comparison
As I said before, he was electric at FB for the Canes in his first year. He went into MF not that long after IIRC. I felt that if he had been allowed to stay at 15 for a few seasons, where he had more time, his option taking would have developed better
