AB Depth Chart 2020
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@Victor-Meldrew said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@canefan said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@junior said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Tim said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Lock
Another tough one. There are three names automatically on the sheet, but all have real limitations or concerns.
Whitelock - One of the best ever for NZ, and pretty much a complete player. Has played a lot over the last three seasons, and form has slid over the last two. May not be an automatic starter any more. Hopefully a break has rejuvenated him. Had a poor World Cup by his standards. ABs need a couple of good years out of him, so needs to have time managed.
Barrett - An "inbetweener". Will never be physically dominant as a lock, but has a great work rate and pace around the field. Not a starter against a big pack (SA, England, France). Not a six. Overrated by NZ media. Decent but not particularly good lineout target.
Tuipulotu - A "power" lock. Physically dominant around the park, improved at set piece a lot, work rate improved. Not a good lineout target at top level. Decent at steals. Should start against the big packs.
Retallick - Potentially the best player in the world. Frequently injured over last two seasons. Not back until next year, and not playing Super Rugby in 2021 either. Don't rely on him as AB saviour ...
Contenders:
Dunshea, Strange, Walker-Leawere.
huge concern. also tied in to Foster needing to have a bit of a rethink around the way we play test football
Whitelock may just be cooked. He's not that old, but he's played a lot of test footy. I hope not, because he's a fucking gun, and probably now in the conversation as an "all-time" AB
Retallick is nearly our most important player. He's the difference maker in our pack. We are so much more average when he is out, or under-cooked. Those days will only be more frequent.
My thoughts on SB are well known. Decent squadie, but to be great, we need an upgrade.
Patty T is my big hope, he's the kind of guy that can just bash opposition packs in to surrender. I really hope this year it finally clicks, because it hasn't yet. But he's going to need a Whitelock-type next to him.
No one really looks "to the manor born"
Patrick is going to be a massive driver of how we play over the next 4 years. If he continues to develop and build upon the physicality and leadership he's shown so far in SR rugby this year, we can potentially change the way we play against the bigger packs. Having him and Retallick, and potentially one or two others, matching up well against those big, physical packs will really allows us to be much more direct and, importantly, less predictable. If he doesn't kick on in the way we all hope he will, I am afraid we will have to be resigned to 4 more years of trying to beat a rush defence with side-to-side shit or cross-field kicks.
I'd love to see us able to play up the guts again**
Maybe just me, but we don't seem to have been able to do that well since Kaino's departure.
I'd like to see the 6 position nailed and a stable 6-7-8 axis this year.
By the time we got to Japan we were more of a finesse team than the bruising team of 2015. And the English showed us that in the finals finesse team = bitch team
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@canefan said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
By the time we got to Japan we were more of a finesse team than the bruising team of 2015. And the English showed us that in the finals finesse team = bitch team
I'd argue the McCaw/Kaino/Read combo was finesse and bruising.
And we could have won that RWC2019 game had the leading players shown some actual leadership
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@Victor-Meldrew said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@canefan said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
By the time we got to Japan we were more of a finesse team than the bruising team of 2015. And the English showed us that in the finals finesse team = bitch team
I'd argue the McCaw/Kaino/Read combo was finesse and bruising.
And we could have won that RWC2019 game had the leading players shown some actual leadership
Don't get me started again
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@Stargazer said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Frank Depends on the type of lock they're looking for. If they want a big power lock, IWL is definitely the man. If you want a fast runner and better line-out jumper, it may be Quinten Strange. I'm not totally sold on Dunshea (yet).
I think Strange will be on the outside looking in because of his previous injuries, and might not even get that many opportunities for the Crusaders. IWL is the same height as SB so while he does provide power I am not sure he helps the lineout.
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It does make me laugh that so many people are keen to throw in a couple of second season kids over the abs best player for the last session and a half. Ardie is a lock in, and we need him plus ONE big Kaino replacement. No way we will be starting two baby loosies against anyone Tier 1 (Italy aside)
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@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Crucial said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Sotutu to lock in a long term spot?
at 192cm?
I had to read it twice
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@Bones said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Machpants got any tasty hats?
I have a half eaten one to share.
Robinson must be in the AB frame, what else does he have to do? They have been after a geniune lock/blindside for years now.
Barrett was tried there and found wanting.
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@Kirwan said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Bones said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Machpants got any tasty hats?
Robinson must be in the AB frame, what else does he have to do? They have been after a geniune lock/blindside for years now.Stay fit
The way he gets around the paddock I don't back him to play a full season at this level. Hopefully wrong as I love seeing him play, but not sure that he's the sort of player with a long term career due to physical damage -
@Victor-Meldrew Except that maybe that was not needed at the time. The English brutalized us in the semi final. We were pounded into submission.
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@Bones said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Machpants got any tasty hats?
Iām sure I can get some tinfoil ones from the politics forum
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@booboo said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@mariner4life said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Crucial said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
Sotutu to lock in a long term spot?
at 192cm?
I had to read it twice
Sorry, hastily typed out comment while on shitty wifi on the ferry.
As some have correctly assumed I meant 'locked in' at 8.
I have a feeling that Foster is not going to go full 'up the guts' but will definitely want to build a pack of forwards that knock others back in the tackle. Sotutu looks like he may have the foundations of a young player that can play hard as well as with good attacking skills.
Hansen fell into the trap that our athletic skills could keep the other team away from taking us on directly because one turnover and we would punish them. Of course, once a direct team learned to hang on to the ball and target our weaker spots we were on the back foot. Our 7 and 8 need to be mobile but also hard enough that running channel 1 and 2 can lead to pain. -
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Every year we read about how we don't have replacements for players x,y,z... then 5 minutes later a new superstar comes onto the scene, or someone unexpected steps up.
Last year it was we don't have any 8's to take over from Read, suddenly we've got a couple of young fullas in Sotutu & Mikale Tu'u who look the goods.... and a guy called Savea also goes alright there.
She'll be right lads!
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@Chris-B said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Duluth Dickson looked good on Saturday.
Yeah and his form has been good for a while now
Playing for a struggling team means he doesn't get mentioned much.
Also, he used to be a beanpole and it takes a while for people to change opinions on a player. There was an article from a few months ago talking about how he went from 108 to 118kg
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@nzzp said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Kirwan said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Bones said in AB Depth Chart 2020:
@Machpants got any tasty hats?
Robinson must be in the AB frame, what else does he have to do? They have been after a geniune lock/blindside for years now.Stay fit
The way he gets around the paddock I don't back him to play a full season at this level. Hopefully wrong as I love seeing him play, but not sure that he's the sort of player with a long term career due to physical damageI don't really get this. We watch guys like Kaino, McCaw and Read absolutely thrash their bodies and other people's for years. But this guy won't be able to handle a season?
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Yeah, Robinson surely has to be in the mix. The guy is big, physical and has a huge engine. We need a token ginge anyway for diversity. Actually, as much as I hate to say it, the Blues loose forwards are turning out to be match for anyone this year.
