Aaron Smith
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Aaron Smith is the king!
He's an absolute beast of a half back and the impact he has on the teams he plays for is massive, particular the Highlanders who are pretty average without.
I'm worried he will steal the title from the blues this weekend, almost single handedly.
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@cliff said in Aaron Smith:
@bovidae yeah he is very young I think 19 and shows good promise I wonder if the chiefs will have a halfback spot next season has Weber resigned?
No public announcement on Weber but I expect him to play another season to bring up his century of games for the Chiefs (currently on 98).
I've seen plenty of Cortez play at schoolboy level as he replaced Roe in the Hamilton BHS 1st XV, and for Waikato last year. I'm sure the Chiefs have him in their system, even though he didn't play in the U20 tournament.
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Aaron Smith is way up there with the best 9's I've seen.
He's almost a perfect mix of being able to take the game by the scruff of the neck like Joost van der Westhuizen when needed, or just do the classic 9 role of distributor or kicker. Does both roles brilliantly and has done pretty consistently. I struggle to remember an average game let alone a poor one from him.
No disrespect to the GOAT, Nonu/Conrad & DC, but I think we're going to miss Smith much more than those players.
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@kiwiwomble said in Aaron Smith:
@paekakboyz said in Aaron Smith:
@antipodean I think his partnership with Conrad also helped drive some of that development. Clear as day that Nonu put in the hard work though. I think Nonu was a pretty early adopter of stuff like yoga as well? One of those guys always looking for that extra edge or 1% to add to their game.
agreed, i think partnering with Smith at the canes and the AB's gave Nonu the confidence to work on his game knowing exactly what the guy outside him was going to do
I think that probably assisted, but I'd point more to his "mentor" of sorts, Umaga. One of the first guys to go head down, arse up and work hard outside of where he was expected to.
The year before he made the AB's, he spent the whole off-season doing plyometrics and speed training and came back an absolute weapon with a whole lot more pace and explosiveness, as well as that extra "vision" you get from being fit as fuck.
Which brings me to Roe - that's what I like about him and see in him, his pass is really laboured at the moment, but his vision looks streets ahead of everyone behind Smith, bar Fakatava.
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@victor-meldrew he was a bit average after after-david-gate, was at the helm for Chicago wasnt he, and that was not a fine day for many.
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@taniwharugby said in Aaron Smith:
@victor-meldrew he was a bit average after after-david-gate, was at the helm for Chicago wasnt he, and that was not a fine day for many.
Yeah, there was a season where he put in a few pretty average performances, got bullied quite a bit and wasn't a threat at all around the breakdown - many were calling for him to be dropped (hi @Tim).
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@bones said in Aaron Smith:
@taniwharugby said in Aaron Smith:
@victor-meldrew he was a bit average after after-david-gate, was at the helm for Chicago wasnt he, and that was not a fine day for many.
Yeah, there was a season where he put in a few pretty average performances, got bullied quite a bit and wasn't a threat at all around the breakdown - many were calling for lhim to be dropped (hi @Tim).
Yeah, I forget about that year. Still think a fully firing AS is going to be hard to replace.
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@bones said in Aaron Smith:
@bovidae said in Aaron Smith:
@cliff Yeah, you forget how young Ratima still is when he was selected for the NZ U20s. I see he is back playing for Oto after his injury.
You've cloned Duggan, right?
If only our current halfbacks had Duggan's pace. What an asset that was.
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@mariner4life From early days in the Chiefs till 2015 WC - completely different player, same aggressive defence though.
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@bones said in Aaron Smith:
@taniwharugby said in Aaron Smith:
@victor-meldrew he was a bit average after after-david-gate, was at the helm for Chicago wasnt he, and that was not a fine day for many.
Yeah, there was a season where he put in a few pretty average performances, got bullied quite a bit and wasn't a threat at all around the breakdown - many were calling for him to be dropped (hi @Tim).
In that case Weber is going to be on fire for the next couple of years.
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