The All Black's current midfield balance.
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@kiwi_expat that’s why a banged the drum for Jordie for my whole adult life. Strong direct and a breath of fresh air to McKenzie, BB or RM. how did Foster stumble on that one.
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@broughie said in The All Black's current midfield balance.:
@kiwi_expat that’s why a banged the drum for Jordie for my whole adult life. Strong direct and a breath of fresh air to McKenzie, BB or RM. how did Foster stumble on that one.
Indeed. His break through the middle of the field earlier in the 1st half showed the benefits of having a more direct strong man going through the interior of defenses as opposed to trying & running around to the edges. I still maintain Jordie would make a fine 12, didn't he shift there when McKenzie came on? Havili has done admirably, but he doesn't seem like a long-term option at 12, especially against more physical sides like SA/England. Both Dave and ALB are more jinky, sideways runners on attack, and we need to find a more healthy balance and a little bit more variety in that space.
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@broughie said in The All Black's current midfield balance.:
@kiwi_expat that’s why a banged the drum for Jordie for my whole adult life. Strong direct and a breath of fresh air to McKenzie, BB or RM. how did Foster stumble on that one.
I think he got desperate and read the Fern.
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@mn5 said in The All Black's current midfield balance.:
What’s George Moala up to ?
Developing a really decent reputation for himself at Clermont.
Kiwis in Europe: George Moala pick of the bunch in commanding performance for Clermont
Former All Blacks star George Moala is proving just as hard to contain on the fields of Europe as he was in New Zealand.
But, I don't think he'd be the answer for us, seemed a bit one-dimensional, kind of lacking the vision & game IQ required to really excel at the international level.
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@kiwi_expat what about at 13? I don't remember George much at 12, wasn't he wing then centre in NZ? I actually liked him as a player before he left but yeah I don't know what his distribution skills are like.
The thing for me, is, Havili seems to have some nice passing skills, why doesn't he use them? Doesn't seem ideal to play crash at 12 esp against bigger men. -
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@nostrildamus said in The All Black's current midfield balance.:
@kiwi_expat what about at 13? I don't remember George much at 12, wasn't he wing then centre in NZ? I actually liked him as a player before he left but yeah I don't know what his distribution skills are like.
The thing for me, is, Havili seems to have some nice passing skills, why doesn't he use them? Doesn't seem ideal to play crash at 12 esp against bigger men.From what I recall, Moala's distribution game wasn't at an appropriate level for international footy.
Charlie Ngatai, now there's an underrated midfielder who got away from us.. arguably left at his peak as well.
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@kiwi_expat said in The All Black's current midfield balance.:
@nostrildamus said in The All Black's current midfield balance.:
@kiwi_expat what about at 13? I don't remember George much at 12, wasn't he wing then centre in NZ? I actually liked him as a player before he left but yeah I don't know what his distribution skills are like.
The thing for me, is, Havili seems to have some nice passing skills, why doesn't he use them? Doesn't seem ideal to play crash at 12 esp against bigger men.From what I recall, Moala's distribution game wasn't at an appropriate level for international footy.
Charlie Ngatai, now there's an underrated midfielder who got away from us.. arguably left at his peak as well.
I agree! But he had a bad injury run...
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@nostrildamus said in The All Black's current midfield balance.:
@kiwi_expat said in The All Black's current midfield balance.:
@nostrildamus said in The All Black's current midfield balance.:
@kiwi_expat what about at 13? I don't remember George much at 12, wasn't he wing then centre in NZ? I actually liked him as a player before he left but yeah I don't know what his distribution skills are like.
The thing for me, is, Havili seems to have some nice passing skills, why doesn't he use them? Doesn't seem ideal to play crash at 12 esp against bigger men.From what I recall, Moala's distribution game wasn't at an appropriate level for international footy.
Charlie Ngatai, now there's an underrated midfielder who got away from us.. arguably left at his peak as well.
I agree! But he had a bad injury run...
so unfortunate with those ongoing concussion issues.. robbed him of a potentially solid All Black career.
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Rather than looking for individuals I think we need to identify the best pairing in super rugby, I think we’re seeing our two midfielders often mistiming runs or passes and picking a pairing that play together all year might fix that
Champion team beats a team of champions etc
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@kiwiwomble well next year hopefully the Chiefs run Tupaea/ALB and the 'saders Havili/Goodhue as thier midfields, while we also know ALB/Goodhue works too, although Goodhue has never been the quickest centre and coming back from major knee surgery, speed has never been what made him such a good centre.
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@taniwharugby Conrad Smith wasn't rapid. But there have been few better centres at reading the game and knowing where to be at the right time.
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I like what Havili has brought to the table at a time when we had few options - however, agreed, he isn't a long-term option. Will be interesting what happens at the Crusaders next year. I imagine he continues at 12, but Goodhue is on the slower side for a 13.
For me, 12 is a position in which you rarely see someone come out of school and dominate at. Presumably the pace of the defense is a lot faster at the professional level, and 12 is probably one of the positions where you get the least time to make a decision. When you add in that you have to be strong defensively, physically quite large to ensure you're not getting forced backwards on the carry, a decent kicking option in case the 10 is in a ruck and a good playmaking option under pressure - it's a long list of requirements, particularly for players who were likely able to rely on simply being the biggest and fastest at schoolboy level.
In our early U20 teams we had a lot of guys who perhaps didn't have the size to make it at the top level (TJ Faiane, Tei Walden, Shaun Treeby), but in more recent years we've been selecting a larger midfield (Tele'a, Gregory, T Umaga-Jensen). I guess the question mark for these larger guys is whether they have the skillset needed, and particularly, whether they can perform these skills under pressure. Some of this development can only happen if they're given enough game time - and some of it dependent on the players themselves and how much they're willing to work on it. Too often, I feel, we're relying on stopgap options at 12 who we know will never be good enough, rather than allowing some of more promising options to get better (e.g. Sio Tomkinson ahead of Scott Gregory).
Aside from Havili and Lienert-Brown, the players I see who have the potential to wear the 12 jersey over the next few years (edit - by few years I mean 2 - 6 years) are:
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Quinn Tupaea - the most obvious. He will likely be getting consistent game time, crucially alongside Anton Lienert-Brown. He can break tackles easily. I'd like to see him round out his game a little better - I think he has the skills, so likely just needs to get a little better at performing these under pressure. This takes time.
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Scott Gregory - Played well this year for the Highlanders. He's big and can cart the ball up. Again, he needs work on the playmaking side of things. I'd like to see the Highlanders persist with him. Unless TUJ stops getting injured, he will likely get a lot of game time in the future
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Thomas Umaga-Jensen - Big question mark is whether he can actually get enough games together to put forward his case for selection, let alone get a bit of experience under his belt.
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Peter Umaga-Jensen - It would be good to see more of him at 12, but he looks to have the size and skills. Will likely have the 12 jersey for the Hurricanes going forward (or at least you'd think he would - with the Canes coaches, you never know).
There are a few other players who I think have/could develop the skillset required to be an AB 12, but I don't think they'll get the time in the jersey that they'd need (e.g. Leicester Fainga'anuku, Jordie Barrett (why would we, at this point?).
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Personally, I'd rather we focus on Tupaea rather than a stop-gap option. To me, he currently looks like the most promising out of our options. Give him the experience and support he needs, and I'm sure he'll only get better. There might be a game or two we'd lose due to a mistake, but he'll only be better for it in the long-run
