Highlanders 2023
-
@FakatavaAllBlack said in Highlanders 2023:
Word on the street Chris Boyd is going to be Director of Rugby for the Highlanders
Would be a strong appointment, to manage the wider rugby management of the organisation. The key question remains how do the Highlanders recruit the players to be competitive and keep the best players in their catchment from leaving.
Josh Moorby
George Bell
Christian Lio-Willie
Noah Hotham;Should all be stripping for the Highlanders next year, they will all be playing for other franchises, the bulk for the Crusaders.
-
kind of cool, stronger connections to Japanese rugby is a good idea i believe
-
@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
@Canes4life i found that whole media release kind of weirdly worded
to the southernmost Super Rugby Clubthis is put out by the Highlanders, just a weird way to talk about yourself
how about a bit of truth then?
to the ball-freezingist location of all Super Rugby Clubs
-
@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
kind of cool, stronger connections to Japanese rugby is a good idea i believe
I hope the fans don't mispronounce that surname from the stands.
-
-
highlandersteam Local young guns signed from 2024 💪🔐
2021 Highlanders and NZ u20s player Nathan Hastie and 2022 players Oliver Haig, Cam Millar, Jake te Hiwi and Hayden Michael’s have all signed 3 year deals from 24 🤝
Check out the link in our story for the full release
#NextGen
Next Generation of Local Highlanders Confirmed | Highlanders Rugby Club Limited Partnership
The Highlanders have signalled a strong focus on the future with the signing of five of their young stars on three-year Super Rugby contracts beginning in 2024. Almost all players are recent graduates of or currently involved with the Highlander’s High Performance Programme or Highlander’s U20 team...
The Highlanders have signalled a strong focus on the future with the signing of five of their young stars on three-year Super Rugby contracts beginning in 2024. All players are recent graduates of or currently involved with the Highlander’s John Jones Steel High Performance Programme or Highlander’s U20 team and are a credit to their provinces.
The five players signed to three-year deals beginning in 2024 include halfback Nathan Hastie (Otago), first-five Cameron Millar (Otago), centre Jake Te Hiwi (Otago) and loose forwards Oliver Haig (Otago) and Hayden Michaels (Southland).Edited to add that these five players are the first players signed until the end of the 2026 season.
-
Highlanders panic and sign nearly all their national U20 players to long-term deals. Except the best player from 2022 who ended up in the Crusaders. Shock horror. This is a very strange move. While I'm a massive fan of signing talented young players up. Make sure the talented payers are the best available. Not a huge fan of this. Two of the lads haven't even played first class rugby yet!
Next Generation of Local Highlanders Confirmed | Highlanders Rugby Club Limited Partnership
The Highlanders have signalled a strong focus on the future with the signing of five of their young stars on three-year Super Rugby contracts beginning in 2024. Almost all players are recent graduates of or currently involved with the Highlander’s High Performance Programme or Highlander’s U20 team...
-
i dont hate it, too often we've just ended up signing journeymen from elsewhere, actual long term vision is a breath of fresh air. how big are our squads now? 5 is still a small percent
-
@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
i dont hate it, too often we've just ended up signing journeymen from elsewhere, actual long term vision is a breath of fresh air. how big are our squads now? 5 is still a small percent
Signing Hastie from 2024 , after signing Arscott is that a pointer to Smith finishing up at the end of 2023.
-
@Chris i had assumed, he'll be 34/35 come the 2024 season and must have sore shoulders by now
i dont know how long we have Fakatava either, had a feeling he might only have signed through 2023 so we might be afraid we can hold him long term
I see smiths mentorship in arscott so i dont hate the idea of having some guys waiting and just spending the next season or two learning, a clear conveyor belt, these young guys see that fakatava waiting behind hammington has paid off...and arscott waiting in the development squad has paid off...
-
-
@FakatavaAllBlack bloody cowen! should have left earlier!
-
@Kiwiwomble seeing as though Fakatava has shown great Patience & turned down offers elsewhere in the past I'm sure he'll be looking forward to wearing the landers 9 jersey, something he's only done a small handful of times in his four yrs In Dunedin thus far
-
@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
i dont hate it, too often we've just ended up signing journeymen from elsewhere, actual long term vision is a breath of fresh air. how big are our squads now? 5 is still a small percent
My feeling is a journeyman is a journeyman doesn't matter if they went to a local school or not. Although, I do like big Oliver Haig, he seems rather impressive.
A for the halfbacks. Would seem as if Fakatava has indicated to the franchise his long-term plan is to stick around. The other options for him would probably be the Hurricanes or the Blues, but Christie is still reasonably young.
-
@FakatavaAllBlack said in Highlanders 2023:
just hope we don't lose young Finn Hurley🙂
I wouldn't be surprised if they are worried about his size. Also, I'd say you could only have one of him or Koroi in the squad; being a small bugger who can play both 15 and 10.
They are also probably monitoring the progress of Ajay Faleafaga.
-
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2023:
@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
i dont hate it, too often we've just ended up signing journeymen from elsewhere, actual long term vision is a breath of fresh air. how big are our squads now? 5 is still a small percent
My feeling is a journeyman is a journeyman doesn't matter if they went to a local school or not. Although, I do like big Oliver Haig, he seems rather impressive.
A for the halfbacks. Would seem as if Fakatava has indicated to the franchise his long-term plan is to stick around. The other options for him would probably be the Hurricanes or the Blues, but Christie is still reasonably young.
i dont consider a journeyman someone that didn;t go to school in otago...more someone that wasn't wanted as a first choice, someone we bring in late as we have vacant spots, someone often just making up the numbers...and sometime it works...lots of times it doesn't...im happy to see a proactive approach
-
@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
i dont consider a journeyman someone that didn;t go to school in otago...more someone that wasn't wanted as a first choice, someone we bring in late as we have vacant spots, someone often just making up the numbers...and sometime it works...lots of times it doesn't...im happy to see a proactive approach
100%> I just don't see any of these guys being more than journeymen, with the exception of Haig and may be Te Hiwi. What I was inferring to is outside of the Highlanders, I doubt any of these guys would be given three year contracts by other franchises. Or even offered deals. To me the measure of a player is their demand on the open market. It shows the franchises sell ability as well. George Bell, Lio-Willie and Hotham would have all been on the Highlanders radar. All rejected the franchise. Three year contracts are a real punt. Don't get me wrong, I hope the lads go well. But, I don't see rock stars. I see solid footy players. Offering three year contracts to uncapped 19-year-olds just doesn't make sense to me.
