Highlanders 2023
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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...
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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
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@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.
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@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...
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@FakatavaAllBlack bloody cowen! should have left earlier!
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@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
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@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.
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@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.
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@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
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@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.
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@SouthernMann demand from the open market is obviously a good gauge of how good they are...but the reality is we're struggling to get these guys to commit once other franchises show any interest, so i get the idea of locking them in early...it might be a sign of sign them early, really put some effort into building them up...and of the 5 2-3 really step up
people like smith are an exception, and part of why he is so dedicated to the Highlanders...in my mind...is "we" took a shot on him early, we might be trying to replicate that
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2023:
Although, I do like big Oliver Haig, he seems rather impressive.
He's the flanker who's challenged in the follicle department isn't he? If so I agree.
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@Crazy-Horse said in Highlanders 2023:
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2023:
Although, I do like big Oliver Haig, he seems rather impressive.
He's the flanker who's challenged in the follicle department isn't he? If so I agree.
I'd say he will be a balding man within a few years.
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2023:
@Crazy-Horse said in Highlanders 2023:
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2023:
Although, I do like big Oliver Haig, he seems rather impressive.
He's the flanker who's challenged in the follicle department isn't he? If so I agree.
I'd say he will be a balding man within a few years.
I thought Haig was very good at 6 for the NZ u/20s looks like a big abrasive unit.
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@Chris said in Highlanders 2023:
I thought Haig was very good at 6 for the NZ u/20s looks like a big abrasive unit.
Big lump of a lad who throws himself around quite well. Thought he was surprisingly athletic around the park as well. He has the most upside out of the group I think. I'm hoping he should get a fair bit of game time off the bench for Otago this year.
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2023:
@Chris said in Highlanders 2023:
I thought Haig was very good at 6 for the NZ u/20s looks like a big abrasive unit.
Big lump of a lad who throws himself around quite well. Thought he was surprisingly athletic around the park as well. He has the most upside out of the group I think. I'm hoping he should get a fair bit of game time off the bench for Otago this year.
There was one try he scored on the right flank, against the Argies I think, where he showed plenty of speed. I wasn't expecting that.
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@Crazy-Horse I’m a NH rugby rugby follower who has rectory dipped their toe into trying to understand the ins and outs of NZ rugby. So this may not be the place to bring up the topic, but Jamie Hannah was an absolute bean pole of a lock, whereas Haig was well built, muscular etc. What made Hannah a better lock candidate and Haig a better flanker candidate than vice versa? Surely you’d want the skinnier but higher work rate/more athletic guy on the flank and the heavier, more set piece oriented guy at lock?
