Blues 2023
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@nzzp said in Blues 2022:
@Tim wow, I did not see that one coming.
Awesome player, great human being, terrible head coach for the Blues
You forget 'excellent defence coach'. I see Rangi has a different role in mind this time around but he did a great job turning out some of the best D stats in the comp.
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Umaga had two stints as defence coach. The defence was terrible in his first stint as defence coach under a head coach called Tana.
His second stint was a lost better under a different head coach
The difference wasn't so much the head coach but the forwards coach - Coventry. There was nothing special about the defence structure but the scrambling defence improved massively after Coventry arrived. He put an emphasis on getting back to the feet and making second efforts
That's why the transition to McGrath has been seamless
As for Umaga returning in a mentor role, that sounds good if he has a good connection with the players. Just keep him away from the technical coaching
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@Duluth respectfully. Bollocks.
I agree that he struggled as Head Coach. Those struggles quite obviously flowed through to his other duties.
As an assistant specialising in defence the tackle completion rates were among the best and the clean breaks against among the lowest. How are either of those dependent on the forwards coach getting better forward scramble. If they need to scramble then either a tackle has been missed or a clean break made.
There's a couple of posters here that are so bitter about the performances of successive coaches under crap management (so bad that NZR had to step in) that they fail to give any credit where it is due.
Pat Lam's bank manager is still laughing. -
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@FakatavaAllBlack said in Blues 2022:
I think it may have already been alluded to that he was off but Josh Goodhue confirmed to be going to the blackrams in Japan
Makes sense for him. He's just finished his best SR season so his stocks will be high. Plus he beats the rush of post RWC Japan moves from Test players.
I wonder how much longer he could go at SR level too? Unfortunately for him he seemed to get injured a lot
For the Blues - Tuipulotu should be back but we probably need more out of Darry. Hopefully we keep all of the Flanker/Locks (Robinson, Suafoa, Tucker)
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@FakatavaAllBlack stink, was just discussing that at the game yesterday that it hadnt yet been confirmed, guess may be why he has been coming off the bench last 2 weeks?
But yeah, good on him, given the injury/head issues he has had, hope he makes some good coin!
Hoping we get to see Kali Vaipulu at some point for Northland this year (good prospect for Blues dev) although with our current locking stocks, unlikely, but has been in our dev team so hopefully he will stick around as I expect we may lose one of Hallam-Eames or Caird next year too.
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@Tim said in Blues 2023:
Not convinced by the Auckland locks so far. Might be a young player who comes in.
I don't think there's any reason to pick Dalzell or Lane. They both look like their ceiling is NPC
Blues u20's locks were:
James Brown (Auckland)
Allan Craig (Northland)
Josh Beehre (Auckland)Beehre and Craig have both had starts in the NPC
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@taniwharugby Wish Northland had picked Kali Vaipula given Josh Goodhue was heading to Jaoan ..has genuine international size and is an athlete but given the stocks at lock were healthy in the squad i can understand why he was not picked
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@Chris Wish he'd see more gametime for Auckland ahead of Vest.
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@African-Monkey said in Blues 2023:
@Chris Wish he'd see more gametime for Auckland ahead of Vest.
Weird that decision for Best and Pugh to be bought over from Aussie.
With a lot of young talent in Auckland. -
@Chris And it's annoying as I stated a while ago especially at lock, that it also affects our locking stocks for the Blues, hence why we end up signing journeymen to fill in the gaps.
Auckland especially have been pathetic bringing through locks.
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@Chris there is absolutely no excuse for Auckland to bring in anyone form outside Club Rugby who isnt already an established NPC/Age Group Rep/Super player...the stuff I read about/see online and listening to @Steven-Harris who is out and about every week covering club footy, the talent running around Auckland is insane! Which is probably part of the problem, IDing those that might make that step up and beyond!
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