Highlanders 2023
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@Yeahtheboys Ollie Norris, Tyrone Thompson, ? Quin Strange, a Chiefs lock , Tom Robinson lately? Lakai, Taine Plumtree, Ratima, Ioane, AJ lam, Dallas McLeod usually wouldn't start, in terms of 13 it's easy to say PUJ but Bryce Heem still has value in super, Kini Naholo, Zarn Sullivan
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Reserves at other NZ franchises
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Ollie Norris
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Dane Coles
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Marcel Renata
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Josh Lord
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Selby-Rickett / Gardiner / Ah Kuoi
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Tom Robinson
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Blake Gibson
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Brayden Iose
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Perenara / Ratima / Heinz
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Morgan / Love / Sullivan / Perofeta / Ioane
(Anyone other than Hunt) -
Bailyn Sullivan
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Alex Nankivell
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Brayden Ennor
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Bryce Heem
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Sullivan
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@Yeahtheboys I like the idea however in terms of catchment size, Super rugby has pretty much abandoned chosing purely from their designated catchments for a number of years. The list of players is from each team's immediate reserve stocks. What would probably be more useful is using excess players from the development and academies.
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@SBW1 said in Highlanders 2023:
What would probably be more useful is using excess players from the development and academies.
This bit maybe difficult to get across the line,Most Super Rugby sides will not want to put money and resources in to their Academies to feed other teams .
They lose the odd one or two now anyway and you could call some of them excess and some top end Academy players.The hard part is making the Highlanders attractive enough to attract players and not have the other franchise teams doing it for them.
I think the Highlanders are on the right track with their academy they have some promising players and they are signing them early.
That promise is just going to take time to develop. -
@SBW1 said in Highlanders 2023:
I like the idea however in terms of catchment size, Super rugby has pretty much abandoned chosing purely from their designated catchments for a number of years.
But the teams have physical locations
Using NZR's numbers above the Crusaders & Highlanders have 23% of the population but the have 40% of the NZR pro contracts
The Blues & Chiefs regions have 2.729m people and have the same number of NZR pro contracts as 1.134m
The competition depends on a constant supply of NI talent to the SI
Rather than forcing that flow to continue I would like to see restructuring of SR so the regions are more aligned with where the players come from. When you tell a player he must move to Dunedin a percentage will go fuck it I'll go to Tokyo, Toulouse wherever..
That doesn't mean killing the Highlanders (They would do fine in a comp with 3 SI sides & 6 NI sides...)
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@Duluth I agree and that is how it started out in the late 90s, they were far more provincial in their origins in terms of where players came from. I think we need to curb the overseas exodus, I don't know how that can be done, whether that means allowing private equity money into the comps who knows.
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@Yeahtheboys
Nankivell is not a reserve, he's just currently injured. He's consistantly been in the starting XV for many months now. -
@friedrugby said in Highlanders 2023:
@Kiwiwomble Your fullback needs to be better than, 'solid' though - needs to be a game-breaker. At some point, as opposed to saying X player would be better with better players around him, perhaps it is the fact that all of them aren't very good.
thats putting the cart before the horse, lets work on the guys losing us games and get at least 23 solid players before worrying too much about game breakers...also, Gilbert is (was) the leading point scorer in the comp so he doing ok in my book
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In terms of player criticism it is a strange starting point to launch with the players who are actually going ok.
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@SouthernMann yeah, 10 and 13 are the real issues IMO, if we do manage to spark anything outside 10 (rare) its either through TUJ making a break....but then we have no one outside him to keep it going....or if it goes through the hands it just goes into contact at 13
after those its wings, i dont think we're giving them much to work with but they're not looking for it either
and injuries, we can see these guys get better with multiple games, FF has largely shaken off his first couple of games and is looking lively. these guys just aren't going to improve if they are getting one or two games before needing a break
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
@SouthernMann yeah, 10 and 13 are the real issues IMO, if we do manage to spark anything outside 10 (rare) its either through TUJ making a break....but then we have no one outside him to keep it going....or if it goes through the hands it just goes into contact at 13
after those its wings, i dont think we're giving them much to work with but they're not looking for it either
and injuries, we can see these guys get better with multiple games, FF has largely shaken off his first couple of games and is looking lively. these guys just aren't going to improve if they are getting one or two games before needing a break
I think you're wrong about Lowe here. He goes looking for work all the time and comes off his wing regularly to get that ball (resulting in a few try assists) and has also been strong on defence. His problem is that he doesn't get noticed because he's such an introvert that he hardly even celebrates his own tries. He's having a good season.
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@Stargazer thats fair, youre right he's been good and like the others i think he's getting better the longer run of games he gets, really settling in
i really do miss seeing a wing recieve the ball, beat a couple of guys or run around them and score, Nareki obviously can do that when fit...Vahaakolo was also good and standing up his man and getting around him...but then we have to go back to Naholo and osbourne
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@SouthernMann I'd say all of our backs have been OK - which is part of the issue. Look at the likes of Stevenson, Moorby, Perofeta, Jordan etc. These guys get the ball at the back and run into gaps.
I will say, I think our tactical kicking is poor, which means we don't get nearly enough ball in broken play, and I'm unsure whether this is through pair option taking by the players, or just a poor gameplan.
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
@SouthernMann yeah, 10 and 13 are the real issues IMO, if we do manage to spark anything outside 10 (rare) its either through TUJ making a break....but then we have no one outside him to keep it going....or if it goes through the hands it just goes into contact at 13
after those its wings, i dont think we're giving them much to work with but they're not looking for it either
and injuries, we can see these guys get better with multiple games, FF has largely shaken off his first couple of games and is looking lively. these guys just aren't going to improve if they are getting one or two games before needing a break
I was happy to give the team some time... those first three games were always going to be rough, but that game against the Canes was diabolical without any excuses. We should have at the very least run them close, and we didn't... all of the backs are open for criticism I'm afraid.
In my view, they need to shake things up...
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Smith
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Hunt
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Dawai
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Gilbert
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Umaga-Jensen
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Lowe
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Bogado
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Fakatava
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Burns
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Timu
The ball needs to move quicker with more threat across our backline, use TUJ wider to keep the defence on their toes a little more, which carries more threat than just using him as a battering ram - that is schoolboy tactics. Use Gilbert and Bogado to play some territory, ditch the box kicks, because we never ever retain possession off them.
Bogado has shown an eye for the gap, so keen to see whether he can break the game open.
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Gilbert on the other hand has been talked about as being the quickest in the squad. He has the size and speed to be useful at centre. I suspect we will see Timu back at centre this weekend. If Bogado is fit we allow him to continue to develop on the wing. The team will never flourish with Hunt at 10. I would like to see more of CGB. He looked sharp before getting injured.
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@friedrugby so keeping hunt who is universally considered a weak link...moving Gilbert and TUJ who have been solid and pretty awesome respectively...and then a FF Burns Timu front row in the second half....im not on board
