Magpies 2023
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The biggest mystery naming to me is Paula Balekana. He's a Fijian winger who currently plays for NE Free Jacks (same team as Hintz and Kereru-Symes). I attended Kelston Boys'.
He has quite a bit of experience.
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@Stargazer said in Magpies 2023:
The biggest mystery naming to me is Paula Balekana. He's a Fijian winger who plays for NE Free Jacks (same team as Hintz and Kereru-Symes).
He has quite a bit of experience.
Reading that career and his signing is even weirder, a journeyman 30 year old. Surely there are some young wings at home who could do the same job as him?
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@Stargazer Here are highlights from his time with Zebre -
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The biggest disappointment from this squad naming is that the squad doesn't have a Sullivan in it. The second biggest disappointment is that Smith, Tiatia, Grigg and Higgins are still there. The first three are all Syms' signings and he isn't even there anymore.
The huge positives of this squad is that it's an extremely young squad. Even if we end up near the bottom of the table this season, we're building great potential for the future. Hopefully, Brock James can coach and we'll see another surge to the higher end of the table like we saw under Ozich.
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Is it just me or does the whole thing seem very half hearted this year.Just a team dumped out on a random Tuesday morning with little to no explanation of anything. Almost like they don't have high hopes for this season.
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@kiwimatrix said in Magpies 2023:
No Toala???I thought the 2nd five from Tech
mightshould have got in.Fixed.
Mystified about the Toala non selection. Can only assume that the Manu must be holding pre World Cup camps that their players must attend but then that does not explain the selection of Neria Fomai. The midfied selections look entirely unthreatening but with just three named to cover two positions there must be space for one more to be named so maybe the absence of Toala is simply an oversite by the social media personnel who have probably got out of practise in reporting important things like team namings on their various outlets. Clearly the promoting of a new name for a mascot must be taking up too much of their time.
The most mystifying is the complete disregarding of Liam Udy-Johns who has been comfortably ahead of all those he has come up against in the Club games I have watched. It almost defies logic that he should not be included. -
@Stargazer said in Magpies 2023:
The biggest disappointment from this squad naming is that the squad doesn't have a Sullivan in it. The second biggest disappointment is that Smith, Tiatia, Grigg and Higgins are still there. The first three are all Syms' signings and he isn't even there anymore.
The huge positives of this squad is that it's an extremely young squad. Even if we end up near the bottom of the table this season, we're building great potential for the future. Hopefully, Brock James can coach and we'll see another surge to the higher end of the table like we saw under Ozich.
If he was the backs attack coach last year well then I'm afraid our hopes and expectations for this season had better be lowered a notch or two as there was little in the way of exciting and inventive play by numbers 9 to 15 last season.
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It's almost as if the whole club season was a waste of time
They appear to have completely disregarded the club form and there's not even any fringe players named like they usually do. -
@kiwimatrix It's not just you. In previous years, they often used the Hawke's Bay Today to write an article, which then - somewhat modified - appeared on the HBRU website. That may still happen, but later than usual. I don't understand why they can't just write a media release with some comments from the coach and some of the new players like other provinces do. It's not that hard.
The timing is also weird. They can't be leaving for their camp in TaupÅ yet, as the remaining preseason games are more than two weeks away.
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Exactly, I mean for all we know, 7 or 8 of the bay boys playing in the states may have recommended the Fijian winger ,but it would be nice to hear these things from the coach.
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@Daffy-Jaffy said in Magpies 2023:
@Stargazer Here are highlights from his time with Zebre -
After watching this all I can say is that he must have improved immeasurably since those days as there was barely a broken tackle much less an actual linebreak shown.
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@kiwimatrix said in Magpies 2023:
It's almost as if the whole club season was a waste of time
They appear to have completely disregarded the club form and there's not even any fringe players named like they usually do.Excuse me but are you including Sam Smith, Isi Tu'ungafasi, Nick Grigg and Reilly Higgins as established players rather than fringe players? Incidentally @stargazer where has Nick Grigg been playing? My spies have told me Jordan Thompson-Dunn has been going good when Hastings have been running him in his preferred 2nd five spot so both him and my Mr. Popoali'i can count themselves hard done by after missing out to those named in midfield.
On the brighter side they must have persuaded Tom Parsons to come back from retirement given the inexperience of most of the locks at first class level. No sign of Tiaki Fabish so guess he will probably bugger off somewhere else and you could not blame Liam Udy-Johns doing likewise.
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@Billsy111 Toala has been named in the Samoa squad. Unless he doesn't make the RWC squad, he won't be there.
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@Stargazer By that, do you mean he won't be there for HB? All other possible internationals look to have been named so the absence of Toala's name can only mean he has signed for someone else, presumably an overseas outfit.
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@Higgins said in Magpies 2023:
Excuse me but are you including Sam Smith, Isi Tu'ungafasi, Nick Grigg and Reilly Higgins as established players rather than fringe players?
I think @kiwimatrix means the development players that were named in the squad in 2021 and 2022. Either they forgot to mention them, or they're not naming them this year.
IIRC, the programme of the HB Development team will consist of more games this year (unless my memory is totally off), so that may be a possible reason.
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@Higgins said in Magpies 2023:
@Stargazer By that, do you mean he won't be there for HB? All other possible internationals look to have been named so the absence of Toala's name can only mean he has signed for someone else, presumably an overseas outfit.
Nope. I'm sorry for my laziness, but I already posted another possible explanation:
@Stargazer said in Magpies 2023:
This is a very small squad. They've left a lot of players out who are in the Samoa and Tonga squads, but not all of them. I assume the players that have not been named were off-contract, while the players who were named were still signed for 2023.
Edited to add that the squad may be small on purpose: maybe they are keeping those spots open for players that have not been named because of being selected for Tonga/Samoa for the pre-RWC internationals, but may still miss out on the RWC. For example, the squad is very light in the midfield. Toala and Ili have not been named in the squad, because they are in the Samoa squad for the pre-RWC matches. If they're not included in Samoa's RWC squad, maybe they'll still get to play for the Magpies because there's still room in the squad.
If not, they may use Development players if needed. -
HBT article:
Godfrey made his Magpies debut last year
That's incorrect. He made his NPC debut last year, but already played for the Magpies in a non-competition game v Northland in 2021.
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The writer of the article looks like they have done little more than reguritating a press release from the HBRFU. There is no indication that any questions have been asked like why certain players from last season have missed selection as one example (specifically Danny Toala), nor any explanation why halfbacks McLeod and Enari have been overlooked for a newcomer from Auckland. I'm happy for @Nepia that the writer did not pose the question about the availability of Kurt Baker.
Paula Balekana - Wikipedia
Rugby: Hawke's Bay Magpies squad named
