NPC 2023

[mikedogz]

Special agent Boof Henson.

[Bovidae]

Yeah, good to see some older players return.

So Blake Makiri is at C-M. He played for the Chiefs Dev team earlier in the year.

[mikedogz]

Another son of a former Counties player.

[mikedogz]

No Sekope Kepu this year. I think he aggravated his injury in the club final.

[Yeetyaah]

@mikedogz said in NPC 2023:

Jimmy Tupou

Very cool to see him back for counties. I met him recently as he's been coaching the Tuakau/Onewhero First XV and I'm involved with a team in the same comp, he had them very well oiled and was a nice dude to yarn to, didn't realise who he was until after haha.

[Stargazer]

IIRC the following squads have been announced:

Counties Manukau
Hawke's Bay
Otago
Southland
Taranaki

Or did I miss some?

[mikedogz]

[Bovidae]

I'll probably go and watch that again.

[Stargazer]

[Stargazer]

The Mako got Miracle Fai'ilagi. Is he in the Samoa squad?

Edit: yes, he is.

[Tim]

@Stargazer Strong looking squad. @Chris-B What is the top 23 going to look like?

[Tim]

Any preseason games streaming this weekend?

[Chris]

Miracle Fai'ilagi Potentially a replacement for Havilli at the Crusaders.

[KiwiMurph]

@Chris that would be taking the piss

[African Monkey]

@KiwiMurph As a Moana fan and member, I'd be pissed with that.

I can understand Tavatavanawai and Aumua moving on as annoying as it is for us, but to actually develop one of our own from the Islands and then get him poached by a team that certainly doesn't need him, that's just shit, seriously. Defeats the whole purpose of us existing.

[Stargazer]

@African-Monkey I kind of agree with you, but at the end of the season there was talk about MP players not wanting to re-sign. There are more sides to a story. That rumour might be true and Miracle might be one of those players.

[KiwiMurph]

@Stargazer That seems unlikely given it was Moana that gave him the opportunity and he got a heap of game time.

[Steven Harris]

@Chris as much as you want to see him stay at MP , I have a suspicion the Saders don’t muck around when it comes to snapping up talent .

[Stargazer]

@KiwiMurph Yeah, but the point is, don't only wave the disapproving finger at the big bad "poaching" NZ franchises. In the end, it's the player's choice where he wants to play.

[African Monkey]

@KiwiMurph Agree with this and yes @Stargazer I see what you're saying, but considering he said how proud he and his family were when he joined up with us, especially when they got to see him play live in Apia, I'm gonna say that he was not one of those players.

It was also pointed out that those players were not gonna re sign if Mauger stayed in charge. He has gone now.

Crusaders fans will disagree and say it's fair game and blah blah blah, but they don't need to be taking players from Moana Pasifika. It's a bit low and I really do hope that it doesn't happen.