Highlanders 2024
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@SouthernMann slim pickings around the traps really. I wonder if PUJ would be enticed down there, not sure if he’s signed up yet. The other Hurricanes player going to Moana Pasifika could be him though.
Young Kyle Brown from Manawatu could be an option. He’s playing well this season in an up and down Manawatu side.
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We might just have to bite the bullet and sign Josh Whaanga earlier than expected.
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Grindley from Taranaki looks pretty decent as another option.
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2024:
We might just have to bite the bullet and sign Josh Whaanga earlier than expected.
Whaanga will be in and around it when injuries strike, but as I already touched upon, with the injury record of our current midfielders, I don't want to end up putting a ton of pressure on a 19/20 year old, who himself had a few injuries whilst at school. Matt will be injury cover if he isn't going to MLR, it is whether we sign a Grindley, or a Walden, or a Brown, or a whoever as a TUJ replacement.
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sign him up....literally just want someone that can stay fit
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@Kiwiwomble Fine is a good Petone boy. If you sign him up you may aswell go for someone like Losi Filipo who's been pretty effective for Wellington on the wing, plus he can play 12/13 aswell.
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2024:
sign him up....literally just want someone that can stay fit
Have you not learnt anything from watching the likes of Gregory, Paea, Timu etc. These NPC trundlers are ineffective at Super Rugby level.
How many tries has he scored for Southland.
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@Canes4life said in Highlanders 2024:
@Kiwiwomble Fine is a good Petone boy. If you sign him up you may aswell go for someone like Losi Filipo who's been pretty effective for Wellington on the wing, plus he can play 12/13 aswell.
Not sure we should be looking at someone unwanted by the Canes... not to mention his patchy off-field history.
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2024:
@frugby .....i literally made the comment about someone that manages to stay fit...it was a commentary on how injury prone some "good" players are....i wasn't serious about signing him
Haha, sorry for some reason I thought you actually wanted us to go for him. I think with the way we have overhauled our things off the field, we'll find someone decent to fill the TUJ void.
If the Chiefs are all full up, I think they'll look at a Grindlay, I don't think the new strategy is as simple as signing guys from the region... it is more centred around younger players, and within that holding onto local talent/players who have come through our pathways. A player like Matt Whaanga is probably someone they are happy to call in if Josh Timu gets injured in April, but with TUJ injured for so long so early, I suspect they'll take the chance to find the best young player without a Super Rugby contract... ala Reece to the Crusaders in 2019.
Is that Grindlay? Is it a guy like a Murray or Tito-Harris, where we use it as an opportunist chance to take the best unsigned outside back?
Looking in recent times, off the top of my head, Tu'inukuafe, Bower, Vaa'i (In region), Reece, & Roigard are all guys who have been signed as injury replacements, largely to teams not in their NPC region and have gone on to be All Blacks. On top of this, there are guys like Rona, Gilbert, Renton and Eklund who went to teams in other regions as injury replacements and have become good SR performers. The way the contracting is done so early these days, a late injury like this give you the chance to sign a gem, because I'd be guessing all the teams have at least 36, if not 38 players already signed up, by the time the NPC is a couple of rounds in. Let's see if the Landers can take what could be a blessing in disguise.
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And more than anything, it is important we have the right idea. We grabbed Tima Fainga'anuku when someone got injured before the season had even started in 2020, and it didn't quite work out, but it was the right idea. I think in the predicament we are in, I'd rather see us take a risk, then go for a M Whaanga or a Walden type. Even going for J Whaanga, I think there is no harm in bringing in someone else from somewhere for a year to see if they are any good, because on the basis we haven't seemingly signed PUJ (You'd think it would have already been announced), the midfield will still need some serious work for 2025.
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And with Fine, if we are taking a Southland winger, where we have no space, it'd have to be Michael Manson.
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@SouthernMann once again....wasn't serious about signing him
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2024:
And with Fine, if we are taking a Southland winger, where we have no space, it'd have to be Michael Manson.
Yep, and would fit into our culture of signing players who get injured every two seconds. Hamstrings made of string that boy.
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@frugby said in Highlanders 2024:
not to mention his patchy off-field history
LOL, the Highlanders had Selby-Rickit in the squad for years straight after he broke someone's jaw and got convicted for it. Besides, as far as I know, history is history. I haven't heard of Filipo causing any more problems since that happened; have you?
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@frugby The Chiefs won't be signing any more midfielders with 5 now confirmed. Grindlay played for the Chiefs Dev team, so wouldn't be a bad choice. The other player who was around the Chiefs but would now be surplus is Lalomilo. He doesn't really stand out in the NPC for me though.
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@frugby why? Filipo is regarded as a better player than Fine, hence why Fine went down to Southland. But if you're going to limit your recruitment to the bottom of the south then that's your doing.
The Canes already have five quality midfielders in Barrett, Higgins, Proctor, Sullivan and potentially Umaga-Jensen, so the next man up isn't necessarily going to be a bad player, we just don't have room for a guy like Filipo, especially when guys like Jack O'Brien are coming through the system who we have hardly seen yet due to his age.
Plus, I think Filipo has grown as a person and a player. Why should a player have to suffer for something he did as a teenager - yet another short cited response from you.
The hard thing for the Highlanders is attracting players down there now that Moana Pasifika are picking up alot of those second string players from the other four kiwi franchises. Filipo might actually be better suited signing with Moana Pasifika now that I think of it.
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@Stargazer he's been squeaky clean and good on him. He's grown immensely in that Petone environment over the last few years and deserves every opportunity to push a case for a Super contract. I'd actually prefer him at the Canes over someone like Rayasi but don't think that would happen.
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@Canes4life said in Highlanders 2024:
@frugby why? Filipo is regarded as a better player than Fine, hence why Fine went down to Southland. But if you're going to limit your recruitment to the bottom of the south then that's your doing.
The Canes already have five quality midfielders in Barrett, Higgins, Proctor, Sullivan and potentially Umaga-Jensen, so the next man up isn't necessarily going to be a bad player, we just don't have room for a guy like Filipo, especially when guys like Jack O'Brien are coming through the system who we have hardly seen yet due to his age.
Plus, I think Filipo has grown as a person and a player. Why should a player have to suffer for something he did as a teenager - yet another short cited response from you.
The hard thing for the Highlanders is attracting players down there now that Moana Pasifika are picking up alot of those second string players from the other four kiwi franchises. Filipo might actually be better suited signing with Moana Pasifika now that I think of it.
There is no room at the inn for either Fine or Filipo. Also Fine went to Otago first. Then Southland.
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@Stargazer said in Highlanders 2024:
@frugby said in Highlanders 2024:
not to mention his patchy off-field history
LOL, the Highlanders had Selby-Rickit in the squad for years straight after he broke someone's jaw and got convicted for it. Besides, as far as I know, history is history. I haven't heard of Filipo causing any more problems since that happened; have you?
Two wrongs don't make a right... also different to actively sign someone with that on their record, as opposed to someone already contracted - and look where MSR ended up. Looking for a cultural reset, I don't think you'd want to go near Filipo - and that isn't to say that he hasn't matured, I'm sure he has, and is probably a nice enough bloke these days, but the optics of it are terrible, particularly for a player who would be reserved for about two games a year.
@Canes4life said in Highlanders 2024:
@frugby why? Filipo is regarded as a better player than Fine, hence why Fine went down to Southland. But if you're going to limit your recruitment to the bottom of the south then that's your doing.
The Canes already have five quality midfielders in Barrett, Higgins, Proctor, Sullivan and potentially Umaga-Jensen, so the next man up isn't necessarily going to be a bad player, we just don't have room for a guy like Filipo, especially when guys like Jack O'Brien are coming through the system who we have hardly seen yet due to his age.
Plus, I think Filipo has grown as a person and a player. Why should a player have to suffer for something he did as a teenager - yet another short cited response from you.
The hard thing for the Highlanders is attracting players down there now that Moana Pasifika are picking up alot of those second string players from the other four kiwi franchises. Filipo might actually be better suited signing with Moana Pasifika now that I think of it.
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Signing Fine was a hypothetical joke, we aren't actually looking to get him... but anyway to answer the rest if your claims.
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Yes the Canes do have good midfielders, but a 24 year-old who has only just cracked it on the wing for Wellington is hardly likely to fit into that category. Remember, we have Jonah Lowe on a three-year deal based off NPC form which he hasn't replicated in Super Rugby.
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As touched upon, I'm sure Filipo is not still a dickhead, or else this star-studded Wellington team wouldn't go anywhere near it, but when you are looking at a cultural reset, the optics of, "Highlanders sign player who assaulted two people" is hardly any good - even if it is unfair, the optics are the optics.
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Moana Pasifika have few players the Highlanders would actually have use for. Aumua was one, he went to the Crusaders, Tavatavanawai is the other, and we signed him. If you want to stretch it, there is Pole who'd make a decent backup prop, but the rest of their players are of no use, hence why we destroyed them, despite being destroyed by all the other Kiwi sides.
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Judging off the Highlanders recruitment so far this year, I don't think the accusation of not being able to attract talent sticks - it has been true in recent years, and looking at MP, there might be a common denominator there, but looking at who they have picked up from outside the region, other than arguably Aumua (though at 29 next month is probably not really what we would want) I'm not sure we could have done much better.
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@frugby you're acting like the Highlanders have so many options on the table. Right now, they have to go to market for two new midfielders by the sounds and there aren't many options left when you think about who's already signed up across other franchises.
The fact you say that Aumua's someone the Highlanders wouldn't want is pretty hilarious. He's one of the most destructive attacking centres in New Zealand rugby right now, the Highlanders would take him in a heart beat. Definitely beats the other options they have available.
Going back to Filipo, he's only playing on the wing because Wellington have too many options there, so to fit him in to the starting side they've had to put him on the wing. Filipo has actually been pretty dominant alongside Higgins all year at Petone in the midfield so he would fit the mould.
Beggers can't be choosers at the end of the day because right now there aren't too many quality options for the Highlanders to go after.
