Crusaders 2024
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@mariner4life said in Crusaders 2024:
injuries, defections, and filling every gap with a guy in his late 30s for the fastest rugby comp going around
The departures of coaches Razor & S.Hansen - I'd argue the most significant factor, and that will become more apparent when the All Black season commences...
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@cgrant said in Crusaders 2024:
For next year, these promising players could (should ?) be included in the WTG : Grant (1st Five), Hutchinson (fullback), Solomon (wing), O'Donovan (halfback), Lee (loose forward), Jack (lock) and Letiu (hooker).
What Solomon are you referring to?
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@cgrant said in Crusaders 2024:
Oops, sorry, Stanley Solomon is one of your young guns !
God damn, I thought you guys had nabbed him for a sec. He hasn’t signed with the Canes yet so there’s a chance but aren’t the Saders pretty settled in the outsides now Reece is staying?
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@Canes4life said in Crusaders 2024:
@cgrant said in Crusaders 2024:
Oops, sorry, Stanley Solomon is one of your young guns !
God damn, I thought you guys had nabbed him for a sec. He hasn’t signed with the Canes yet so there’s a chance but aren’t the Saders pretty settled in the outsides now Reece is staying?
Is sevu Reece staying?
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@family-man There's been nothing anywhere to suggest he isn't...
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@SBW1 said in Crusaders 2024:
Now time to do some poaching.
It is what they are best at so I would expect a fair bit of movement. It’s going to be an interesting few months seeing what they can pull off. Do they still have that same pulling power now that Razor isn’t there? Time will tell…
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@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2024:
@SBW1 said in Crusaders 2024:
Now time to do some poaching.
It is what they are best at so I would expect a fair bit of movement. It’s going to be an interesting few months seeing what they can pull off. Do they still have that same pulling power now that Razor isn’t there? Time will tell…
The Saders still have plenty of pulling power and a bonus of not making the playoffs is the coaches and management can spend all their time looking to next year.
What are the main recruitment areas for the Crusaders in 2025?
To me the below 23 looks decent and you'd expect them to definitely be a top 6 team next year.
- Williams
- Taylor
- Newell
- Barrett
- Hannah
- Grace
- Blackadder
- Lio-Willie
- Hotham
- Reihana (I'm putting him here for now but this could change, I feel like he wasn't given enough time in the saddle this year).
- Springer
- Havili
- Ennor
- Reece
- Jordan
- Bell
- Bower
- Brewis/Calder
- Strange
- Christie
- Drummond
- Kemara
- McLeod
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@Canes4life Jordan is he signed yet ?
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@Canes4life said in Crusaders 2024:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2024:
@SBW1 said in Crusaders 2024:
Now time to do some poaching.
It is what they are best at so I would expect a fair bit of movement. It’s going to be an interesting few months seeing what they can pull off. Do they still have that same pulling power now that Razor isn’t there? Time will tell…
The Saders still have plenty of pulling power and a bonus of not making the playoffs is the coaches and management can spend all their time looking to next year.
What are the main recruitment areas for the Crusaders in 2025?
To me the below 23 looks decent and you'd expect them to definitely be a top 6 team next year.
- Williams
- Taylor
- Newell
- Barrett
- Hannah
- Grace
- Blackadder
- Lio-Willie
- Hotham
- Reihana (I'm putting him here for now but this could change, I feel like he wasn't given enough time in the saddle this year).
- Springer
- Havili
- Ennor
- Reece
- Jordan
- Bell
- Bower
- Newell
- Strange
- Christie
- Drummond
- Kemara
- McLeod
we need
2 props. to replace Franks and Moody
1 LF We only picked 6 in 2024 due to picking a 4th Hooker to cover Taylor,Would expect we go for a 7th LF and drop the 4th Hooker.
1 HB To replace Heinz
1 First five to replace Burke
MF Ennor comes back for Crotty
maybe 1 or 2 outside backs to replace Halfpenny which could be McNicol being retained.
Not sure on Mataele we may need to replace him. -
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@Canes4life said in Crusaders 2024:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2024:
@SBW1 said in Crusaders 2024:
Now time to do some poaching.
It is what they are best at so I would expect a fair bit of movement. It’s going to be an interesting few months seeing what they can pull off. Do they still have that same pulling power now that Razor isn’t there? Time will tell…
The Saders still have plenty of pulling power and a bonus of not making the playoffs is the coaches and management can spend all their time looking to next year.
Yeah mate like I said it is what they are best at. They know what they are doing when it comes to that side of things.
They well and truly have pulling power, a lot more than most teams, but my question was is it still the same as when Razor was there. It’s like anywhere when they get a new coach, what comes with that is usually a new direction and Razor was known as one of the best and you always hear players want to play for him kind of thing was more my point.
We’ve seen so far at the Chiefs, Blues and Canes, those clubs have managed to get almost everyone they can resigned for next season or beyond. That is generally a time when one or 2 of those guys might have eyed up a move south is my point.
It’s an interesting time in New Zealand rugby, it isn’t often you have teams with obvious holes that need filled. In the Crusaders case they have a fair few which is very rare.
As I have said on here a few times before, the Crusaders will be fine. They are a class organization who have set the standard in super rugby and I have no doubt they will be back in the mix next season. I’m just interested to see how recruitment plays out.
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@Landers92 agree with everything you've said. It's going to be interesting for all the clubs that are recruiting for the same position because there definitely isn't as much depth to choose from these days with players choosing contracts abroad. e.g. most teams will need to recruit wingers for next season so there will be plenty of competition for certain signatures in that position alone.