All Blacks 2024
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@antipodean said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Look, I thought Bell was horrific in SR this year, but is Riccitelli really a long term option?
Does that matter? We're picking a squad to take on England in two weeks.
If two of the three hookers are Taylor and Aumua then you'd want them both playing in both matches so it'll only matter if injury hits one of them. I don't think a third hooker (that isn't Taukei'aho) is going to get any minutes so it is more about thinking about the future. I agree with everyone saying George Bell has had an average season but if the selectors have seen enough from him in the past to believe he's a long-term option then I'm not completely against them selecting him. I'm not convinced he is the best long-term hooker but I can at least understand the thinking.
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@booboo said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@booboo said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
I can see the attraction of Havili, and Proctor is the guy I'd leave out.
Put the wine bottle down.
Not saying I would pick him, but can see the reasoning why a selector would.
Yeah but it would be the same kind of reasoning that gave Taylor half a dozen tests to shit all over the park before finding some average form when Taukieaho was running hot. I don't want to see that anymore.
Plummer offers exactly the same utility, as does Jordie.
Fullback, ten and midfield are very well covered already so what's the point?
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Monday can’t come soon enough 😂
I expect lots of "He may have been shit in the past, but Razor has a track record of getting the best out of players..." comments. 😂
The period from 2019 (or earlier) to 2023 may have ended some promising careers. I do wonder how some players might have performed in a more progressive environment. Akira comes to mind esp. since Cotter seems to have him looking like he is tailor-made for test rugby.
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Monday can’t come soon enough 😂
I expect lots of "He may have been shit in the past, but Razor has a track record of getting the best out of players..." comments. 😂
The period from 2019 (or earlier) to 2023 may have ended some promising careers. I do wonder how some players might have performed in a more progressive environment.
We'll never know. But it's going to be different and wonderful now eh?
Akira comes to mind esp. since Cotter seems to have him looking like he is tailor-made for test rugby.
Akira looked tailor-made for Test rugby almost every season of SR he played. Hansen clearly had an issue with him but IMHO he had plenty of opportunities from 2019 to progress and never quite grabbed them.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Plummer offers exactly the same utility, as does Jordie.
Assuming he gets picked....
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Plummer offers exactly the same utility, as does Jordie.
Assuming he gets picked....
That's what I mean, why pick an out of form guy who never really performed in test rugby at 12, was a decent fullback, but hasn't played there in forever. When you can select someone in a rich vein of form who can cover the other positions just as well?
I don't buy that he's "razor's guy" either, he got shifted out of fullback for Jordan, then didn't seem to be that preferred at twelve either last year iirc.
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What's all this coach from Canterbury selectorial bias. Pure paranoia.
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@BerniesCorner said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
What's all this coach from Canterbury selectorial bias. Pure paranoia.
Yeah, I can't see any either. What are you referring to?
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@antipodean Yeah, I see both sides of the argument. Either way, whatever they go with, I'm not fussed. We've picked guys on potential in the hooked spot before. Codie Taylor wasn't even a regular starter when he got first picked, Nathan Harris was another, and Asafo Aumua got bought into camp after the potential he showed at NPC level for Wellington back in 2017. Those are 3 examples in recent times anyway.
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You could argue that bringing them in early didn’t really do much for them.
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@DaGrubster I gave examples on all 3 scenarios. Taylor's game went up another level after a call up, Harris was just meh, and Aumua wasn't ready and needed a few years to become the complete player he is now.
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@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
You could argue that bringing them in early didn’t really do much for them.
Not sure it would be convincing.
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@DaGrubster I gave examples on all 3 scenarios. Taylor's game went up another level after a call up, Harris was just meh, and Aumua wasn't ready and needed a few years to become the complete player he is now.
Harris was looking good until an ankle injury in 2015 effectively ended his career.
Your point stands, but I think any (pre-emptive) frustrations would stem from the fact that Bell is a Crusaders player. If a young and unproven hooker gets selected from any of the other teams, I think there'd be far less criticism (and, chances are, they'd have had a better season than Bell too).
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Man people are seeing alot of shadows in here, amusing reading.
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7 years for Aumua to get to play like he is after the ab project player call up
Harris bit of a nonentity.
Can’t remember Taylor’s initial selection to playing regularly -
I get the argument for developing "project players", but in this part of the cycle I'm more interested in winning an inbound Test series and rewarding form displayed in SR.
Especially in a position where you're only carrying one spare in the likelihood one of your others gets injured. Then all of a sudden we're facing the prospect of playing a Test with Bell throwing into a defensive lineout to win the game...
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@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Monday can’t come soon enough 😂
If only we had some of that Dune technology to fold space-time and get rid of the rest of today.... and tomorrow!
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@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@DaGrubster said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Monday can’t come soon enough 😂
If only we had some of that Dune technology to fold space-time and get rid of the rest of today.... and tomorrow!
GF, it's the weekend
