Northland 2024
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@Duluth said in Northland 2024:
@mohikamo said in Northland 2024:
You only have to look at the player who is not there. He finally got a run with a team that wins most of its games, and now he’s got a nice fulltime contract.
Who is that?
Tua?
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@mohikamo he had an out clause and from what i heard, was always looking further.
Tbf he had done his dash here, never quite lived up to where he could have.
Has all the physical attributes, but had a tendency to miss tackles, particularly going for big hits and glancing off.
Just another in a long line of players that never reached thier ceiling.
@kev here is the team named for the game v NH at Pohe Island today, but weather is shite, been raining the last 24 hours and gonna rain the next 24.
Pack looks close to the best we can run out, backs a few shy of our 1st team, and looking at some of the social media from yesterday, several of the names in the unavailable list look good to go, so being cautious I guess?
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@taniwharugby yeah, hope the players not available are good to go next week. The backline looks young so good they get game time but we also want balance of experience.
Frustrated that Northland aren’t consistent with announcements - 5 options - text, email, instagram, Facebook, website. I tend to look at website but that obviously doesn’t work. Don’t have an instagram account. Avoid Facebook mostly. But if I knew which one they are going to use I could look out for it.
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@kev the posts on FB are replicated on IG, that includes other stuff (training stuff, age group trials, squads etc)
Those platforms usually get updated before the website.
Not sure the game will be upto much today unfortunately, ground will be very wet, rain not massively heavy at moment but has been raining consistently, kids sports cancelled, my golf course closed for the weekend...we are under a heavy rain watch until tomorrow.
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@taniwharugby I haven’t seen a squad announcement? Not even in the news section of the website?
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@taniwharugby said in Northland 2024:
he had an out clause and from what i heard, was always looking further.
Tbf he had done his dash here, never quite lived up to where he could have.
Has all the physical attributes, but had a tendency to miss tackles, particularly going for big hits and glancing off.
Just another in a long line of players that never reached thier ceiling.
Yeah, Tua was good enough to make an NZ SR squad, not quite good enough to get into the 23 regularly. No shame in that.. far better than the vast majority of players.
At the Brumbies his straight running was good but struggled a bit on defence. I'm not sure how much longer he could've lasted there. However he got enough game time to make him interesting to a UK club
Not sure how Northland can be criticised for anything here? He gave SR a decent crack and I'm sure he just got a pay rise
Evans moving to Northland probably made the decision (from both sides) easier too
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Awesome player.
Rene Ranger type.
One of the few players to walk out on the All Blacks.
Classic.
He didn’t like the vibe at an AB wider squad session down Hamilton way. I think John Hart was the coach.
Grabbed his bag and started hitching back to Whangarei.
Got picked up by a bloke who was going to Auckland, who then took home all the way home to Whangarei when he realised who he was.
Said his mum went off her head when she found out what he had done.
I think the story goes something like that.
Passed early a few years ago, in Perth I think. -
@Duluth
Agree with all you say about his play.
The point is tho, he played in a winning team which led to him getting more opportunities.
There are quite a few other players in the current squad in the same category.
If the team gets wins, they’ll get opportunities. If they don’t win, they’ll more likely be passed over.I’d say Tua was in career best form at the Brumbies. What ever you think about Aus rugby, the Brumbies have an excellent rugby environment. They seem to get the utmost out of every player included.
Nice if Northland could create something like that.No criticism of Northland RU. Like to think the Northland elite program is all about getting the players into fulltime rugby employ - wherever.
Don’t think Tua is gonna tear it up and play for England, so expect to see him back in the blue someday. -
NH won 32-24 in atrocious conditions, moved from the main field at Pohe Island, NH were up 19-0 after 15 and Northland did fight back to lead early in the 2nd before multiple subs made.
Worse though was that Matt Matich and Kiwi Duncan suffered injuries likely to keep them out for 4+ weeks.
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To add to our poor 2nd half on Friday, we have additional injuries to add to our list.
Currently:
Kiwi Duncan - shoulder, possibly few more weeks
Rob Rush - unsure if back this week
Matt Matich - possibly a couple more weeks
Jared Adams - unsure how serious this one was, but missed Friday
addiitonal
Tevita Latu - hamstring, apparently they are looking outside the squad, so possibly serious injury
Tyrell Peita - shoulder, unsure on time frame
Hallam-Eames - shoulder, unsure on time frame -
At least 5 of them would be in best xv
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Judging by some social media images, some of those listed as injured seem to be taking part in̈ trainings.
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Some mid-season stats.
Northland have scored 131 points so far, with only 39 of them in the 2nd half, and 0 in the last 2 2nd halves.
Our average score at halftime is actually a lead (due to reasonable leads against Manawatu and Southland) of 18-15, while we are conceding an average of 19 points and scoring 8 in the 2nd half.
Obviously you'd think fitness would be an easy go to, but aside from the props, most are in good nick, especially the likes of Rush, Parker, Caird, Craig, LHE, Moulds, Matich, Woods, Latu, Evans who will be shouldering alot of the load.
Something else random, is that the same trend has been across almost all our our womens matches, our dev team and our age group sides, with them all in the match at half time or just after, then the scores blowing out.
Anywhoo.
