Blues 2019
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@duluth said in Blues 2019:
plan this year. Umaga admitted he had short comings as a coach and stepped into more of a co-ordinater role (unlike previous years where he looked after attack or defence etc). But he fucked that up too.
As for Coventry - the turnaround at NH was spectacular. The sort of performance that should earn a SR head coach job. But he's not famous.
Hopefully he makes improvements.. however if they wanted to replicate the NH turnaround he should have been in charge of everything.
But remember, the most important thing is not results. It's not hurting Umaga's feelings/wallet or forcing Redman to admit he made a mistake.having worn an AB jersey is a huge help when applying for positions within NZR.
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@duluth said in Blues 2019:
@taniwharugby said in Blues 2019:
As for Coventry - the turnaround at NH was spectacular. The sort of performance that should earn a SR head coach job.
I initially read that as "Northern Hemisphere" and thought you were sarcastically referencing his time at London Irish!
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Saw this at G&GR:
my info is that there's a perception in NH that the Blues will look at an Auckland schools player before a NH M10 Cup player, they were defo miffed when Little went to Japan 'cos the Blues wouldn't give him the (mostly off-season) time he needed to get himself injury-free. Tevita Li's situation also gets mentioned from time to time.
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@tim It doesn’t make much sense though. There’s very little Auckland influence at the Blues. Is it a perception about the Dev team? That side is coached by the NH coach.. the performance manager (doing shitty talent spotting) is from Waikato. For the full side, the head coach is from Wellington.. the Assistant coach is an ex NH coach
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And Tevita Li is rubbish.
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@duluth historically I think the statement has plenty of truth, back when Dalton had the reins of both BLues & ARU, but I think in recent years its been less of an issue (although still signing kids straight out of school is still going on)
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@taniwharugby said in Blues 2019:
although still signing kids straight out of school is still going on
All sides do
As for Dalton he almost made the opposite mistake. This was in a stuff article last week:
In 2014 Bryan Williams (now Sir Bryan) then got a phone call from Andy Dalton, then the CEO of The Blues. "He told me," says Williams, "that he was really beating himself up over whether he should sign Rieko, who was then still at Auckland Grammar. The Blues had a policy that they didn't sign schoolkids, and he was reluctant to break it. I said to Andy, 'If you don't sign him and his brother you'll be regretting it for the rest of your life. You can build a team around him and Akira. They're from great rugby people, and they'll be dedicated and loyal.'" Not every star will have the good fortune to be personally known and recommended by an icon like Williams.
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Improving 22 exits has got to be a priority next year. We need another player on the field with a big boot. Nanai has distance, and with more practice should be able to do it. Duffie has no excuses. Unfortunately Collins doesn't have much distance.
Best hope might be signing Shaun Stevenson. He did play under MacDonald and Umaga in the 2016 NZ U20 team.
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@tim Shaun Stevenson looks like the kind of rocks and diamonds player the Blues should be staying clear of to me.
I reckon the Blues should have a good look at Ross Wright as a hooker next year despite his age.
Hopefully Pulu isn't captain next year so they don't feel obligated to play him. He looked like an extra from the Walking Dead tonight.
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Apparetly the NZ sevens team was like that for a while when DJ Forbes wa captain, but they toned it down a bit. Got to have buy in from the whole squad if you are bringing in christian stuff to the team situation. I was in a club where we said a prayer before games, I was happy to go along with it, I was one of the few white boys.
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@majorrage If that's the case then it's a very minor thing to divide a whole squad.
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@african-monkey For a lot of PI players, religion is not a minor thing though.
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@stargazer Yeah I get that, I'm half Samoan and have played in a lot of teams where we said a prayer before and after games. I'm not at all religious but I went along with it and let them do their thing, no big deal at all, can't see why others can't do the same it really shouldn't be an issue.
