Blues 2019
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@steven-harris Sotutu is a better signing than Jimmy Tupou. That's who Olmstead should be there instead of.
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@tim I guess it will depend on who really does the coaching, decides on the game plan and selections. If Tana is still taking all decisions and doesn't listen to his assistants, I fear for the Blues, but if there is significant input from the assistant coaches, they should improve a lot.
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@stargazer said in Blues 2019:
@tim I guess it will depend on who really does the coaching, decides on the game plan and selections. If Tana is still taking all decisions and doesn't listen to his assistants, I fear for the Blues, but if there is significant input from the assistant coaches, they should improve a lot.
Tana is still picking shit players. Doesn’t matter how good your assistants are if you serve dross like Collins for them to work with.
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@tim said in Blues 2019:
@kirwan Might've been a sly dig from Henry on the Short Ball podcast, when he stated that Nanai was a pretty good "communicator".
I missed that, Ted is very dry.
It’s unbelievable that they have signed Nonu when TJ is playing so well. If he got an extended run at 12 we could see his recent form at SR level.
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@kirwan Only worry I have about Faiane is that he might be a bit small at higher levels.
Might see him at 12 and Nonu at 13 next year.
I'm not enthusiastic about Nonu. Would've preferred we signed Manu, Little, and Matt Vaega. Two good centres, two good 12s, plus SBW.
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haha, little aint coming back to nz mate. hell be close to a million dollar player if he chooses japan for internationals.
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@muddyriver Fark, they should've signed him when had the chance.
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Or Fiji (much more likely IMO), in which case the NH beckons after Super rugby.
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Jed Brown? The guy is almost as injury prone as Blake Gibson. Fuck we might see Murphy Taramai get a lot of minutes for us next season again unfortunately.
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@tim Harris also mentioned somewhere that Scott Gregory was offered a wtg contract. That would see the mid field/outside backs options being Nonu, SBW, Faiane, Amua, Tele'a, Gregory, Ioane, Nanai, Clarke, Duffie, Trainor, Collins. This seams to be one more than normal so I fear for Trainor missing out or being picked up somewhere else. (yes I wrote Collins last deliberately).
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@daffy-jaffy IIRC, Gregory is on a dev contract. Am hoping Talea is the same.
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@tim This below off the Blues site says he is on a full contract. Its a shame injury ruined his rep season so we couldn't assess him.
The Blues continues to invest in youth for 2019 and beyond after announcing that three members of the New Zealand Under-20s rugby team will play for the club in Super Rugby next year.
Harry Plummer, Tanielu Tele’a and Hoskins Sotutu, among the seven players from the Blues region in the New Zealand Under-20 side, have been signed for two-year contracts with the Blues.
They were among five young players from the Blues region who spent 10 weeks with the club as part of the Interim Player Contract (ITC) scheme and impressed sufficiently to earn full contracts from 2019.
