AB EOYT 2018
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@chris-b said in AB EOYT 2018:
@crucial said in AB EOYT 2018:
I think the selectors ARE being clear on Akira. Just because you don't believe them doesn't they aren't explaining clearly.
IF he was to be in the main squad he would be there as training field fodder and a green backup 8. Hardly likely to get gametime as Read plays out the game if not injured.
IF he was to be in the extras going to Japan then again, I think the plan is to use Luke W at 8 for experience and leadership. He may get a bench run.
IF he goes with the Maori AB he will be a starter and important part of the pack.Pretty simple decision if the idea is to give him playing opportunities.
I think there's a fair bit of spin in the explanations. Everyone else in the nineteen is "going to benefit from working with the AB coaches", but Akira is better off being away with the Maori? If that was really true, wouldn't Tyrel Lomax also get more out of starting for the Maori, than being on the bench vs Japan?
I certainly know where I would rather be if I were Akira!
To me, it looks like they're going out of their way to not pick him. The last player I thought that about was Hika Elliott.
Absolutely. Crucial is lapping up the explanation too unquestionably, IMO.
Akira has huge potential and undoubtedly some non-test quality aspects to his game currently, which I would expect to be ironed out in camps. But these combined with likely maturity and attitude issues mean he isn't getting that opportunity. The management aren't spelling that out and I don't have a problem with that if you don't want the media crawling over a young fellas character and maturity (if true). But the flip-side is the rumours and social media theories ..... like this one.
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@rapido said in AB EOYT 2018:
The drop from 3rd choice 10 to 4th choice is an absolute chasm at the moment.
If all NZ 10s were available in a world with no exoduses, what would Cameron's ranking be? Probably somewhere between 9th or 11th on a realistic list - but about 14th on mine
I haven't seen him play recently, but Dan Carter would surely still slide into the list in the top 10? Mike Delany was actually very good for the Crusaders in the couple of games he played this year - arguably better than Mitch Hunt.
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@chris-b said in AB EOYT 2018:
@rapido said in AB EOYT 2018:
The drop from 3rd choice 10 to 4th choice is an absolute chasm at the moment.
If all NZ 10s were available in a world with no exoduses, what would Cameron's ranking be? Probably somewhere between 9th or 11th on a realistic list - but about 14th on mine
I haven't seen him play recently, but Dan Carter would surely still slide into the list in the top 10? Mike Delany was actually very good for the Crusaders in the couple of games he played this year - arguably better than Mitch Hunt.
I did think about Delaney, but assumed this year was his final swansong so omitted him, just an assumption.
If the world cup was this year and we needed to go down to our 4th choice 10, I would absolutely pick Delaney.
With the world cup next year, and if no major change in our 10 prospects (Cameron stays un-played at the Crusaders, Black gets no game time, Perofeta still looks like a fullback and can't hit the side of the barn) then I'd want them to break their own rule and get Cruden back. Not Sopoaga though, he jacked on his mates after stealing Mo'ouga's development time last November. Fuck that guy.
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@kirwan said in AB EOYT 2018:
Dickheads generally aren’t popular in the teams they play for. Akira gets the players awards.
Perhaps being a dickhead is popular in a team that under performs.
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I must say, it says a lot for the lack of ambition of someone like Tom Taylor that he hasn't angled for a move back after the Cruden and Sopoaga exoduses. He's had a good 4 or 5 years reaping in the lucre. I guess he's just not that into us. (or had just signed an extension?)
But he also wasn't prepared to move away, for his own development and prospects, from a team playing 4 10s out of position. So probably not that ambitious.
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@rapido I think Tom's only finishing his third year away, about now. His Wiki profile suggests he played the 2015 season for Canterbury.
Probably made a couple of million NZ$ playing in France.
I think he's made the right call. Unless he's improved markedly as a player I'd think his ceiling would be starting in Super rugby. Probably a slightly better player than James Marshall.
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Look, i know I'm as guilty as anyone about the on-going Akira drum beating but...
It looks to us from the outside as being bullshit. And the coaches "explanations" are either bullshit or wildly inconsistent.
Which i could handle if the loose forwards they selected were actually playing the house down. But the sad fact of the matter is they are not. the 6 jersey is a gaping hole of mediocrity, with no player actually looking up to it at the moment. And a couple that have been selected looking miles from the required standard. Squire is the only one who looks half decent, and he is battling to stay on the park. At #8 we have Read, who is a point of difference, but beyond that? Savea had a good game, but it was against Argentina, and i think there is enough evidence around that we shouldn't read too much in to one-offs v Argentina. Luke Whitelock is journeyman level as a test player, he's not good enough to be a starting player for the All Blacks. I can almost see why he is in the squad, almost. Then you get down to Hemapo, a small lock playing 6, and the slow Barrett, who is again a stop-gap measure.
Not a single one of these players is a "complete package" and all have work ons (so, so may work ons). And yet they are brought in because they have something the selectors like, and the coaches back themselves to iron out the rest. And yet the guy who plays better than all of them at the level below somehow has work ons that mean he can't be picked. And he won't benefit from being in the camp. That right there doesn't add up.
If he's a cockhead, and you don't want him around the group, fucking say it. Or say something slightly more definitive than the mealy-mouthed bullshit being floated at the moment. Because absolutely no one except Crucial is buying it.
Akira does shit in games no other player in the country is doing, and yet he rots in the NPC and the Maori tour while our loose forward options run around in Black being below par.
I actually worry about us against Ireland with Savea at 7 and one of the shit 6s. Fucking Retallic better be back, and both Read and Whitelock better have stormers.
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@mariner4life said in AB EOYT 2018:
the 6 jersey is a gaping hole of mediocrity, with no player actually looking up to it at the moment. And a couple that have been selected looking miles from the required standard.
Papali'i
He's been picked as a 6 & 7
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@mariner4life Well said. Bit more than analysis than my frustration post.
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@duluth said in AB EOYT 2018:
@mariner4life said in AB EOYT 2018:
the 6 jersey is a gaping hole of mediocrity, with no player actually looking up to it at the moment. And a couple that have been selected looking miles from the required standard.
Papali'i
He's been picked as a 6 & 7
yea, what i have watched i have liked. I like him at 7 given the way he plays. But i don't expect him to make the 23 in any of the big games unfortunately.
But my point was the AB squads so far this year.
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@duluth said in AB EOYT 2018:
@mariner4life said in AB EOYT 2018:
the 6 jersey is a gaping hole of mediocrity, with no player actually looking up to it at the moment. And a couple that have been selected looking miles from the required standard.
Papali'i
He's been picked as a 6 & 7
He's becoming the great white (but with a poly name) hope.
Although I don't actually disagree that he's the best long/mid term hope out of those.
But I doubt he will get much test match action at 6 (or 6 substitue) at this green stage of his career.
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At the risk of offending @Billy-Tell I'm going to continue the "WTF where's Akira?" theme.
His non selection in either of these squads is put in perspective by the selection of Gareth Evans. I’m a huge fan of Evans, he’s a Hawkes Bay boy born and bred and is a class attacking player. Emphasis on the attacking player part. He’s not a stand one off from the ruck and make tackle after tackle kind of guy like Whitelock, he’s not a toil away in the rucks ‘all game’ type of guy like – you know what, who is an example of this type of player? He’s a runner out wide, he’ll do some hit ups and he’ll make some tackles. Evans is a white version of Akira and if you compare them head to head in the Super comp (where Evans was considered to be on fire) and at the stuff you select an Evans for (attack) then Akira comes out on top every time.
I don't know how any of the selectors stand up in a press conference and defend the Evans selection over Akira - although I know they'll probably trot out he can play 7.
In saying all that I hope Evans a. gets a run in Japan and b. carves up ... because if they're not going to select Akira then they may as well select more Magpies in the team.
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@rapido said in AB EOYT 2018:
But I doubt he will get much test match action at 6 (or 6 substitue) at this green stage of his career.
Maybe. Although I think his selection might be an indication of what they want to do with the bench next year
There is no Test quality 6/lock or lock/6 at the moment, but we do have good bench locks.He covers the loosies from the bench in a different (IMO better) way than the other options. The selectors made a big deal out of how no one else covers 6 & 7
One year out from the RWC, if he's a serious bench option for that tournament, they should have a look at him in both positions on this tour
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@billy-tell said in AB EOYT 2018:
Anyone else bored with the Akira stuff?
He’s not selected for the umpteenth time, we know people don’t understand, but there’s only so many vitriolic posts before it becomes...repetitive.
Quoted, just to repeat this as well. Akira is the Māori Jesus of the forwards. The Charlie Ngatai of the forwards. Geez, I have faith in the selectors, and if they have good reason not to select him, I trust that decision. If they have reasons not to disclose the full details of why he isn't selected, then I trust their judgment as well. Some people feel way too entitled to that information. It may actually not be in his best interests that everything is disclosed.
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@stargazer given the employer/employee relationship, they are entitled to privacy around what they have discussed, but I think people are calling BS on alot of thier reasoning.
Just say, we have discussed with Akira, he knows what our reasons are and what he needs to work on, he is free to tell you if he chooses, but the reasoning we have been given leads to much more speculation as you can clearly see there is much more to it.
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If we can't complain about player selection and non-selection then the Fern is fucked. No more discussing Jonah from you @Stargazer if that's the case.
