AB EOYT 2018
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@stargazer the level of discussion is fine. It certainly hasn’t hit anything close to the “whinging and moaning” when Mertz was selected over Spencer
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@act-crusader ...the dropping of Cully. The whole Mitch era really.
Henry over Deans in 2008.
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@bones said in AB EOYT 2018:
Jesus, every hour Akira gets more and more legendary as the most amazing player in the world ever. Poor old Gibson, so easily forgotten.
Perfectly valid to want to see what he could with an AB forward pack in front of him. The same chance that Whitelock, Frizzel, Fifita, Squire, Savea and now bloody Evans have had.
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@chris-b said in AB EOYT 2018:
@act-crusader ...the dropping of Cully. The whole Mitch era really.
Henry over Deans in 2008.
The Hammettuer thread - you did great service at keeping that one going and going.
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@kiwimurph said in AB EOYT 2018:
@tim straight past Highlanders/AB loose forward Hunt......
And Akira is supposed to have work ons in defence....
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@kirwan said in AB EOYT 2018:
@bones said in AB EOYT 2018:
Jesus, every hour Akira gets more and more legendary as the most amazing player in the world ever. Poor old Gibson, so easily forgotten.
Perfectly valid to want to see what he could with an AB forward pack in front of him. The same chance that Whitelock, Frizzel, Fifita, Squire, Savea and now bloody Evans have had.
I agree wholeheartedly. However, that's not what my post was aimed at - the hype being built up around a player that occasionally looks very good at super level is ridiculous. This is blowing the Ngatai nonsense clean outta the water.
Edit: The coaches have different plans for him - at least they have plans. As I said earlier, I really won't be surprised if they break him out for the RWC, when no bugger has had a chance to have a good look at him and see how he's being used.
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@bones said in AB EOYT 2018:
@kirwan said in AB EOYT 2018:
@bones said in AB EOYT 2018:
Jesus, every hour Akira gets more and more legendary as the most amazing player in the world ever. Poor old Gibson, so easily forgotten.
Perfectly valid to want to see what he could with an AB forward pack in front of him. The same chance that Whitelock, Frizzel, Fifita, Squire, Savea and now bloody Evans have had.
I agree wholeheartedly. However, that's not what my post was aimed at - the hype being built up around a player that occasionally looks very good at super level is ridiculous. This is blowing the Ngatai nonsense clean outta the water.
Edit: The coaches have different plans for him - at least they have plans. As I said earlier, I really won't be surprised if they break him out for the RWC, when no bugger has had a chance to have a good look at him and see how he's being used.
I've not seen anybody say anything other than they want to see him in the squad, so they can see what he can do. Or that he's better than the other plodders they are picking, which he's already proven for a few years now at Super level.
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All Blacks omission Akira Ioane snapped up by NZ Maori
Blues and Auckland loose forward Akira Ioane has been named in the NZ M?ori squad following his omission from the All Blacks 51-man end-of-year touring squad.
The chance to pick Ioane came as a surprise to head coach Clayton McMillan, who jumped at the chance to use the ball-carrying eight. “We didn’t really anticipate Akira being involved with us and he’s going to be a significant boost for our team,” McMillan said at the announcement of the squad. “We’re all well aware of his strengths and we’ll welcome him into our fold with open arms. “He’s been a part of the All Blacks environment for the last 12-18 months. “We make a few assumptions fairly early on, on who might be available to us and we obviously got that one wrong.” -
Why wouldn't the Māori coach have an inside word about which players would be probably available to him?
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@antipodean Apparently they generally do:
“It had its challenges, but the All Blacks management and coaching staff have been extremely open around who might become available to us, post the Japan commitments,” he said.
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@tim said in AB EOYT 2018:
@antipodean Apparently they generally do:
“It had its challenges, but the All Blacks management and coaching staff have been extremely open around who might become available to us, post the Japan commitments,” he said.
So it's a non-story.
