AB squad for the Rugby Championship
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face it, Auckland is where professional sports go to die
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@reprobate said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@canefan gotta be a big part of why the guys who leave do better. new place, no mates except professional teammates, better focus.
why does that not hold true anywhere else?
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@mariner4life said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
face it, Auckland is where professional sports go to die
They are the Knicks of NZ rugby at the moment
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@mariner4life said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@reprobate said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@canefan gotta be a big part of why the guys who leave do better. new place, no mates except professional teammates, better focus.
why does that not hold true anywhere else?
I don't know if I can answer that without making a racial generalisation
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@canefan said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@mariner4life said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
face it, Auckland is where professional sports go to die
They are the Knicks of NZ rugby at the moment
fair, it's a real struggle to remember when either were last relevant
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@canefan said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
Was talking with a mate who has more knowledge of the situation than me. Said the Blues are considering getting their young players accommodated in a purpose built facility near their Alexandra Park base, especially those who grew up in AKL. It is a problem that some of these young guys continue to live at home, hang with the same mates and this enables continued bad habits. Housing them together, teaching them good work, nutrition, training habits might help
This is a good idea but why the heck is this only happening now!?
I realise the Alexandra Park facility is relatively new but this sort of stuff should have been done years and years ago.
I like a lot of the new moves the new Board are making but with a lot of them it's stuff that should have been done years ago.
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pretty sure most of the guys that are form outside the Auckland region usually live together...Lachie Munro always found it amusing he got paid more to play for the Blues when he was contracted form Northland than he would if he was contracted form Auckland due to getting the accommodation allowances.
Northland rugby have a few houses where some of the less local contracted players live in the season...I expect these would have both positives and negatives...
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@mariner4life said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@reprobate said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@canefan gotta be a big part of why the guys who leave do better. new place, no mates except professional teammates, better focus.
why does that not hold true anywhere else?
i think it largely holds true unless people are moving to the blues, and that's cause they then don't have professional teammates. canes were whinging about it a few years back.
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This has to be linked to the distinct lack of strong leaders in the playing group. Standards are set by those leaders, not by coaches. The other teams have guys who would be driving those standards, and setting the tone in terms of prep.
Cane and Retallic at the Chiefs would definitely be model pros. I have no doubt TJP, the Barretts, and Savea are at the Canes. You could throw a stone blindfolded in the Crusaders dressing room and hit one. Even the Landers on the back of at the very least Ben Smith.
Who are the guys you can easily see driving that at the Blues?
That's no excusing Akira though. He's 24 years old, and has no doubt been told what the expectation. Failing to meet those standards is entirely on him. It seems a shame, but lets hope a very public dressing down is what was needed.
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With Akira , it’s hard to know exactly his problem , is it booze , junk food , or maybe he’s just a lazy prick ?
But I’ve been watching him for a few years thinking he doesn’t look quite right physically, carries a lot of body fat , think of our best players in recent times with similar roles , jerry , Rodney , kaino , read , messam . They looked so lean and fit .
Then you look at akira , chubby face ,fat arse, , I thought maybe it’s genetics , but his brother is nothing like that .
If I was him I would be looking at a different franchise
Crusaders would be my pick , it will either make him or break him. -
@kiwiinmelb said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
With Akira , it’s hard to know exactly his problem , is it booze , junk food , or maybe he’s just a lazy prick ?
But I’ve been watching him for a few years thinking he doesn’t look quite right physically, carries a lot of body fat , think of our best players in recent times with similar roles , jerry , Rodney , kaino , read , messam . They looked so lean and fit .
Then you look at akira , chubby face ,fat arse, , I thought maybe it’s genetics , but his brother is nothing like that .
If I was him I would be looking at a different franchise
Crusaders would be my pick , it will either make him or break him.I agree and disagree with this. Agree the Crusaders would be the best for him and disagree the Crusaders will be the best for him because we may as well just hand them the trophy next year if they get the best out of him.
Why wouldn't they target him now that Read is leaving
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@Stargazer said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@Hooroo Maybe the Crusaders don't target Akira because they consider him a liability? They probably know more about him than we do.
Perhaps you are right but Reece was a liability they took a risk on and that has paid off in spades
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If the Crusaders thought they had a chance to pick up a player with that much raw talent there is zero chance they wouldn't sign him.
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@taniwharugby said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@canefan I wonder if the franchises add education as an incentive to sign as well?
Definitely. ALB, DMac and Moli all were/are associated with Waikato University (Bachelor of Health and Sporting Human Performance).
Rivez Reihana, from Northland via St Kents, is doing the same course now.
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@Stargazer said in AB squad for the Rugby Championship:
@Hooroo Maybe the Crusaders don't target Akira because they consider him a liability? They probably know more about him than we do.
I'd say it's a lot more likely they haven't had the need for Akira these last few years. Next year without Read and Taufua they may be interested.
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@KiwiMurph Douglas will play 8 next season. They don't need Akira full stop.
