AB squad next RWC (2023)?
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@Tim said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@Steven-Harris With an underdone Retallick, and Whitelock playing a lot of minutes in his absence, we really got done there.
Barrett is too small against big packs. Pat T is a beast, but he's not a great lineout target.
Pat also plays far too nice. There’s no reason why he can’t be a high performing “power” lock like Itoje, provided he can up his aggression
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@sparky said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@Steven-Harris said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@sparky
Alex Fidow would have to improve his scrummaging big time
Asafo Amua would have to improve throwing his darts
Akira Ioane ..would will require a massive attitude shift..I'm hoping the next set of All Blacks coaches can do something about all three in the same way Eddie Jones has improved the England forwards.
A lot of the development of the guys like Billy V, IMO, is due to lack of alternatives. They can’t afford to not to be patient with Billy, because the next can off the rank is a big step down and simply put there’s no other player like him in that country. The ABs on the other hand can afford to be more ruthless generally speaking because we presume the next big thing will be coming along soon enough. That view has bitten us in the arse a bit recently particularly at 6.
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@junior Great post.
That said, I think there can be rare (two or three in a generation) talents who are worth persevering with even if there are occasional lapses in attitude or worth making damn sure their attitude eventually improves:
Lomu, Cullen, Kaino, the Ioane brothers.
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@sparky said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@junior Great post.
That said, I think there can be rare (two or three in a generation) talents who are worth persevering with even if there are occasional lapses in attitude or worth making damn sure their attitude eventually improves:
Lomu, Cullen, Kaino, the Ioane brothers.
That is not five of a kind, at best, that's a full house.
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@sparky said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@junior Great post.
That said, I think there can be rare (two or three in a generation) talents who are worth persevering with even if there are occasional lapses in attitude or worth making damn sure their attitude eventually improves:
Lomu, Cullen, Kaino, the Ioane brothers.
Yeah I’m not saying heaven and earth should be moved for him. But, I would have thought there was an argument, over the last 2 years, to say “here’s a black jersey [in a match Read was injured / rested for], now go and show us that you deserve to keep it”.
I think if that had happened, we’d all know much more about Akira than we do now and, even more importantly, we might have actually got something decent out of him (whereas we’ve got nothing out of him now or even the guys they’ve ostensibly chosen ahead of him).
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@Tim said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@junior As Graham Henry said after the 2018 NPC final - where was the love for Akira?
Since we're going back to Akira, remember he played a shedload of 7s and was a star. You can't do that if you're lazy.
So, he's done the work previously - what's changed? Success got to his head now he 'got paid'?
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@nzzp said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@Tim said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@junior As Graham Henry said after the 2018 NPC final - where was the love for Akira?
Since we're going back to Akira, remember he played a shedload of 7s and was a star. You can't do that if you're lazy.
So, he's done the work previously - what's changed? Success got to his head now he 'got paid'?
New coach, new opportunity. The guy is still young, he can turn it around as others have. I seriously think he is best advised to have a change of scenery and move franchises for a bit
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@canefan said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@nzzp said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@Tim said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@junior As Graham Henry said after the 2018 NPC final - where was the love for Akira?
Since we're going back to Akira, remember he played a shedload of 7s and was a star. You can't do that if you're lazy.
So, he's done the work previously - what's changed? Success got to his head now he 'got paid'?
New coach, new opportunity. The guy is still young, he can turn it around as others have. I seriously think he is best advised to have a change of scenery and move franchises for a bit
Interesting that Shag referred to the 'last bloke who did this was Jerome' - so there's precedent to tighten up and become a god
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@canefan said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
New coach, new opportunity. The guy is still young, he can turn it around as others have. I seriously think he is best advised to have a change of scenery and move franchises for a bit
The Chiefs don't really have a no.8 unless the likes of Jacobson and Ardron are moved from other positions. Close enough to home too.
Think of it as the reverse of Manu and Tu'inukuafe, who went backwards with fitness when moving from the Chiefs to Blues.
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@nzzp said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@canefan said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@nzzp said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@Tim said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@junior As Graham Henry said after the 2018 NPC final - where was the love for Akira?
Since we're going back to Akira, remember he played a shedload of 7s and was a star. You can't do that if you're lazy.
So, he's done the work previously - what's changed? Success got to his head now he 'got paid'?
New coach, new opportunity. The guy is still young, he can turn it around as others have. I seriously think he is best advised to have a change of scenery and move franchises for a bit
Interesting that Shag referred to the 'last bloke who did this was Jerome' - so there's precedent to tighten up and become a god
Rodney had a taste and got sent out into the wilderness to return better. Akira can do it. I assume he is 25 at the absolute oldest?
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@Bovidae said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
Think of it as the reverse of Manu and Tu'inukuafe, who went backwards with fitness when moving from the Chiefs to Blues.
Karl arrived at the Blues on a fitness program to peak now. Ofa and him were not fit early in the season because the AB's coaches didn't want them to be fit in March
Then Karl got viral meningitis
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@canefan said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@nzzp said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@Tim said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@junior As Graham Henry said after the 2018 NPC final - where was the love for Akira?
Since we're going back to Akira, remember he played a shedload of 7s and was a star. You can't do that if you're lazy.
So, he's done the work previously - what's changed? Success got to his head now he 'got paid'?
New coach, new opportunity. The guy is still young, he can turn it around as others have. I seriously think he is best advised to have a change of scenery and move franchises for a bit
I don't think the Blues in general are the issue, aside from the coach (one of @Chris-B peeps IIRC) overplaying him this year. He was brilliant for them in 2018 and good at the start of 2019 before being overplayed, taking a break for NPC and seemingly following Piri's diet during that time.
Plus, with the Ginga from Northland the big star at the Blues now, Akira is automatically going to have tighten his game.
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@nzzp said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@Tim said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
@junior As Graham Henry said after the 2018 NPC final - where was the love for Akira?
Since we're going back to Akira, remember he played a shedload of 7s and was a star. You can't do that if you're lazy.
So, he's done the work previously - what's changed? Success got to his head now he 'got paid'?
Be interesting to see if a new coaching set up has a different opinion on him or things stay the same, that might tell us more about him.
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@Tim said in AB squad next RWC (2023)?:
I'll be interested to see how much game time Ezekiel Lindenmuth (LH prop) gets this year.
I'm interested to see if Jarred Adams gets a contract with the Blues because he worked his way ahead of Lindenmuth for Auckland. I like both as prospects.
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The fact he selected his coaches is interesting...
Coaches: Dave Rennie (head coach), Tony Brown (attack), Scott McLeod (defence), John Plumtree (forwards), Clarke Dermody (scrum). Selector: Wayne Smith
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