Blues 2021
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@nzzp as has been my criticism all year, selection consistency (given how many games Black and Sotutu started either side of 9)
Look at where being selected week in week out got Christie as opposed to the chopping and changing they did for most of the Aotearoa Championship.
I dont think Leon has forgiven Nock for whatever rule he broke last year
If true Nock is off to the chiefs, having Reihana running at 10 in NPC could be very good for both of them.
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@taniwharugby said in Blues 2021:
@nzzp as has been my criticism all year, selection consistency (given how many games Black and Sotutu started either side of 9)
Look at where being selected week in week out got Christie as opposed to the chopping and changing they did for most of the Aotearoa Championship.
I dont think Leon has forgiven Nock for whatever rule he broke last year
If true Nock is off to the chiefs, having Reihana running at 10 in NPC could be very good for both of them.
Christie has been the first choice for a while, was injured and didn’t play as well when he came back. Once he got over that Nock and Ruru were playing for the impact sub role.
Ruru comfortably outplayed Nock in those opportunities. He has no one to blame but himself. Ruru also was the fittest in the team and Leon was talking about how much extra training Christie was doing.
I guess Nock wasn’t?
I’ve lost count of how many coaches have had the same opinion of Nock now too. Oh and Nock got injured last year in a fight, so that was the rule he broke. Dumb.
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@kiwimurph said in Blues 2021:
I'd rather Blues sign Choat to replace Gibson
I so hope that we've signed Choat and you get Karpik.
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@kirwan pretty sure Nock was right behind Ruru in most of the fitness stuff, so I dont think fitness was ever an issue, I know from talking to his dad how much he works on things, so that isnt an issue.
My guess is, there was more to it, maybe a personality clash, and/or whatever happened last year (of which I am sure you must know ALL the facts...) Leon had decided Nock wasnt his 9, as to Ruru outplaying him 'comfortably', subjective.
And again, I havent been promoting for Nock to start over Ruru or Christie, I have been promoting for Leon to be consistent with his 9 to start rather than the chopping and changing he did for most of SRA, so trying to pick a fight over me being a Northlander and Nock being from Northland has never been what it was about for me.
Go back to pre-season, I was even talking about needing to pick a 9 and stick with him and not chop and change back then (as Leon has done for years)
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@taniwharugby putting to the side the stuff we aren’t sure about, kicking seems to be the main deciding factor for McDonald.
In was notable this year that the games Nock did get this year that he wasn’t kicking well.
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@taniwharugby last year Akira Ioane,Hokings Soututu,Dalton Papalii,Kurt Eklund ,Tj Faiane and Sam Nock broke a team curfew and ended up at a bar and got into altercation, with some patrons at this particular bar , Nock who was hit from behind received the wrist injury during this melee ..
The really disappointing thing for me is that Nock took the fall for the other players ,not wishing to implicate any of the other players during his disciplinary process with the Blues CEO
His Dad sat in with him as support at the disciplinary hearing and advised him to inform the CEO that other players had also breached protocol.,but refused out of loyalty, only TJ Faiane would come forward and later admit he was out with Nock .
He was also subsequently dropped for a couple of games .Patrick Tuipulotu announced it at a team meeting that Sam had been suspended 4 x weeks , any other player breaching team work ethic would suffer the same consequences.
You have got to wonder when you are sitting there listening to this and your so called team mates say nothing .Sam’s head went down and McDonald wanted to get rid of him last year .but a few of the leadership talked him in to keeping Sam on .
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@steven-harris wow seems like Leon McDonald had already made up his mind about Sam and the best thing he can do is to move on he would be very welcome at the chiefs we could use a halfback that can pass he had a very good season with northland and I feel he will get even better
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@steven-harris so wait? Was that different to the altercation where Nock got his teeth smashed in?
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@steven-harris said in Blues 2021:
@taniwharugby last year Akira Ioane,Hokings Soututu,Dalton Papalii,Kurt Eklund ,Tj Faiane and Sam Nock broke a team curfew and ended up at a bar and got into altercation, with some patrons at this particular bar , Nock who was hit from behind received the wrist injury during this melee ..
The really disappointing thing for me is that Nock took the fall for the other players ,not wishing to implicate any of the other players during his disciplinary process with the Blues CEO
His Dad sat in with him as support at the disciplinary hearing and advised him to inform the CEO that other players had also breached protocol.,but refused out of loyalty, only TJ Faiane would come forward and later admit he was out with Nock .
He was also subsequently dropped for a couple of games .Patrick Tuipulotu announced it at a team meeting that Sam had been suspended 4 x weeks , any other player breaching team work ethic would suffer the same consequences.
You have got to wonder when you are sitting there listening to this and your so called team mates say nothing .Sam’s head went down and McDonald wanted to get rid of him last year .but a few of the leadership talked him in to keeping Sam on .
Thanks for that post.
Given that you heard it from some one else (I’m not doubting your explanation at all but there could be some doubt about their recollection or summary of the facts), if only 50% of that is true, my opinion of some players who I really like just went down quite a bit.
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@gt12 the biggest take home for me is , nobody else wanting to take responsibility, only TJ Faiane stood up , I get the whole sense of loyalty but to stand by and saying nothing and let one of your team members take the wrap stinks in my book ..
Hopefully more than anything else the players learn something and become better people and it’s great that the Blues have got these protocols in place .
Best of luck to both Sam and TJ .. -
@kiwimurph same incident, had a plate inserted in his jaw from the punch ..
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@steven-harris I admire Nocks loyalty to his mates, but that’s shit from those guys to let him him take the fall, and a major fall it has been.
Some of them have gone on to bigger and better things, while Sam has been condemned to running the water.
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@kiwimurph was in great form in NPC last year too, IMO was shaded only slightly by Fakatava as the form 9 in the comp.
Just hope he has learnt from this and can move on to fulfill his potential, starting with a great NZ Maori series and then helping guide the Taniwha to the top of the Championship!
For me, this does highlight another issue, we see some of these guys signed by franchises straight out of school, likely earning 6 figures, are they getting the right guidance and support to deal with thier new lives, dealing with the public side of things, the disappointment when you go from schoolboy star to just another squaddie, the expectation on you in regard to beahviour at a time in your life when most of your peers are out boozing it up and shagging anything that moves without the watchful eye of someone keen to get dirt on a rugby player.
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