Magpies 2021
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@duluth We're down 3 halfbacks (Weber with the ABs, Fakatava out for the season, McLeod also broken - not sure for how long). So we need more than one halfback. So local youngsters are probably already in the frame, but we need some experience, too.
And, of course, it's an easy thing to say by someone from a big province with a huge player pool. We don't have that many players to pick from.
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@duluth said in Magpies 2021:
Or they could just pick someone from Hawkes Bay club rugby. If the NPC is going to survive it needs to be a provincial competition not a slightly retarded version of franchise rugby
I'd prefer they'd pick someone from the region too. I wonder how old the two Hastings Boys halves are? We've had schoolboy halfbacks before.
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@nepia You would have to assume the coaching know the capabilities of the local halfbacks and perhaps don't rate the rest of them. We have 3 decent local halfbacks, that is quite a few for a smaller province. We haven't got Unlimited depth.
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@stargazer said in Magpies 2021:
Ozich said Auckland remaining in level 4 has impacted the team's ability to recruit another No 9 and that would be a "work-in-progress" over the next couple of weeks.
We have enough good but inexperienced, young halfbacks ourselves, so I assume they're after an older, more experienced halfback. Which experienced halfback in Auckland has no contract? Is Danny Tusitala available and in the country? Who else is there?
Danny Tusitala turned up and tried it out in club rugby for OBU in Wellington about four years ago and never made it so that is hardly a recommendation as to the level of his play. Unless of course the good old bias and other things prevalent in selection policies in Wellington took precedence.
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Interview with Josh Syms on SENZ radio, this morning.
https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=905862
Interesting to hear provincial unions voted on whether the Shield would still be on the line in extra time (under the golden point rule). No surprise that Hawke's Bay was outvoted 13 to 1, because they all want to get their hands on it, and obviously the Bay wants to keep it.They also talk about Lincoln McClutchie and why he has no SR contract. Syms sees it as a matter of opportunity and timing: playing well in front of the right person at the right time and that person gets interested and takes it further. That hasn't happened yet, apparently. He's highly rated in the Hawke's Bay set-up.
Injury update on Devan Flanders: failed his HIA during the game, but much improved after the game. No decision until end of the week on whether he'll be available for the Wellington game.
Caleb Makene is back from injury and available this week.
Fakatava has started running, but definitely not playing this season. The player they got the paper work wrong for (to come out of Auckland under Level 4) is the replacement halfback they've signed. Syms doesn't give anything away about who it is.
Syms also said that Mikaele-Tu'u isn't at 100% fitness yet, after his long injury break from the Highlanders. Considering how well he went yesterday, it's great that he can still get better!
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So no injury update on Toala - that is hopefully good news and he is fine
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@stockcar86 I hope so! He's been playing very well; much better than last year!
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@nepia what's kahn doing these days wasn't he going to play heartland? Would be keen on him.
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@magpie_in_aus Horowhenua-Kapiti only published a wider training squad in July (see article below), but he hasn't played in any of their preseason games. He also didn't play in their round 1 game on Saturday. So no idea whether he actually is a squad member.
We could do much worse than getting him back to the Magpies!
Former Crusaders halfback named in HK squad
The 39-year-old halfback would be a valuable edition to the 2021 team.
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@Nepia I see Chris Eaton is a PT no doubt he is fit to lace the boots up if needed.
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@higgins Tusitala was with the bay...
He was one of the 6 players in this article - https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/rugby-six-players-removed-from-npc-squads-after-covid-19-travel-exemption-error/JBGEOM47BFCXPQPAF3MLB6HQGI/ -
The Hawke's Bay Magpies could be without some top players for the end of the extended Ranfurly Shield and NPC season because of commitments to overseas contracts.
But coach Mark Ozich – himself headed to Australia at the end of the competition for a position with Perth-based Western Force – says it's the same for everyone in a Bunnings Warehouse NPC that could be extended by five weeks or more into late November.Legendary Magpies skipper Ash Dixon, bound for Japan, is among those heading abroad, but Ozich says there are at least a couple facing the problem of having a possible "small window" of time to meet the obligations of their contracts abroad, complicated by quarantine and other pandemic control issues.
At the other of the scale was fringe squad member, Jordan Thompson-Dunn, a 20-year-old who left a fortnight ago to play "major-league" rugby for Portugal side Benfica, Ozich saying all provincial and senior club sides now face the problem of promising players being lured overseas.From this - paywalled - article:
Magpies, NPC and Covid - one game at a time
The Magpies have two games confirmed, but the match against Auckland is postponed.
So, apart from Dixon and Ozich himself, there's Falcon (Japan), Ili (Rebels), and ...? Maybe Sapsford (AB7s)? Who else? You'd think the Evans brothers (particularly Gareth), Toala and Visinia are the most likely players to go overseas, but I haven't heard/read anything about them signing contracts abroad.
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About the Magpies' halfback shortage:
Well, at least we now know that Kahn Fotuali'i is in the Horowhenua-Kapiti squad. He's playing tomorrow (Sat 9 Oct).
Considering Julian Savea was allowed to travel to Wellington, maybe Danny Tusitala will still make it to the Bay (assuming he was the player they wanted to bring over from Auckland). Saw a clip on instagram and very briefly saw a player that did look like him. Not sure it was him though.
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Does anyone know how many games we will still get out of Ash Dixon? Surely still one home game, otherwise the HBRU would have said today's game was his last home game and given him a proper sent-off?
Falcon probably has to go soon, too.
Not sure who else is heading overseas (apart from Ili to the Rebels and Ozich to the Force, but I assume their contracts will not force them to leave the Magpies before the season ends).
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@stargazer comms said something about how it could be his last. But it seems like we've got a while of NPC yet, all a bit hard to guarantee obviously. Is there a date he has to go by?
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Ozich pretty much confirms in this interview that it was Ash Dixon's last game on McLean Park.
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@dice Thanks for that link. Great interview! What a loss to NZ Ozich is (and Dixon, obviously). Great to hear that Ozich has the ambition to come back to NZ and coach at SR level. I'm sure he'll be great at that level, too. Would be a great coach to take over from Holland at the Canes! Not holding my breath with the current Canes' management though. They'll probably promote from within the Wellington region again.
I interpret Ozich's words "it could be his last game on McLean Park" differently; I understand it in light of the Covid situation they had just discussed, that nobody really knows what the rest of the comp is going to look like and that the team is focussed on and preparing for each game week by week. If it was definitely his last, I think he would have said "it was his last".
Well, I hope that's what his words mean anyway.
@delicatessen I don't know whether there's a specific date for him to go to Japan. I assume it depends on the wording of his contract. It could be different for each player who goes to Japan, and therefore different for Dixon and Falcon, for example.
