Highlanders 2022
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@Yeetyaah said in Highlanders 2022:
@Kiwiwomble What a Lad podcast hosted by James Marshall. Pretty decent tbh.
after 4 episode i am well and truly over the "lad" stuff
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Long time since I posted in here, think I’ve lost my will to live after watching the Highlanders the last 2 seasons.
Will be interesting to see who the coaching set up is. The success of the 2015 season was built on culture and having a staff who was strong and represented that - followed by players who brought in.
This year the honest fact is we just don’t have the x - factor we had in pass one a Naholo, Fekitoa… we hit the jackpot with these guys who where fringe players in other franchise but seemed to be lured down by Joseph. -
@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2022:
@Yeetyaah said in Highlanders 2022:
@Kiwiwomble What a Lad podcast hosted by James Marshall. Pretty decent tbh.
after 4 episode i am well and truly over the "lad" stuff
Yes, that's very tedious. And not every guest can be a good bastard. The other bone I have to pick with the podcast is that there's a lot of assumed knowledge - especially when he's talking to former team mates and they use nicknames for other players and the poor listener has no idea who they're talking about because James doesn't explain, when a good host should.
Then again, the latest one with Ajeet Rai was excellent, even though they'd never met before.
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@98blueandgold said in Highlanders 2022:
Long time since I posted in here, think I’ve lost my will to live after watching the Highlanders the last 2 seasons.
Will be interesting to see who the coaching set up is. The success of the 2015 season was built on culture and having a staff who was strong and represented that - followed by players who brought in.
This year the honest fact is we just don’t have the x - factor we had in pass one a Naholo, Fekitoa… we hit the jackpot with these guys who where fringe players in other franchise but seemed to be lured down by Joseph.really? i thought we looked fun in 2021
@Smudge said in Highlanders 2022:
@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2022:
@Yeetyaah said in Highlanders 2022:
@Kiwiwomble What a Lad podcast hosted by James Marshall. Pretty decent tbh.
after 4 episode i am well and truly over the "lad" stuff
Yes, that's very tedious. And not every guest can be a good bastard. The other bone I have to pick with the podcast is that there's a lot of assumed knowledge - especially when he's talking to former team mates and they use nicknames for other players and the poor listener has no idea who they're talking about because James doesn't explain, when a good host should.
Then again, the latest one with Ajeet Rai was excellent, even though they'd never met before.
so i listened to the Lima one to hear about that 2013 party, solomon alaimalo as mentioned, denny solomona for obvious reasons (he seemed like a bit of a dick if im honest) and now elliot dixon just to hear what he says about that try...but then im done i think
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@Kiwiwomble Dixon was good value but yes, I'd space them out. Bigger fan of Between Two Beers - better variety of guests too.
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@Kiwiwomble Fun but still shit
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@98blueandgold said in Highlanders 2022:
@Kiwiwomble Fun but still shit
made the SRTT final so only as shit as everyone else
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@Kiwiwomble just like we made the playoffs this year with 4 wins! Great season
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@98blueandgold damn, you must be fun at parties, huge difference to this year, last year we had wins over the saders, blues and chiefs and all the aussies teams
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@Kiwiwomble yeah in 2021 for instance I took great joy in watching Jona Nareki light up the comp, 2022 will be a fleeting memory in the grand scheme
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Enjoyed watching 39-1 Highlanders
Crazy listening to Aaron Smith how Jamie Joseph rang him in 2011,offering him a contract with the highlanders ..Smith was with the Blues wider training squad ..he contacted the Blues out of respect to see if they were prepared to give him a contract ..they wanted to wait until after the NPC ..🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻..Pat Lam was the head coach ..Toby Morland was one of the halfbacks who was selected in the 2011 Blues squad WTF …
He wasn’t even the number 1 halfback in Otago ,in what world was he ever gonna be better than Aaron Smith ..?
Love to know who was in charge of recruiting for the Blues at that timeThis all happened on Andy Daltons watch who was the CEO of both Auckland and the Blues
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@Steven-Harris my memory of early Smith was he wasn't really anything special, looked like a great touch player though. Maybe something like Milo-Harris.
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@Bones what’s really annoying from Blues piece Andy Dalton was signing some pretty average players from out of the Blues region and also signing them for Auckland..
The Toby Morland one still gets my back up ..
Aaron Smith going to the Highlanders turned out to be the correct decision if you think about it ,Jamie Joseph could see his talent something Pat lam obviously couldn’t see ..Interesting to hear Nuggy talk about Ben Smith as well and how much he rated him
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@Steven-Harris nug loved Benders Dummy😆
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@Steven-Harris said in Highlanders 2022:
This all happened on Andy Daltons watch who was the CEO of both Auckland and the Blues
Shows how toxic the organisation was.
We lost Naholo as well - but to be fair he wasn't training properly, didn't care. Smith kinda showed up half heartedly as well; sometimes you need a kick in the arse to go to another level, rather than coast. Both found that at the Landers with the gritty underdog culture
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@nzzp said in Highlanders 2022:
@Steven-Harris said in Highlanders 2022:
This all happened on Andy Daltons watch who was the CEO of both Auckland and the Blues
Shows how toxic the organisation was.
We lost Naholo as well - but to be fair he wasn't training properly, didn't care. Smith kinda showed up half heartedly as well; sometimes you need a kick in the arse to go to another level, rather than coast. Both found that at the Landers with the gritty underdog culture
Also, worth noting the Blues had a policy of picking almost exclusively from within the region and only using a tiny number of imports. Smith was told he might get signed after the NPC.. Lam had to be cautious about how he used the import spots
That policy plus the lack of quality in the NPC regions really hurt the Blues. Harbour and Northland where at historic lows and Aucklands selection was bizarre at the time.. very little player development and strange journeymen signings. Anscombe deserves plenty of blame as well as Dalton for the selections
Lam was the target of a pretty nasty campaign in Auckland rugby politics. Plenty of it came from Anscombe and some of those stories still get repeated.
It's interesting to look back on the decade since that shit now. Lam did great work with Connacht and has created a strong Bristol team from scratch. He's been extended to 2028 and is a multi millionaire from his rugby knowledge (the highest paid non Test coach?)
Anscombe went overseas and destroyed Canadian rugbyApologies for the Auckland/Blues talk in this thread.. back to talking about the Highlanders
