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Tim

<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11663690'>George Moala out for up to four weeks</a>
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">George Moala, one of the stars for the All Blacks in their 46-6 victory over Wales last night, has been ruled out for the Blues for up to four weeks due to an elbow injury. 
The centre, in his second test, was forced from the field after 49 minutes, but in that time scored a try, made several breaks, and proved he is a genuine midfield option for coach Steve Hansen. "His elbow is pretty sore," Hansen said today. "What he's done is he's stretched the ligaments that attach around the elbow joint so he could be three to four weeks, we'll just have to wait and see what happens over the next few days." 
Asked if Moala had forced himself into the Rugby Championship reckoning, Hansen said: "He certainly got our interest last night." 
The Blues, unlikely to make the Super Rugby play-offs, potentially have only three matches remaining this season, starting with a game against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday. 
Two matches against the Brumbies and Waratahs at Eden Park follow. Another injury concern for Blues coach Tana Umaga is Charlie Faumuina, who started at tighthead prop in Dunedin. Faumuina has suffered a knee injury (medial ligament) and Hansen said he could be out for between one and three weeks. 
Skipper Kieran Read suffered a "stinger" shoulder issue which wasn't serious, but Crusaders teammate Ryan Crotty, who started at second-five, is in doubt for the match against the Chiefs in Suva on Friday. 
For Hansen, it will be a nervous wait as he says goodbye to his players before the Rugby Championship, which starts for them with a test against Australia in Sydney on August 20. 
"I'm concerned about all of them, I don't want any of them to get injured," he said. 
"But at the same time we can't wrap them up in cotton wool; we need them to play footy and they've got to play some big games and let's sit back and see how they cope with it. And the guys who do cope with it, that's a big advantage."
 
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Canes4life

Piss off Auckland. You have nearly half of the population of our country and yet you can't produce your own players. John Kirwan is all talk in regards to Barrett. Barrett is too loyal and he is currently the highest paid player on our roster. I highly doubt he is going to give that up just for a chance to play with SBW. Id much prefer to be surrounded with guys like Skudder, Ardie Savea and co who actually have a bit variance in their play than the old crash and bash Blues style of play that won't suit Barrett at all. 
 
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Dice" data-cid="591397" data-time="1466837409">
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Yup.
 
The Blues could have a decent chance to get Fatialofa since he moved from Southland to Auckland last year because he wanted to be back home. Also getting to play both Mitre 10 Cup and Super Rugby in one city will be pretty appealing too.
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The Blues showed no faith in Fatialofa at all. Why would he ditch a side that gave him a crack and have now got the best out of him. Would seem pretty silly. Same went for Fekitoa and Nahalo who moved down to the Highlanders. The Highlanders gave them a chance and they have obviously stuck around to repay that faith.
 
I'm pretty confident that Fatialofa and Barrett will be in the Black and Yellow next year.

Dice

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Canes4life" data-cid="591944" data-time="1466905640">
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Piss off Auckland. You have nearly half of the population of our country and yet you can't produce your own players.
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You tell us we can't produce our own players, yet on the same post, you're talking about an Auckland lock who plays for the Hurricanes...OK.
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Canes4life" data-cid="591944" data-time="1466905640">
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The Blues showed no faith in Fatialofa at all. Why would he ditch a side that gave him a crack and have now got the best out of him. Would seem pretty silly. Same went for Fekitoa and Nahalo who moved down to the Highlanders. The Highlanders gave them a chance and they have obviously stuck around to repay that faith.
 
I'm pretty confident that Fatialofa and Barrett will be in the Black and Yellow next year. 
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You could be right, but let's be honest, if Fatialofa's smart, he'd know the Canes didn't have much faith in him in turning out well. They took him really late, almost as a hopeless last round pick in a draft just to fill the end of the roster. Fatialofa said that he wasn't even in the pre-season team initially, he only got his chance because of injuries to a few locks(one of those locks was fricken Blackwell!). I mean, how far must he have been on the depth charts if he's behind Blackwell and can't even make the pre-season team off the bat? The pre-season benches are massive. Even during the regular season, he had to wait for a few locks to drop to get his shot. Canes got lucky, they pretty much got 1st round production out of someone they thought was a 7th round pick.
 
Saying the Canes got the best out of him is a bit rich though, as he is doing nothing new that he didn't show in the ITM Cup.
 
IMO, you should just go and sign Liaki Moli. I mean, you did call Fatialofa, 'just another Liaki Moli' earlier in the season.

SouthernMan

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Canes4life" data-cid="591944" data-time="1466905640">
Piss off Auckland. You have nearly half of the population of our country and yet you can't produce your own players. John Kirwan is all talk in regards to Barrett. Barrett is too loyal and he is currently the highest paid player on our roster. I highly doubt he is going to give that up just for a chance to play with SBW. Id much prefer to be surrounded with guys like Skudder, Ardie Savea and co who actually have a bit variance in their play than the old crash and bash Blues style of play that won't suit Barrett at all. 
I'm pretty confident that Fatialofa and Barrett will be in the Black and Yellow next year.</blockquote> the main issue you're forgetting is the fact BB other half lives in Auckland. It doesn't matter how loyal you're as a person to a franchise. Everyone knows who will be playing a key role in this decision. It isn't loyalty.

Canes4life

Yeah but Wellingtons population is nowhere near that of Auckland so your point is invalid. 
Picking Fatialofa up is better than not picking him at all tjough wouldnt you think?? I admit that I didnt think much of him at the start of the season but with consistant game time he has really come into his own and I have been pleasently suprised by how mich he has improved. 
Im pretty sure he is playing better now than he was for Auckland. If he was good as he is now then why was he not.picked up swiftly in the first place?? 
In regards to Beaudy his girlfriend (orginally from Auckland) actually works with a friend of mine at PWC in Wellington and they have an apartment in the city so im pretty sure they are happy away from the hideous traffic and house prices in Jafa town.

mimic

im pretty sure the Blues could offer BB more money through sponsorship..
 
Auckland's population has nothing to do with it.. Auckland can't keep all the talent we have.. So many of our players are taken straight from school.. I think there was an article on it not too long ago..

Canes4life

Dreams are free Aucklanders, Dreams are free!!

SouthernMan

Auckland players going straight from school, like little half back from St Kents who has been signed by Wellington for the next two years. Wow Wellington and the Hriicanes need to keep their grubby mits of Auckland talent.

Canes4life

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SouthernMan" data-cid="591983" data-time="1466917975">
Auckland players going straight from school, like little half back from St Kents who has been signed by Wellington for the next two years. Wow Wellington and the Hriicanes need to keep their grubby mits of Auckland talent.</blockquote>

Canes4life

You can keep him. 
No point continuing this debate. You are comparing a school kid with an esablished World Cup winning All Black. A bit silly wouldn't you think... 
The Blues need to re-learn how to protect their own talent. Surely there is enough talent in Jafaville to warrant a solid 15. 
All three current All Black first fives have come out of the Hurricanes catchment. Compare that with the Blues and they've produced F all to be fair. Pretty poor considering the population of Auckland.

SouthernMan

I don't have him. I'm just making a point. There's no point getting grumpy about players exhibiting free will. If the culture is good players will stay, but sometimes money and personal circumstances talk. If I was big Mike Fatilofa I would go back to the Blues. From a Highlanders perspective we are lucky the Blues are stacked midfield wise, so they won't be targeting Fekitoa. But we aren't out of this either, I'm sure Lima will be getting an approach or will be getting chased by the Hurricanes if BB was to leave. It's the issue we have as a franchise who turns other franchises rejects into world beaters, they may want to go home one day.

Canes4life

When you say Loyalty has nothing to do with it well then why did D.C knock back offers from the Blues when he had a wife and house in Auckland..It's because he is a born and bred Cantabrian who grew up watching the Crusaders and had an ambition to wear the red and black jersey. Same goes with Barrett he has said plenty of times that he grew up with a passion for the Canes so why would he throw that away when he already has one hand on the no 10 A.B jersey right now and has nothing to prove. 
We will see what happens but I would be bloody suprised if Barrett signs for the North.

SouthernMan

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Canes4life" data-cid="591990" data-time="1466919478"> 
All three current All Black first fives have come out of the Hurricanes catchment. Compare that with the Blues and they've produced F all to be fair. Pretty poor considering the population of Auckland.</blockquote> and prior to that pretty much every first five came out of Christchurch. It's swings and roundabouts. The All Black captain is from the greater Auckland region, so is a significant number of the team, even if they don't play there anymore. A key issue with Auckland is that even with a huge population a similar number of players will see elite coaching to Chch and the greater Welly area. That's why some only really come on after they leave. But as for comparing a school boy to an All Black, well school boys like Dmac can turn into All Blacks very quickly, and in his case, shortly after being poached by Waikato.

Canes4life

Why is this then?? Surely Auckland have the facilities and coaching available to keep talent in the region. Don't get me wrong the Blues roster next year looks bloody promising but I guess it could be alot stronger if they were able to hold onto a few more players.

SouthernMan

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Canes4life" data-cid="591994" data-time="1466920840">
Why is this then?? Surely Auckland have the facilities and coaching available to keep talent in the region. Don't get me wrong the Blues roster next year looks bloody promising but I guess it could be alot stronger if they were able to hold onto a few more players.</blockquote> This is just because of a pressure of numbers. They normally have two Auckland teams in provincial age grade competitions, but that just isn't enough. If you're not in that group, you probably don't get the high level coaching. It probably has a major effect of pivotal positions like halfback and first five.

Steven Harris

Auckland along with Canterbury are still the biggest providers of talent spread around the country,it's only natural some very good players get overlooked,for the very first time in their history,the Blues are finally working harder with the 3 X provinces,one of the real big issues from the past is when Andy Dalton looked after both Auckland and the Blues,Tana had done an awesome job pulling the 3 X unions together,here is some news though I have heard through a very good source,Tevita Li has been let go,and will be suiting up for the Highlanders in 2017.

SouthernMan

I'll take Tevita Li. He can sit behind Patrick Osborne for a year,.before stepping up to the starting team in 2018.

Stargazer

In that case, I wouldn't be surprised if Ryan Tongia is moving on. Why else would the Landers sign another wing? Tongia is way better than Li, but is hardly getting game time despite scoring in almost every game he's played.

SouthernMan

Tongia for one reason or another has played less than half a dozen games of Super Rugby in the last two years, he's 26 and has massive issues in his defence. Yes, he is a top attacking player. But I'm ok with this decision. Tevita Li has a lot of potential and I like what has happened with Blues rejects at the Highlanders in the past.

African Monkey

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Canes4life" data-cid="591981" data-time="1466917778">
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Dreams are free Aucklanders, Dreams are free!!
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Yeah like Wellington/Hurricanes winning something.

The Silver Fern

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