Hurricanes 2023
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@Canes4life said in Hurricanes 2023:
@Stargazer nah Cridge isn’t anything special, definitely not the sort of lock I would be looking for to help bolster an area of weakness within the Canes.
Right, so you are quite happy to persevere with Mr. Blackwell then?
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@Higgins said in Hurricanes 2023:
@Canes4life said in Hurricanes 2023:
@Stargazer nah Cridge isn’t anything special, definitely not the sort of lock I would be looking for to help bolster an area of weakness within the Canes.
Right, so you are quite happy to persevere with Mr. Blackwell then?
Of course not, have you not been reading the Canes thread for the last couple of years? If we want to be title contenders we need to do better than players like Blackwell and Cridge.
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@Canes4life But you do agree that you just made up the bs you said about him getting out of favour at the Tahs, right? And that "they realised he's big but doesn't make much impact" was also also an argument you just fabricated without it being based on fact? Because if it was true, they wouldn't have kept picking him over the other locks in their squad.
You may not find him special, but he offers a heck of a lot more than Blackwell and not just centimetres in height.
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@Canes4life What you want is an ABs standard lock. Don't we all? But they don't grow on trees and there are few of those around. Until we find one, it's better to look for upgrades on who we have in the squad now. Cridge may not be ABs standard, but he is an upgrade compared to Blackwell.
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@Stargazer man you get defensive every time someone talks dirt on a Hawkes Bay player. Sheesh, stats don’t always tell you a full picture about a player, Cridge is someone I’ve watched quite closely ever since he made the Canes at the beginning of his career (including his stints for the Tahs this year) and he’s always been an average player at best, just a big body who shows the odd flash of potential but has never really pushed on to the heights many thought he would.
When you compare him to guys like Rettalick or Whitelock in their prime you quickly understand why no one has rushed out to sign him, highlighted by the fact he’s playing for the Tahs and not a NZ Super side.
And before you mention Blackwell, he too is just another average Super lock that is preventing the Canes from reaching their potential.
THE CANES NEED BETTER LOCKS! (Better than Cridge and Blackwell anyway).
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@Canes4life So you're agreeing you talk dirt?
You can't have watched him closely if you think he just had "stints" at the Tahs, this year. As I said, he didn't play just 20 minutes off the bench every game. He started most games he played in.
And yes, I'm defensive if someone makes stuff up about our players. You can have a different opinion on a player, but don't pretend to state facts when you've just fabricated them.
And as you can read in my following post, I didn't compare him with ABs locks. You are. As ABs quality locks are hard to find, they should go for an upgrade until they find or develop one.
But as I said, Cridge probably doesn't want to go back anyway, so it's a moot point. He's better off at a franchise where he gets to play regularly. Hopefully, a player like Sangster will eventually push Blackwell out and one or more of the U20s players turn out to be gems. But with Larsen still in charge, some talent will probably slip through the Canes' nets.
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@Canes4life said in Hurricanes 2023:
@Stargazer man you get defensive every time someone talks dirt on a Hawkes Bay player. Sheesh, stats don’t always tell you a full picture about a player, Cridge is someone I’ve watched quite closely ever since he made the Canes at the beginning of his career (including his stints for the Tahs this year) and he’s always been an average player at best, just a big body who shows the odd flash of potential but has never really pushed on to the heights many thought he would.
When you compare him to guys like Rettalick or Whitelock in their prime you quickly understand why no one has rushed out to sign him, highlighted by the fact he’s playing for the Tahs and not a NZ Super side.
And before you mention Blackwell, he too is just another average Super lock that is preventing the Canes from reaching their potential.
THE CANES NEED BETTER LOCKS! (Better than Cridge and Blackwell anyway).
You can't have been watching all that closely or else you will have noticed that his sum total of Hurricanes games total exactly one during his time with them which was wrecked completely with a series of injuries that kept him sidelined for almost the entire period. Congratulations on being so perceptive as to form an opinion on him in less than eighty minutes of action.
In terms of Magpies appearances (59 in total) he was never outclassed and that includes all the matches against Wellington where the Bay won every time. -
@Canes4life said in Hurricanes 2023:
@Stargazer nah Cridge isn’t anything special, definitely not the sort of lock I would be looking for to help bolster an area of weakness within the Canes.
That's unsurprising, you're as blinkered with your favouritism towards Wellington players as the Canes coaches and management.
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Lol surprise, surprise, here comes the Hawkes Bay Mafia.
You guys getting all defensive won't change the fact that Cridge is an average Super Rugby lock at best, just like James Blackwell and many other locks out there atm. We need better than that if we want to reach that next level.
@Nepia what Wellington favouritism? I literally just said we need to get rid of James Blackwell aswell.
Talk about the broken record award.
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@Canes4life But your comments say indicate that you prefer him over the also Mr. Blackwell. Then you go on to say that "compared to guys like Retallick or Whitelock in their prime you quickly understand why no one has rushed out to sign him". Well if you use that standard to rate a lock's suitably to be signed for super rugby in NZ then we are going to be rather short of them.
Oh and how do you explain the Hurricanes failure to sign Brodie Retallick? Surely he must rate a tad higher than the likes of Mark Reddish and Jeremy Thrush. -
@Higgins what I'm trying to get at is if the Canes want to be title contenders over the next couple of years we need to sign locks that are far better than the Blackwell's or Cridge's of this world.
Somone like Michael Fatialofa is a prime example of a player that brought a physical edge to his work and was able match it with the likes of Whitelock and Rettalick. When the Canes get parity in their tight five they are a very hard side to stop so my big question for the Canes this off-season is where are they going to find the next Fatialofa?? Blackwell and Cridge aren't the answer.
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@Canes4life said in Hurricanes 2023:
Lol surprise, surprise, here comes the Hawkes Bay Mafia.
You guys getting all defensive won't change the fact that Cridge is an average Super Rugby lock at best, just like James Blackwell and many other locks out there atm. We need better than that if we want to reach that next level.
@Nepia what Wellington favouritism? I literally just said we need to get rid of James Blackwell aswell.
Talk about the broken record award.
The BoP are the mafia, not us. We will have a meeting and come up with a name and get back to you.
Dude, you're always fluffing young Wellington players for the Canes. You occasionally fluff a Hawkes Bay player (like the Canes pick the odd token couple of HB players).
Your comments about Cridge are B/S, as @Stargazer rightly skewered you about how many games he played for the Tahs and the reasons he missed some games. Parsons is great, but Cridge is a pretty similar player and in the past couple of years when not injured has put in a string of good performances. But no point discussing Parsons and the Canes either as he can't even make the team after years of standout performances.
The funny thing is that the Canes paid Cridge for three years of injury and then dumped when he started playing regular rugby. And until he started playing that regular rugby us HB fans on here were suspicious of his claims as a player - but he won us over with good performances.
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@Nepia we all fluff our own players from time to time but that won't stop me calling out a player from Wellington when I don't think he's up to mark either. With you guys it's like every Hawkes Bay player can do no wrong and when someone makes an observation you all get defensive.
Look, when I watch Cridge play he doesn't stand out to me. When I've watched him for the Waratah's this year he hasn't done anything James Blackwell hasn't. They both do their jobs to a certain standard but they will never be anything more than average, or good as you say.
James Blackwell has also had good performances, but good doesn't necessarily cut it when you want to be champions.
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@Winger said in Hurricanes 2023:
3 All Blacks. Not a good look. Compared to the Chiefs who have 9. Is it poor recruitment by the Canes. Or poor coaching.
And TBH non were unlucky to miss out. TJP might be pissed off but they are looking to the future now
I think it's probably a case of the Canes having a very young side, along with the fact that Holland keeps selecting his favourites who are never going to be All Blacks anyway. I.e. Blackwell, Prinsep, Kirifi, J Savea. It's also a bit of bad coaching in my eyes aswell, PUJ, Lomax and Aumua have all been All Blacks but yet they don't feature in this squad, that definitely says something.
The Canes really need to get the right coaching staff to turn things around but that won't happen anytime soon with Holland signed on until the end of next year.
I think there are plenty of guys who will push for AB selection in the future, but their time just isn't now.
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@Canes4life Remember PUJ was only brought into the ABs squad in 2020 because Ennor was injured.
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@Nepia I will come to the defence of @Canes4life here. He has stopped fluffing Alex Fidow (and to a leser extent Xavier Numia) for about 18 months now. Whether that is because he no longer falls into the young Wellington players category or he has finally accepted and agreed with me that Mr. Fidow will never master the arts for propping to be effective at any level over Premier Reserve club level (Ories don't always start him at prop).
