Highlanders 2023
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Changes for this side is just moving the deckchairs on the titanic. We just need to swallow this team will finish somewhere between 6th and 8th. It will beat the average teams and get smashed by the good sides. You are right, TUG, Fakatava and Gilbert are far from perfect players. But, they are well and truly some of the best we have. Fakatava would look better if he had a talented 10 beside him. TUG would be a more dangerous player if there was a half decent centre outside him who opposition's would see as a threat. Gilbert would be fine as a steady fullback if he had some decent wingers beside him. The lack of threats around these players has a huge impact on what they can do.
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@friedrugby thinking beyond this year is there any reason why we shouldn't attempt to make a play for Ruben love? he knows how to break a game open as seen against Ireland B, and with the Canes signing up that Godfrey fella maybe love might be off contract?
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@FakatavaAllBlack said in Highlanders 2023:
@friedrugby thinking beyond this year is there any reason why we shouldn't attempt to make a play for Ruben love? he knows how to break a game open as seen against Ireland B, and with the Canes signing up that Godfrey fella maybe love might be off contract?
Lol you’re not getting Ruben Love. He’s a fullback first and a 10 second anyway.
A better bet would be to go for someone like P Umaga-Jensen with the log jam of centres at the Canes.
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We won't be getting any other franchise's yop talent. U20s recruitment is where this needs to come from. We gave Umaga-Jensen a big push for this season I understand. With our U20s there isn't a lot there in terms of guys who will be rockstars. Perhaps Faleafaga will be a good player. Same with Hurley, although he is a heck of a midget. Backs are a big problem.
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@Canes4life
Agree. love has a great chance of being the canes starting FB when he returns. PUJ will never be a starter even with a new coach unless there are injuries -
Didn't realise the losing streak was up to 14 now.
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Jesus, neither did I
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@Kiwiwomble Your fullback needs to be better than, 'solid' though - needs to be a game-breaker. At some point, as opposed to saying X player would be better with better players around him, perhaps it is the fact that all of them aren't very good.
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@Stargazer Maybe not, they should be prioritized, All the other Aussie and Island franchises are averaging 5 Kiwi players per side possibly more. They could surely see the Landers would have depth issues from the beginning of the season.
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@SBW1 How would you "prioritise" (whatever that means) the Highlanders if they are not pursuing a player? Why would Jacob Norris wait - while not being paid - for a player in NZ to get injured, if he can get a paid injury replacement contract in Oz? NZR has no contractual relationship with NZ players without a contract and can't tell them to stay in NZ. And we're hardly at the beginning of the season anymore.
The depth problem at the Highlanders has multiple causes. One of them is obviously recruitment. Another one is something that affects all franchises: uncontracted players that used to stay in NZ and play local club rugby are now going overseas (mostly MLR, some others Japan or Europe) to play and be paid for it. How is NZR supposed to keep those players in NZ? Where's the pot of money to pay those players to play local club rugby to wait for a SRP player to get injured? That's not what the Silverlake money is for, so where's the money coming from?
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@Stargazer The Highlanders could indeed resurrect their season maybe they could get to playoffs. It is not too much of a stretch, they do have people coming back from injury and they have a lot of young talent in their ranks. Next year they will have a new coaching regime. Cannot say I have been following them that closely however, I do agree with what the article says, it should be about having all five franchises being strong.
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Put together your guys best 15 of players who don’t start for blues chiefs hurricanes crusaders
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@Stargazer said in Highlanders 2023:
One of them is obviously recruitment
The region they represent is tiny compared to the others. The region doesn't create as many players as other regions so will always be importing players.
Using the 2019 numbers
Region Population Blues 1.396m Chiefs 1.333m Hurricanes 1.019m Crusaders 0.797m Highlanders 0.337m They are not even half the population of the next smallest side. Southland is a fixture at the bottom of the NPC and Otago never got qualified for the premiere division in all the years of the two tier 14 team comp
For the Highlanders to be successful with that local base, they need to be extremely good at recruiting and holding players
They've lost a few young players from their age group sides to another franchise. Perhaps NZR should look at transfer fees when that happens?
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@Yeahtheboys Ollie Norris, Tyrone Thompson, ? Quin Strange, a Chiefs lock , Tom Robinson lately? Lakai, Taine Plumtree, Ratima, Ioane, AJ lam, Dallas McLeod usually wouldn't start, in terms of 13 it's easy to say PUJ but Bryce Heem still has value in super, Kini Naholo, Zarn Sullivan
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Reserves at other NZ franchises
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Ollie Norris
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Dane Coles
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Marcel Renata
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Josh Lord
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Selby-Rickett / Gardiner / Ah Kuoi
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Tom Robinson
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Blake Gibson
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Brayden Iose
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Perenara / Ratima / Heinz
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Morgan / Love / Sullivan / Perofeta / Ioane
(Anyone other than Hunt) -
Bailyn Sullivan
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Alex Nankivell
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Brayden Ennor
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Bryce Heem
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Sullivan
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@Yeahtheboys I like the idea however in terms of catchment size, Super rugby has pretty much abandoned chosing purely from their designated catchments for a number of years. The list of players is from each team's immediate reserve stocks. What would probably be more useful is using excess players from the development and academies.
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@SBW1 said in Highlanders 2023:
What would probably be more useful is using excess players from the development and academies.
This bit maybe difficult to get across the line,Most Super Rugby sides will not want to put money and resources in to their Academies to feed other teams .
They lose the odd one or two now anyway and you could call some of them excess and some top end Academy players.The hard part is making the Highlanders attractive enough to attract players and not have the other franchise teams doing it for them.
I think the Highlanders are on the right track with their academy they have some promising players and they are signing them early.
That promise is just going to take time to develop.
