Highlanders 2024
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Tough supporting us right now, but I do actually think long-term I still feel the most confident I've felt in this team since 2017.
Front row might well be a problem, but I've seen enough from Bell and Taylor to say if nothing else they'll be two tidy options for the next 4+ years. Still got de Groot, and I think Ma'u is fine. Jury very much out on Wingham, who I think is surely a loosehead long-term if he is going to play at this level.
Outside of that though, Holland and Dunshea is a good lock pairing and in recent weeks, we've seen Haig and Stodart both look quite tidy. Add them to Withy (Who I thought looked much better playing as an openside) and Harmon, and think we're onto a bit of a winner. Makings of a good pack, that I reckon. Need to find some more depth, but a pack of:
- de Groot
- Bell
- ADD
- Holland
- Dunshea
- Haig
- Withy
- Harmon
Bench
16. Taylor
17. ADD
18. Ma'u
19. Plummer
20. StodartActually is something to work with, particularly with some new coaches. I think at the very least, Donnelly will get the chop regardless of what happens with Dermody and Dillon.
If you can get the pack going well, I imagine the backline fixes up. Fakatava has been going well, Faleafaga has shown potential, Tele'a has probably been our best signing so far and we've got some good outside backs. We aren't getting the best out of them at the moment, but these are good players, who will come right in a better set-up.
I've no idea what will happen for the rest of this season, I suspect confidence from the coaches is so low and it is seeping into the players, but the long-term prospects are actually quite good. It will be interesting to see what the coaches cook up, think at this point they just need to play a positive brand of rugby. Less kicking, more running, get players in motion with the ball. Basic shit.
Hopefully they can just take a step back, and refresh things. They'll probably go back to Patchell, and all things considered they probably should. If the coaches have been guilty of one thing in recent weeks, it has been knee-jerk reactions rather than trusting the process. Patchell was the talk of the town after three games, and though his form dipped a little, and I, a fan, was calling for him to be left out, you'd probably expect the coaches to have better foresight.
I'd be keen to see Te Hiwi get a run at 12, because Gilbert is all out of sorts, and likewise, Bogado is an international for heavens sake. I don't really get why he hasn't been given more of a chance. On top of that, should get Holland and Dunshea in which will make a big difference to the scrum and around the park.
The season doesn't magically turn around from here, but I'm confident if nothing else we should see some good shoots for the future... because we couldn't possibly get worse.
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@Grooter absolutely. Can’t wait to see Renton and Dunshea out there that’s for sure. Adding Holland and those 3 will change the grunt in the forward park big time which is much needed
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@Landers92 said in Highlanders 2024:
@Grooter absolutely. Can’t wait to see Renton and Dunshea out there that’s for sure. Adding Holland and those 3 will change the grunt in the forward park big time which is much needed
I know Renton carries twice as good as any other forward but marking him down as two players might be a bit much
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@frugby said in Highlanders 2024:
Tough supporting us right now, but I do actually think long-term I still feel the most confident I've felt in this team since 2017.
Front row might well be a problem, but I've seen enough from Bell and Taylor to say if nothing else they'll be two tidy options for the next 4+ years. Still got de Groot, and I think Ma'u is fine. Jury very much out on Wingham, who I think is surely a loosehead long-term if he is going to play at this level.
Outside of that though, Holland and Dunshea is a good lock pairing and in recent weeks, we've seen Haig and Stodart both look quite tidy. Add them to Withy (Who I thought looked much better playing as an openside) and Harmon, and think we're onto a bit of a winner. Makings of a good pack, that I reckon. Need to find some more depth, but a pack of:
- de Groot
- Bell
- ADD
- Holland
- Dunshea
- Haig
- Withy
- Harmon
Bench
16. Taylor
17. ADD
18. Ma'u
19. Plummer
20. StodartActually is something to work with, particularly with some new coaches. I think at the very least, Donnelly will get the chop regardless of what happens with Dermody and Dillon.
If you can get the pack going well, I imagine the backline fixes up. Fakatava has been going well, Faleafaga has shown potential, Tele'a has probably been our best signing so far and we've got some good outside backs. We aren't getting the best out of them at the moment, but these are good players, who will come right in a better set-up.
I've no idea what will happen for the rest of this season, I suspect confidence from the coaches is so low and it is seeping into the players, but the long-term prospects are actually quite good. It will be interesting to see what the coaches cook up, think at this point they just need to play a positive brand of rugby. Less kicking, more running, get players in motion with the ball. Basic shit.
Hopefully they can just take a step back, and refresh things. They'll probably go back to Patchell, and all things considered they probably should. If the coaches have been guilty of one thing in recent weeks, it has been knee-jerk reactions rather than trusting the process. Patchell was the talk of the town after three games, and though his form dipped a little, and I, a fan, was calling for him to be left out, you'd probably expect the coaches to have better foresight.
I'd be keen to see Te Hiwi get a run at 12, because Gilbert is all out of sorts, and likewise, Bogado is an international for heavens sake. I don't really get why he hasn't been given more of a chance. On top of that, should get Holland and Dunshea in which will make a big difference to the scrum and around the park.
The season doesn't magically turn around from here, but I'm confident if nothing else we should see some good shoots for the future... because we couldn't possibly get worse.
i like almost all our players individually....i think almost every one of them has shown at least glimpses of why theyre playing professional rugby....they just arent working together...round 9 and the combinations just arent there...and i would say this has been only of the most stable teams injury wise we've had in a long time.....
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The ODT are making it even harder to follow this team. Pretty hard to have more engagement when the ODT now have a ‘subscriber’ only system to read some of the articles which just so happen to be 80% of the articles about the highlanders.
And before anyone says to subscribe, there is no chance I’ll be paying for an online news service.
Also an observation, would love it if super rugby took an approach you see in football/NFL/NRL of coaches doing weekly press conferences and the likes and loaded on to team websites. Would create even more interaction which we are in need of. Could also perhaps give us some more answers to a lot of the questions constantly being asked.
Maybe one day haha
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@Landers92 said in Highlanders 2024:
The ODT are making it even harder to follow this team. Pretty hard to have more engagement when the ODT now have a ‘subscriber’ only system to read some of the articles which just so happen to be 80% of the articles about the highlanders.
And before anyone says to subscribe, there is no chance I’ll be paying for an online news service.
Also an observation, would love it if super rugby took an approach you see in football/NFL/NRL of coaches doing weekly press conferences and the likes and loaded on to team websites. Would create even more interaction which we are in need of. Could also perhaps give us some more answers to a lot of the questions constantly being asked.
Maybe one day haha
Oh dear what a shame you can't access content for feee that the provider has to pay staff to create, printing services to print, servers to host, rent on buildings, fuel into cars. The subscription service costs $15 a month. ODT does video content on club rugby four or five Highlanders articles a week. If you don't pay you have no reason to complain. You get what you pay for, and the moment you are complaining about the lack of content when you pay nothing. Sadly Paul Cully has been taken off the Highlanders now too. So the quality from stuff has gone down. The Highlanders fan engagement has improved greatly. Unfortunately the on-field perfoamnces haven't matched the lift in fan engagement.
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@SouthernMann Hahahaha There you go, one who couldn’t help himself. I specifically made a point in my previous message about paying but well done mate, hope you feel better.
My point stands and I think it’s a pretty fair observation.
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I'll always stand up for news agencies when it comes to people feeling they have the right to free content and grizzle when it isn't free. I buy the ODT subscription completely for the sport content. The content is there, easy to access and cheap. The ODT is the only newspaper in the country that provides decent sports coverage. it deserves to be supported.
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@SouthernMann surely you have to acknowledge there is a middle ground here....we had a couple of decades of online news paid for by advertising, couldn't open an article without a banner ad....so i dont think its completely out of the blue for people to notice the change....there are reasons for the change but for me i found the articles and even quality of the website becoming poor or at very least not keeping up with the rest of the net...and then they wanted people to pay for something i was less and less inclined to read anyway
its like adds on sky...the whole reasons for pay TV back in the day was so you didn;t have adds
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@SouthernMann haha ok mate good for you.
Again, as per my previous comment, football/NFL/NRL all have press conferences and the likes on YouTube, Facebook and their own website all for free… Why can’t super rugby teams do the same? How good would that be?! Maybe then we could perhaps even know just a little bit about some of our injured players, at the moment all we get is an email if you’re a member saying ‘unavailable due to injury’.
Don’t get your knickers in a twist over it mate. It wasn’t a jab at the ODT at all, just an observation. I’ll leave it at that. Go the Highlanders.
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2024:
@SouthernMann surely you have to acknowledge there is a middle ground here....we had a couple of decades of online news paid for by advertising, couldn't open an article without a banner ad....so i dont think its completely out of the blue for people to notice the change....there are reasons for the change but for me i found the articles and even quality of the website becoming poor or at very least not keeping up with the rest of the net...and then they wanted people to pay for something i was less and less inclined to read anyway
its like adds on sky...the whole reasons for pay TV back in the day was so you didn;t have adds
Comes down to choice of the consumer. My ODT subscription costs me about .50c a day. For that small cost I get to support journalism in the city I'm from and read stories about the rubbish teams I support. In terms of advertising millions has been stripped out of the local advertising market. Free advertising won't keep stories on teams going. The stories that should go behind the paywall are the ones people want to read. Often for people living out of region, those stories centre around our sporting teams. Is the ODT perfect? No. Does it try hard to cover sport for its readers. Yes. Can you get it elsewhere? Not really. Supporting journalism through .50c a day seems like a win-win for the consumer and news producer.
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@Landers92 said in Highlanders 2024:
@SouthernMann haha ok mate good for you.
Again, as per my previous comment, football/NFL/NRL all have press conferences and the likes on YouTube, Facebook and their own website all for free… Why can’t super rugby teams do the same? How good would that be?! Maybe then we could perhaps even know just a little bit about some of our injured players, at the moment all we get is an email if you’re a member saying ‘unavailable due to injury’.
Just on this. Resources. NFL/NRL/football have decent comms staff. The Highlanders have a few digital media team members. Earlier in the season they did put up press conferences. Probably need to do that again. Unfortunately feel as if they have gone inwards after a few shit results.
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@Landers92 said in Highlanders 2024:
Again, as per my previous comment, football/NFL/NRL all have press conferences and the likes on YouTube, Facebook and their own website all for free… Why can’t super rugby teams do the same? How good would that be?! Maybe then we could perhaps even know just a little bit about some of our injured players, at the moment all we get is an email if you’re a member saying ‘unavailable due to injury’.
The Blues put the post match press conference up on youtube after every game. Not sure if any other teams do. That still relies on good questions getting asked of course.
In general I think all the teams should put more up on social media/youtube. It doesn't take much effort and the content doesn't have to be polished
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@Duluth said in Highlanders 2024:
@Landers92 said in Highlanders 2024:
Again, as per my previous comment, football/NFL/NRL all have press conferences and the likes on YouTube, Facebook and their own website all for free… Why can’t super rugby teams do the same? How good would that be?! Maybe then we could perhaps even know just a little bit about some of our injured players, at the moment all we get is an email if you’re a member saying ‘unavailable due to injury’.
The Blues put the post match press conference up on youtube after every game. Not sure if any other teams do. That still relies on good questions getting asked of course.
In general I think all the teams should put more up on social media/youtube. It doesn't take much effort and the content doesn't have to be polished
Yeah mate exactly, you’re spot on. The blues do a lot right on the social media side of things and fan interaction and most importantly, on the field.
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Blues also have substantially more comms and engagement staff. Highlanders are sadly run on bare bones
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2024:
Blues also have substantially more comms and engagement staff. Highlanders are sadly run on bare bones
But does it have to be professional level?
Have a junior squad member point an iphone at a member of the coaching staff and ask for an update on injuries. Don't swear. Upload it.
This isn't directed just at the Highlanders and it's even more of an issue at NPC level.. but a tiny bit of effort can keep the fans informed
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Speaking of engagement, Roger Clark will be praying we can pickup back to back wins here for several reasons... Saturday kickoff against the Crusaders, in what could be a battle for a playoff spot does actually have a bit of marketability to it if you can get the goodwill back.
I think at the start of the season they'd have circled that game, with hopes of 17k+
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The most frustrating thing about this team, and Otago on an NPC level as well, is that they just always seem to make the wrong decision with ball in hand. Go the wrong side of the ruck, away from the space. Hit up off the forwards when the space is out wide, and conversely throw a ball to a playmaker that isn’t in position. The chip kicks and grubbers that never work. The lack of any real long tactical kicking game.
The forwards can’t catch and pass, and the backs are brain dead.
You watch them and you have to think they are trying to score in 2-3 phases. Because once it goes past that, there is literally no game plan. The complete inability to work long term success on attack is infuriating.
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@Landers92 said in Highlanders 2024:
football/NFL/NRL all have press conferences and the likes on YouTube, Facebook and their own website all for fre
lol what?
The Carolina Panthers are the worst team in the NFL, their annual revenue is $530m US$
The Detroit Pistons are the worst team in the NBA, their annual revenue is $274m US$
Sheffield United played in the Championship last year and still had revenue of 64m pounds. Even as the worst team in the Premier League their revenue will be exponentially higher this year.And they are just teams, scale that up to what the leagues themselves make
NZ Rugby as a whole gets $271M NZ$
