Highlanders 2024
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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.
Ben Herring is leaving Toyota Verblitz at the end of this season, I wonder about the potential for him to take over from Dillon as defence coach in addition to being a breakdown/contact skills coach? He's a former no7, is a good coach of the breakdown area - has compiled a lot of great content on the rugbysite. If Donnelly is also replaced, as for another forwards coach I wonder if Jono Gibbs would be interested as he's only a Chiefs resource coach at the moment and also spends a few months with the NZ-U20s?
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@mariner4life said in Highlanders 2024:
@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 $271M NZ$
Yes I understand that, but like someone pointed out above, doing something off a camera or phone isn’t hard. You can literally upload to YouTube for free.
Like I said to southermann it’s not a shot at anyone, was just an observation and creating a small discussion about what the highlanders and NZ rugby as a whole could work on. Didn’t expect it to escalate like it has haha.
Appreciate your point.
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i think what i see compared to some other sports at different levels is that the Franchises are still not an inherent part of their local communities, not too the extent we see elsewhere....when these sports teams ARE then we see people volunteering their time because they want to be part of it and all those perifial things flesh out the whole organisation...but what we see is this very lean organisation...they play rugby...and thats kind of it
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2024:
i think what i see compared to some other sports at different levels is that the Franchises are still not an inherent part of their local communities, not too the extent we see elsewhere....when these sports teams ARE then we see people volunteering their time because they want to be part of it and all those perifial things flesh out the whole organisation...but what we see is this very lean organisation...they play rugby...and thats kind of it
Disagree here. The Highlanders have stepped up their community engagement a bucket load over the last year.
- Pre-season tour in Central Otago
- Easter egg hunt in the botan gardens
- Split Crusaders/Highlanders trip to Temuka
- Southland Highlanders in Invercargill
- Updates around who is playing club rugby each week
- plus, plus
From a social media perspective, sure they could probably do a couple more things and I reckon they'd be nailing it. One, being like a players corner on a Wednesday or something similar. Plus a coaches round-up. There seems like a lot of short-clips, but from the sound of things, people are wanting a bit more depth.
If I was them, what I'd do with the ODT as a sponsor, would be say, if you are a Highlanders member get a 50% subscription reduction. Get ODT to do their videos, play 30% of them on the Highlanders social channels and say for the rest they are behind the wall on the ODT website. Creates content and drives traffic for a sponsor.
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2024:
when these sports teams ARE then we see people volunteering their time because they want to be part of it and all those perifial things flesh out the whole organisation...but what we see is this very lean organisation...they play rugby...and thats kind of it
volunteers??? my guy these are supposed to be top-to-bottom professional sporting organisations! This isn't Dunedin Marist.
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@mariner4life we cant have it both ways , we cant say they're tiny compared to these other sports/teams that are doing lots of cool stuff.....but we're too big and important to look to volunteers.... unless we're just giving up...whatever we have right now is all we can ever expect
Its also a stepping stone, volunteers start something for the love of it...prove the fans like it...pick up sponsors or subscribers, become official
Wimbledons official Podcast, pre and post match shows and you tube channel grew from two guys doing their own podcast for fun on their phones
@SouthernMann i would say that list of things is all pretty route one...but my main point is the result...its still not the default for +20k people to go to a game every week.....or start a podcast...or a you tube channel...or a supporters club than arranges road trips or away game get toegthers
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All.Rugby says that Waikato prop Solomone Tukuafu is joining the Landers.
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@Daffy-Jaffy He's been training with them since pre season iirc. Was a late addition to the bench last night and made his debut.
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@Trig said in Highlanders 2024:
@Daffy-Jaffy He's been training with them since pre season iirc. Was a late addition to the bench last night and made his debut.
And it was a good debut too. Did his job and actually held up the scrum. If Ainsley is not fit, I'd like to see him stay on.
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in the interest of positive news...we're about to sell a million jerseys
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Hurley can surely only be considered as a replacement for Patchell who is still being assessed...so more injury cover coming in?
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@Kiwiwomble From bad to worse. Harmon staying at 8 for the rest of the season is what’s best for this team. Was hoping Renton would come back and give us a bit of depth but now Haig gets a chance to step up and get some exposure(and whoever else they roll with on the bench).
Fingers crossed for Patchell but it didn’t look great.
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@Landers92 Shame about Renton, but in the grand scheme, as long as the rest stay injury free probably not the biggest deal IMO. We look way more balanced with an actual blindside.
Hopefully Stodart gets the nod in 20.
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@Kiwiwomble please not Hurley. We don’t need another undersized, erratic back. Having been a long suffering green island supporter, Hurley lacks any tactical house and lacks a cool head.
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@KiwiInLondon said in Highlanders 2024:
….and lacks a cool head.
Given his size…he should be a halfback then
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@KiwiInLondon said in Highlanders 2024:
@Kiwiwomble please not Hurley. We don’t need another undersized, erratic back. Having been a long suffering green island supporter, Hurley lacks any tactical house and lacks a cool head.
Come on mate Hurley rips up at club footy whenever he’s in the field, it’s the next step where he struggles like we saw with Otago.
He’s been in the system long enough you’d think he would be able to do a job but based off the previous Otago season he isn’t ready for Super yet.
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@Landers92 probably a broader symptom of otagos inability to upskill their 2022 u20s ABs. Lack of development is a real concern when compared with other franchises
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2024:
Hurley can surely only be considered as a replacement for Patchell who is still being assessed...so more injury cover coming in?
Sheesh, Renton and Lowe must have spent more than half their pro careers out injured.
Boarding school toff softies.
