All Blacks 2024
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@Chris-B pitchforks have already sold out across the greater Wellington region, we are ready to go come Monday night!
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Everyone here is picking "the best 32 players" or really, in most cases "the obvious ones plus my favourites"
I hope we are miles wrong and the coaches have a very specific way they want to play, and pick the players who will play best in that system. And then come out and fucking say it.
Would be a refreshing change -
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Everyone here is picking "the best 32 players" or really, in most cases "the obvious ones plus my favourites"
It makes for some pretty good and funny entertainment though
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@No-Quarter said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@Chris-B pitchforks have already sold out across the greater Wellington region, we are ready to go come Monday night!
Maybe there'll be some cheap ones on Trademe come Monday!
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@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
AJ Lams level right now is AB XV. Struggling to see the argument for him even making the test squad to totally be honest. Absolute log jam of midfielders and wingers ahead of him as well.
He's not being suggested as a specialist winger or a specialist midfielder
Maybe the coaches want an Ennor style of player, maybe they don't. They can be very useful on the bench. If they do want that sort of player there's Lam, Rona, Sullivan, McLeod etc
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sort of adding to my point above, if the AB game style is dependent on a big munter to run straight from 12, who is the 2nd best player in NZ to do that? If it is AJ Lam, then pick him. Is he a better player than, say, ALB? no, but is he the best fit for the game style the coaches want? if the answer is yes, then that's how you select.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
sort of adding to my point above, if the AB game style is dependent on a big munter to run straight from 12, who is the 2nd best player in NZ to do that? If it is AJ Lam, then pick him. Is he a better player than, say, ALB? no, but is he the best fit for the game style the coaches want? if the answer is yes, then that's how you select.
^this
crazy to think the idea of aligning types of players to game plan has to be spelt out
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@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Lol how is Billy Proctor all of a sudden unfavoured. He was clearly the form centre throughout the majority of Super rugby and has been kicking the door down for a couple years now with his consistency. I'll be very surprised if he wasn't selected, especially because Holland is selecting the centres and he pushed for his case when he was coaching the Canes as welll.
Proctor is also a VG 2nd 5. And has a good (enough) kicking game. And he's much faster than the like of Conrad Smith. I think he could cover wing if required.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
sort of adding to my point above, if the AB game style is dependent on a big munter to run straight from 12, who is the 2nd best player in NZ to do that? If it is AJ Lam, then pick him. Is he a better player than, say, ALB? no, but is he the best fit for the game style the coaches want? if the answer is yes, then that's how you select.
McDonald specifically talked about picking players for the way they want to play on the Rugby Pod, so I hope so.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
sort of adding to my point above, if the AB game style is dependent on a big munter to run straight from 12, who is the 2nd best player in NZ to do that? If it is AJ Lam, then pick him. Is he a better player than, say, ALB? no, but is he the best fit for the game style the coaches want? if the answer is yes, then that's how you select.
This is true - but, the other side of the equation is that your game plan has to be tailored a bit to the players you have available. E.g. it would be pretty dumb to come up with a gameplan that doesn't suit DMac (or maybe Beaden).
Does make you wonder about halfback selections, because there's quite a lot of different strengths and weaknesses available.
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@Chris-B said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
sort of adding to my point above, if the AB game style is dependent on a big munter to run straight from 12, who is the 2nd best player in NZ to do that? If it is AJ Lam, then pick him. Is he a better player than, say, ALB? no, but is he the best fit for the game style the coaches want? if the answer is yes, then that's how you select.
This is true - but, the other side of the equation is that your game plan has to be tailored a bit to the players you have available. E.g. it would be pretty dumb to come up with a gameplan that doesn't suit DMac (or maybe Beaden).
Does make you wonder about halfback selections, because there's quite a lot of different strengths and weaknesses available.
I agree with tailoring the gameplan to some key players - and likewise avoiding a gameplan that you don't have the cattle to implement effectively: the 1995 'mehrts, get it to jonah' plan would not have been quite as effective without Jonah.
Halfbacks though, I am in the camp of you pick those that can clear rucks fastest and most accurately almost regardless of game plan - the exception would be a totally defensive 10 man rugby kick all day mindset, and I can't see us going down that path. -
Agreed completely. My comment is dictated on the game plan being built to suit the top 23, and then picking the squad as like-for-like replacements, rather than "the next best player" which means if option 1 is out, you need to tweak how you play as well as swap guys in and out.
Thus my comment on AJ Lam is as the JB replacement.I guess the other side is, in NZ, we probably have to give thought to "will this guy fuck off if we don't pick him?". A guy like ALB can probably not afford to stay in NZ and not be an AB, so will just go elsewhere for more coin. I often wonder if the selection of some guys is built around that.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Agreed completely. My comment is dictated on the game plan being built to suit the top 23, and then picking the squad as like-for-like replacements, rather than "the next best player" which means if option 1 is out, you need to tweak how you play as well as swap guys in and out.
Thus my comment on AJ Lam is as the JB replacement.So are you saying, if Jordie went down and you want to keep the same game plan you would pick AJ Lam because he is, in your opinion, a like for like replacement?
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@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Agreed completely. My comment is dictated on the game plan being built to suit the top 23, and then picking the squad as like-for-like replacements, rather than "the next best player" which means if option 1 is out, you need to tweak how you play as well as swap guys in and out.
Thus my comment on AJ Lam is as the JB replacement.So are you saying, if Jordie went down and you want to keep the same game plan you would pick AJ Lam because he is, in your opinion, a like for like replacement?
no. you are completely missed the "if" part of the post to create a "gotcha"
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Agreed completely. My comment is dictated on the game plan being built to suit the top 23, and then picking the squad as like-for-like replacements, rather than "the next best player" which means if option 1 is out, you need to tweak how you play as well as swap guys in and out.
Thus my comment on AJ Lam is as the JB replacement.So are you saying, if Jordie went down and you want to keep the same game plan you would pick AJ Lam because he is, in your opinion, a like for like replacement?
no. you are completely missed the "if" part of the post to create a "gotcha"
Nah I’m not, I’m not in it for that and couldn’t care about ‘gotchas’. Just trying to understand what you mean by like for like with AJ Lam to JB.
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@reprobate There's a lot to be said for halfbacks who can snipe and run effectively - that threat holds the defence a bit.
Your halfback needs to be able to box kick effectively.
I'm not a fan of midget halfbacks who can be run over close to the line.
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@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Agreed completely. My comment is dictated on the game plan being built to suit the top 23, and then picking the squad as like-for-like replacements, rather than "the next best player" which means if option 1 is out, you need to tweak how you play as well as swap guys in and out.
Thus my comment on AJ Lam is as the JB replacement.So are you saying, if Jordie went down and you want to keep the same game plan you would pick AJ Lam because he is, in your opinion, a like for like replacement?
no. you are completely missed the "if" part of the post to create a "gotcha"
Nah I’m not, I’m not in it for that and couldn’t care about ‘gotchas’. Just trying to understand what you mean by like for like with AJ Lam to JB.
this is my post:
"sort of adding to my point above, if the AB game style is dependent on a big munter to run straight from 12, who is the 2nd best player in NZ to do that? If it is AJ Lam, then pick him. Is he a better player than, say, ALB? no, but is he the best fit for the game style the coaches want? if the answer is yes, then that's how you select"
It's not even about AJ Lam, he's purely the example because people were debating him at the time. I don't know nearly enough about him as a player to advocate for him one way or the other. What i am advocating is a system.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@Landers92 said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2024 - looking forward:
Agreed completely. My comment is dictated on the game plan being built to suit the top 23, and then picking the squad as like-for-like replacements, rather than "the next best player" which means if option 1 is out, you need to tweak how you play as well as swap guys in and out.
Thus my comment on AJ Lam is as the JB replacement.So are you saying, if Jordie went down and you want to keep the same game plan you would pick AJ Lam because he is, in your opinion, a like for like replacement?
no. you are completely missed the "if" part of the post to create a "gotcha"
Nah I’m not, I’m not in it for that and couldn’t care about ‘gotchas’. Just trying to understand what you mean by like for like with AJ Lam to JB.
this is my post:
"sort of adding to my point above, if the AB game style is dependent on a big munter to run straight from 12, who is the 2nd best player in NZ to do that? If it is AJ Lam, then pick him. Is he a better player than, say, ALB? no, but is he the best fit for the game style the coaches want? if the answer is yes, then that's how you select"
It's not even about AJ Lam, he's purely the example because people were debating him at the time. I don't know nearly enough about him as a player to advocate for him one way or the other. What i am advocating is a system.
I’m with you now. At first I thought it was a AJ Lam to Jordie Barrett comparison and I was thinking what has this conversation come to.
Working and going on the fern isn’t recommended, you can miss the minor details that make it all make sense haha. Cheers mate.
