Crusaders 2025
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@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
I assume that's still the plan but I'm sure the powers that be believe 2025 can't go any worse than 2024 for Penney (one or two fewer injuries would have made a big difference, for example), so they're giving him another year to 'right the ship', so to speak, and not throwing Ellison into too high pressure a situation.
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@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
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@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
He is highly rated by the Crusader players and Razor,Not sure why he was not good as you say for Wellington maybe assistants ?
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@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
He is highly rated by the Crusader players and Razor,Not sure why he was not good as you say for Wellington maybe assistants ?
His backs selections were terrible for one. For example he keep selecting a HB who made Christie look like a very fast distributor. And he had a much better option (who is now involved with the Canes and in one pre-season game looked the goods - again)
But there were issues at 1st 5 2nd 5 and wing. And Love completely lost form under his leadership. What a massive disappointment he was after the Crusaders hype.
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@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
I assume that's still the plan but I'm sure the powers that be believe 2025 can't go any worse than 2024 for Penney (one or two fewer injuries would have made a big difference, for example), so they're giving him another year to 'right the ship', so to speak, and not throwing Ellison into too high pressure a situation.
Still the plan and there is some good points in your post,I still see it as a wasted year with Penny again in 2025 the coaching staff were not all aligned last season.
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@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
He is highly rated by the Crusader players and Razor,Not sure why he was not good as you say for Wellington maybe assistants ?
His backs selections were terrible for one. For example he keep selecting a HB who made Christie look like a very fast distributor. And he had a much better option (who is now involved with the Canes and in one pre-season game looked the goods - again)
But there were issues at 1st 5 2nd 5 and wing. And Love completely lost form under his leadership. What a massive disappointment he was after the Crusaders hype.
I still think he will become a very good coach from what I hear he is rated by the players he coaches.
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@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
He is highly rated by the Crusader players and Razor,Not sure why he was not good as you say for Wellington maybe assistants ?
His backs selections were terrible for one. For example he keep selecting a HB who made Christie look like a very fast distributor. And he had a much better option (who is now involved with the Canes and in one pre-season game looked the goods - again)
But there were issues at 1st 5 2nd 5 and wing. And Love completely lost form under his leadership. What a massive disappointment he was after the Crusaders hype.
I still think he will become a very good coach from what I hear he is rated by the players he coaches.
Some are great assistant coaches, But not a head coach. I think Tamati is one. Holland is another.
But I don't mind. We have suffered with Hammett (and Holland) so it would be payback if its a disaster
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@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
He is highly rated by the Crusader players and Razor,Not sure why he was not good as you say for Wellington maybe assistants ?
His backs selections were terrible for one. For example he keep selecting a HB who made Christie look like a very fast distributor. And he had a much better option (who is now involved with the Canes and in one pre-season game looked the goods - again)
But there were issues at 1st 5 2nd 5 and wing. And Love completely lost form under his leadership. What a massive disappointment he was after the Crusaders hype.
Why do you have such an illogical vendetta against Ellison? Wellington topped the table last season (losing 1 game) under Ellison with a significantly higher points differential than anyone else (151), next best Taranaki (83) with 3 losses in regular season.
that is Wellington's best regular season in over a decade.
and lost their semi final by a single point.
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@darylmitchell said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
He is highly rated by the Crusader players and Razor,Not sure why he was not good as you say for Wellington maybe assistants ?
His backs selections were terrible for one. For example he keep selecting a HB who made Christie look like a very fast distributor. And he had a much better option (who is now involved with the Canes and in one pre-season game looked the goods - again)
But there were issues at 1st 5 2nd 5 and wing. And Love completely lost form under his leadership. What a massive disappointment he was after the Crusaders hype.
Why do you have such an illogical vendetta against Ellison? Wellington topped the table last season (losing 1 game) under Ellison with a significantly higher points differential than anyone else (151), next best Taranaki (83) with 3 losses in regular season.
that is Wellington's best regular season in over a decade.
and lost their semi final by a single point.
WOW seems like along way from a disaster
To me,better result than the Hurricanes or at least comparable to Laidlaws first year that must have been a disaster as well,
Seems like a bit of hate going on by Winger. -
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@darylmitchell said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
He is highly rated by the Crusader players and Razor,Not sure why he was not good as you say for Wellington maybe assistants ?
His backs selections were terrible for one. For example he keep selecting a HB who made Christie look like a very fast distributor. And he had a much better option (who is now involved with the Canes and in one pre-season game looked the goods - again)
But there were issues at 1st 5 2nd 5 and wing. And Love completely lost form under his leadership. What a massive disappointment he was after the Crusaders hype.
Why do you have such an illogical vendetta against Ellison? Wellington topped the table last season (losing 1 game) under Ellison with a significantly higher points differential than anyone else (151), next best Taranaki (83) with 3 losses in regular season.
that is Wellington's best regular season in over a decade.
and lost their semi final by a single point.
WOW seems like along way from a disaster
To me,better result than the Hurricanes or at least comparable to Laidlaws first year that must have been a disaster as well,
Seems like a bit of hate going on by Winger.Ellison had a team that won it the year before and held the RS. And easily had the players that could have done likewise. But his poor backs selections (forwards were fine) cost us any chance of repeating the 2022 outcome
My view he seems to be a good enough assistant coach. Many are. But few can make step up
And its not hate to access and rate someone. This is nonsense. Just like not rating a player as a great prospect. Or a good wing but not first 5 say
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@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@darylmitchell said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
He is highly rated by the Crusader players and Razor,Not sure why he was not good as you say for Wellington maybe assistants ?
His backs selections were terrible for one. For example he keep selecting a HB who made Christie look like a very fast distributor. And he had a much better option (who is now involved with the Canes and in one pre-season game looked the goods - again)
But there were issues at 1st 5 2nd 5 and wing. And Love completely lost form under his leadership. What a massive disappointment he was after the Crusaders hype.
Why do you have such an illogical vendetta against Ellison? Wellington topped the table last season (losing 1 game) under Ellison with a significantly higher points differential than anyone else (151), next best Taranaki (83) with 3 losses in regular season.
that is Wellington's best regular season in over a decade.
and lost their semi final by a single point.
WOW seems like along way from a disaster
To me,better result than the Hurricanes or at least comparable to Laidlaws first year that must have been a disaster as well,
Seems like a bit of hate going on by Winger.Ellison had a team that won it the year before and held the RS. And easily had the players that could have done likewise. But his poor backs selections (forwards were fine) cost us any chance of repeating the 2022 outcome
My view he seems to be a good enough assistant coach. Many are. But few can make step up
And its not hate to access and rate someone. This is nonsense. Just like not rating a player as a great prospect. Or a good wing but not first 5 say
Seems a bit over the top he was not a disaster
Laidlaw failed as well then he has not won anything as yet in 15s.got beaten in the SFs. -
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@darylmitchell said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Winger said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
He wasn't great with Wellington. I was happy he left after one year. Unsure if the new coach will be any better but now there is some hope that he might be.
He is highly rated by the Crusader players and Razor,Not sure why he was not good as you say for Wellington maybe assistants ?
His backs selections were terrible for one. For example he keep selecting a HB who made Christie look like a very fast distributor. And he had a much better option (who is now involved with the Canes and in one pre-season game looked the goods - again)
But there were issues at 1st 5 2nd 5 and wing. And Love completely lost form under his leadership. What a massive disappointment he was after the Crusaders hype.
Why do you have such an illogical vendetta against Ellison? Wellington topped the table last season (losing 1 game) under Ellison with a significantly higher points differential than anyone else (151), next best Taranaki (83) with 3 losses in regular season.
that is Wellington's best regular season in over a decade.
and lost their semi final by a single point.
WOW seems like along way from a disaster
To me,better result than the Hurricanes or at least comparable to Laidlaws first year that must have been a disaster as well,
Seems like a bit of hate going on by Winger.Ellison had a team that won it the year before and held the RS. And easily had the players that could have done likewise. But his poor backs selections (forwards were fine) cost us any chance of repeating the 2022 outcome
My view he seems to be a good enough assistant coach. Many are. But few can make step up
And its not hate to access and rate someone. This is nonsense. Just like not rating a player as a great prospect. Or a good wing but not first 5 say
Seems a bit unusual to write off Ellison as a head coach after one season, the guy was still playing in Japan 5 years ago and only started coaching in 2020, he was 40 when he led the Lions last year.
You really think there's no potential for development in a young coach still at the formative stages of his career?
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@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
I wonder if the Crusaders had this in mind and were ready to do this but then the gig he landed with the All Blacks came along and threw that whole plan off…
Still possible Tamiti is only involved for Home test weeks.
He will not travel to SA,Australia or the end of year tour.Really? If true that is disappointing to hear. I think Taimati has more potential as a coach than Rangi and Holland who've had very limited success as coaches despite having over a decade of coaching experience.
Ellison has already won 4 titles, 1 as Wellington defense coach, 3 as Crusaders defense coach. I would rather see him full-time in the All Black's environment to support Rangi and Holland, is Razor really only taking 4 assistant coaches overseas @Chris?
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@darylmitchell said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Mr-Fish said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2025:
@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2025:
@Chris Yeah don’t get me wrong, Penny shouldn’t be there. I just don’t think Mainsbridge should shoulder the full blame. A lot more to it.
No not just Mainsbridge but he runs the ship he has to take some heat for decisions.
You protecting your clubman there ?.Who would you have coaching the Crusaders over Penney?
I would rather they bite the bullet and give it to Tamati Ellison, if we are going to take some pain develop a young coach.
I wonder if the Crusaders had this in mind and were ready to do this but then the gig he landed with the All Blacks came along and threw that whole plan off…
Still possible Tamiti is only involved for Home test weeks.
He will not travel to SA,Australia or the end of year tour.Really? If true that is disappointing to hear. I think Taimati has more potential as a coach than Rangi and Holland who've had very little success as coaches despite having over a decade of coaching experience.
Ellison has already won 4 titles, 1 as Wellington defense coach, 3 as Crusaders defense coach. I would rather see him full-time in the All Black's environment to support Rangi and Holland, is Razor really only taking 4 assistant coaches overseas @Chris?
Yes Taimati only involved for home tests on a part time capacity.
From the article below
Tamati Ellison, who has been a member of the Crusaders coaching group for the last two years, will also work part-time as a contact skills coach.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350308970/all-blacks-add-corey-flynn-and-david-hill-coaching-staff -
Confirmation of Penney keeping his job & comments from Mansbridge etc
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Hey Mansbridge, nobody is asking you to kill the golden goose or blow up the academy, people were wanting a change in coach. Sure there were some close losses and there were injuries, but the team was dysfunctional, and that is on the coaches. Given the lack of past success for Penny, it's hard to see things being different next season.
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@Crazy-Horse said in Crusaders 2025:
Hey Mansbridge, nobody is asking you to kill the golden goose or blow up the academy, people were wanting a change in coach. Sure there were some close losses and there were injuries, but the team was dysfunctional, and that is on the coaches. Given the lack of past success for Penny, it's hard to see things being different next season.
yeah 100% stupid remarks by Mansbridge an over reaction,sacking the coach sure as hell will not kill the golden goose, or blow up the Academy FFS.
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The Academy is cooked anyway. The money they spend on that and the players that actually come thru don’t compare. I’d love a breakdown of players that have been there since 2017 and see who’s actually played super rugby or NPC.
I know from our club we’ve had 2 in past 4 years who haven’t kicked on.