Your 4 midfielders for the Lions
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@Bones its ok when a non-Northlander does it!
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@taniwharugby not for rotated it's not.
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@Chris-B. said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
@kiwiinmelb They may need injuries to open up places for them.
Midfield is hugely competitive - there's potentially a dozen midfield players who wouldn't look out of place in an AB backline - SBW, Moala, Ioane, Ngatai, ALB, Proctor, Laumape, Crotty, Goodhue, Tamanivalu, Fekitoa, Thompson, Buckman - and maybe a couple of others I'm forgetting.
Breaking in will be difficult.
Has NZ rugby ever been so rich in talent as far as midfield is concerned ?
Lock is another position where is depth is ridiculous (Retallick, Whitelock, Barrett, Romano, Tuipolutu, Bird, Franklin, Fatialofa, Fifita, Abbott plus emerging players like Cowley-Tuoti and Scrafton).
Actually, I think Nr.8 is the only position where there is no depth at all (the Chiefs are playing a Japanese international while the Hurricanes use A. Savea as a Nr.8, Luatua's leaving at the end of the season). -
@cgrant said
Actually, I think Nr.8 is the only position where there is no depth at all (the Chiefs are playing a Japanese international while the Hurricanes use A. Savea as a Nr.8, Luatua's leaving at the end of the season).
Hooker?
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I don't think our depth at lock is that great either, massive drop from BBBR/Whitelock to the next best. Plenty of guys with potential but no proven performers at test level.
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@Chester-Draws said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
@cgrant said
Actually, I think Nr.8 is the only position where there is no depth at all (the Chiefs are playing a Japanese international while the Hurricanes use A. Savea as a Nr.8, Luatua's leaving at the end of the season).
Hooker?
Well, behind Coles, Coltman is gaving a great season so far while Codie Taylor is OK. Hika Elliott is not a selectors' favorite but he's very strong and his throwing is very accurate. Riccitelli and Apisai are developping well too. They are very promising, as is Aumua who is very impressive in terms of dynamism.
Nathan Harris has plenty of potential but he is very unlucky. Let's hope he won't be injured again. -
@Chester-Draws said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
@cgrant said
Actually, I think Nr.8 is the only position where there is no depth at all (the Chiefs are playing a Japanese international while the Hurricanes use A. Savea as a Nr.8, Luatua's leaving at the end of the season).
Hooker?
Coles, Taylor, Harris, Coltman, Funnell, Riccitelli, Elliott ... oh yeah and Parsons
.. or not ... -
@No-Quarter said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
I don't think our depth at lock is that great either, massive drop from BBBR/Whitelock to the next best. Plenty of guys with potential but no proven performers at test level.
Hmmm ...
Romano. Barrett. Tuipolutu. Bird..
Would be more than comfortable with any of those guys starting. Especially if it's with one of the the "normal" starters. But hey two of them ain't bad.
Throw in Fifita or Luatua (for the Lions ..
Fuck him leaving ... ) as a benchie, and Fatialofa or GCT as future prospects am not uncomfortable about our locking future. -
Rumours of a Fekitoa move to Wasps. He's barely scratched the surface in NZ. If he signs before the Lions I'd be more than comfortable with him not getting selected.
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@booboo said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
Romano. Barrett. Tuipolutu. Bird..
Would be more than comfortable with any of those guys starting. Especially if it's with one of the the "normal" starters. But hey two of them ain't bad.
Thats still a massive step down tho', we'd be going from the best locking unit in the world to one that probably wont disgrace itself. In contrast we lose A Smith, TJ steps in. Barrett - Cruden, Savea - Naholo, Dagg - NMS etc.
Our gameplan relies on Whitelock & Retalick to a huge degree. And as NQ says, none of those guys are proven test performers, Bird was awful at test level, Tui is an impact sub, Romano has been consistently "OK-ish" when starting & Barrett has played 10 minutes & is currently a 6...
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@Billy-Tell said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
Rumours of a Fekitoa move to Wasps. He's barely scratched the surface in NZ. If he signs before the Lions I'd be more than comfortable with him not getting selected.
With the depth available , I would go along with that
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@gollum said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
@booboo said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
Romano. Barrett. Tuipolutu. Bird..
Would be more than comfortable with any of those guys starting. Especially if it's with one of the the "normal" starters. But hey two of them ain't bad.
Thats still a massive step down tho', we'd be going from the best locking unit in the world to one that probably wont disgrace itself. In contrast we lose A Smith, TJ steps in. Barrett - Cruden, Savea - Naholo, Dagg - NMS etc.
Our gameplan relies on Whitelock & Retalick to a huge degree. And as NQ says, none of those guys are proven test performers, Bird was awful at test level, Tui is an impact sub, Romano has been consistently "OK-ish" when starting & Barrett has played 10 minutes & is currently a 6...
I think your glass needs a top up: it's half empty..
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@gollum said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
@booboo said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
I think your glass needs a top up: it's half empty..
It was half full, but then we rested Retallick & Whitelock in Chicago.
... and several other players.
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True, but thore are the 2 we missed
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@gollum We definitely missed Retallick and Whitelock in Chicago. However, they weren't rested but unavailable through concussion and injury, respectively.
They may be the 2 most important players in the ABs. Yes, more so than Barrett, Coles, Read etc.
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Yep Whitelock and Retallick are right now irreplaceable and the coaches know it. That's why we've seen them play more and more tests for 80 minutes. Not many tier 1 teams if any, are playing both of their locks for 80 these days.
We could get away with starting one of them with one of the others, but it's still a step down.
Barrett has huge upside. Tuipoluto is a menance around the park, but there must be issues there as he hasn't got the starts even against lower ranked sides that you'd expect. Does he have the fitness and workrate that the AB coaches expect? He might just be an impact player in the coaches eyes (and that's fine).
Barrett looks the goods but has a few work ons. I expect he will be an AB for many years to come.
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@gollum said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
@booboo said in Your 4 midfielders for the Lions:
Romano. Barrett. Tuipolutu. Bird..
Would be more than comfortable with any of those guys starting. Especially if it's with one of the the "normal" starters. But hey two of them ain't bad.
Thats still a massive step down tho', we'd be going from the best locking unit in the world to one that probably wont disgrace itself. In contrast we lose A Smith, TJ steps in. Barrett - Cruden, Savea - Naholo, Dagg - NMS etc.
Our gameplan relies on Whitelock & Retalick to a huge degree. And as NQ says, none of those guys are proven test performers, Bird was awful at test level, Tui is an impact sub, Romano has been consistently "OK-ish" when starting & Barrett has played 10 minutes & is currently a 6...
To be honest, I agree Bird was awful when he played for the AB but that was long ago. He has improved a lot since, notably in terms of workrate and "grunt". He should be given a second chance IMO.
