The Silver Fern

Gona be a close one Chiefs by 30. Poor night for goal kicking.

The cards were easy decisions but I didnt like the way the ref controlled the game from the start, creating flow is a must between nz teams, other than that i feel wellington scoring after a minute was the worse thing that they did as after that they seemed to relaxed, b4 they knew it and 1 million free kicks later it was still only 5nil. But well done blues finally got sm rub of the green.

Great win for northland, a good free flowing couple of tries gave them the confidence they have been missing, that style of play tho still only pays off 10% of the time hence the season score board, i have always believed the squad is ther but its higher up that needs to be looked at, alot of money is being spent with the coaching staff and the 100 assistance they have for very little payback. Good way to end the season tho over a top 4 team.

The injuries seem to have been an issue the last few years, their must be a factor that is leading to this.

@taniwharugby bugger injuries are like a cancer when loosing,

One big difference i think has happened which has exposed a few areas is the other teams are showing northland more respect this year, not resting too many players etc, and northland are not getting the turn over ball from 50/50 plays that they have lived off over the years. The positive thing i want to say tho is that if the teams are now showing respect then thats well earned for the last few years of grinding on the park but unfortunately it looks like this has exposed weaknesess that have been there for a while. I know we have some young players but if structures were in place that were proven worked then the team would be still very competitive weather winning or loosing. To me our 2 playmakers in Nock and Debrizini are not bying into the gameplan or some of our team are not capable of executing it. Its a shame as that is
good team and i would say some coaches out their would lick ther lips if they had that squad.

@kev yeah smthings not right our players are much better than this, everthing just looks tough from passing to tackling, you can see the players hurting, next week will be the week onwards and upwards.

@Nath-Jac hats off to the bay tho they are sharp, impressed with their tight 5 and ther 10 is silky.

@Nath-Jac prime example on attack from line out, 4wds not knowing that crash ball was happening and they send in 5 into ruck, they then spin blind and have only 1 blower

BOP just a well coached team, Northland playing as individuals, debrecini playing very unstructured and its flowing thru the team, 4wds have no targets in attack, gutting.

@taniwharugby i think fielding 2 teams has to be done to preserve the comp but a simple switch of playing the prem game first could imptove the issue, it would mean we get a prem team with full reserves then a reserve team that is backed up by prem players, it could also sort out the front row issues for the struggling clubs, then at times a club could travel with limited numbers and compete in both games.

@kev northland have tried to get the 18s going and south of whangarei there is enough players to make this happen, the issue tho are some clubs wont support it as they need these kids to make up the reserves team which ends up pushing the kids that cant match the phisical aspects of prem rugby out of the game. The reserves comp i feel is the comp that needs to be targeted for improvment, the 4 clubs each year that make the playoffs in prem rugby are always big in numbers, reserve team is usually competative, as everything flows back into trainings etc, the clubs that struggle have no numbers and rely on our young kids to make up the numbers. By end of season only the brave are left trying to hold the fort.

@taniwharugby dean kenny suggested an idea about 5 years ago in regards to a development program, where you utalise toll stadium and get 20 or so 18-20 year olds, educate them and train them, find them jobs and get them ready for npc rugby, after a few years youll have a pool of players ready and coming thru, the goal tho has to be getting these kids into super rugby and beyond as they will always return to their roots when finishing up their time to help the next generation. I remember dean being asked where would you get the money to start and dean said you have 40,000 tied up in 2 props who cant make the team, maybe you could start ther. When it comes to development hes the man you want, bit rough around the edges but 100% loyal to all rugby, to any player that is around him, i can think of 5 players that would not of had the success in northland if they had not been under dean for the 2 seasons and another half dozen that shd of been given a chance to play northland, i am inexperianced in rugby and life for that matter but with the way npc is now a person like kenny or someone from the laurie mains/lahore breeding grounds where rugby was amatuer and played with short turn arounds, ie late 80s early 90s would really benifit northland, i really dont think money would be an issue with these kind of coaches and any talent at our door step would be soaked up into the system, ill always remember a prop that played for otamatea, he was actually steve harris nephew Hoane, quiet kid who had natural talent, his brother also played at 2nd 5, both had emence talent and presence on and off the field, if there was a system back then that gave these players a path they would have had a couple of great years for northland before moving to higher honors, but for what ever reason no one else identifys these players and the system fails, cole cambell was another one, his i.q on the footy field is 2nd to none along with his skills he would of been a great captain, because of his leadership skills and values he set otas made the semis a year after he left to go over seas, but for some reason this kind of story is to frequent, i was at toll stadium for a ngai tahu get together a few weeks ago and got talking to someone who was very passionate about the team like all the followers of tjis site are and he said that the word going around was northland shd would be better off in heartland rugby, now if this kind of talk is happening then its time that the place has a big shake up as Northland are better than that, i felt sorry for this feller as it looked like he believed what he was saying, the passion and drive is visable in northland, we just need to divert it into the right areas and for the people of have the powers to do it walk the talk.

@Steven-Harris club rugby has to be factured in to the contracts, these players are meant to be elite and should lead the way in all areas of club rugby, with the results over the last 6 years the best idea i have heared is the players are paid after each game. The contract that they sign is performance based and if they perform on the big stage they get more money. This gets opened up to the b team as well so you have a squad of 30 or so players on minamim wage getting bonuses for the effort they are giving, as soon as you make the top team your pay goes up, if you get dropped your pay goes down, miss training - less pay, people will.say that no player of significance will play for northland with a set up like this but when you do look at the win % over the last few years it would still be the same, you would soon have people playing for the jumper again and a b team full of players wanting to get a chance at making more money, i bet our injuries would dramatically reduce.

Unfortunately northland does not have enough class in the key positions that a team can be built around, out of the 7 key positions that i feel really matter, tight head prop, and lock, open side, half back, first five, wing and full back we cover 3 poss 4. We have potential but lack class in the others which then falls back on to the coaches to design the structures etc that will expose the teams full potential and make them competative which i dont feel is happening yet. Good structures wont dismantle under fatgue and pressure as easily as they are at the moment, i dont think fitness is an issue but it does look like some have put on too much mass which has slowed them down abit. Nock has been recieving some slack but he needs to get front foot ball to be affective, he seems to have to back track alot to make the rucks which becomes hard after a while. May still be worth a sneaky bet on them agsinst b.o.p its bound to happen sooner or later.

I am unsure what training the taniwha currently do but completeing skill work and structures under fatigue at training should eliminate those basic errors, i see they resorted to the pod system crap again, too easy to defend,

@taniwharugby i here what you are saying and that seems to be what has happened since Whitcomb took over the first time then harris, alot of broken play and tries from turn overs etc, but where i am coming from is the northland teams in the past that have been successful can stay in the grind for the 80mins,complete their basics for long periods, under whitcomb they keep phasing in and out and rely on other teams to click off, i still cant get past the fact that even tho they have made semi finals a couple of times it still is only 11th, 12th in new zealand over all, back in the day north auckland would win 2nd div alot of the time then compete in the 1st div untill relegation but would still be clear class above the hawks bays and bay of plentys etc, one thing that i think would help the team is design a game plan that our weakest players can follow in their sleep, and let our more natural or better skilled players stand out later in the games, i belive all the bad passes, drop ball and dumb penalties result in some of our players trying to execute things that dont come natural to them. We have a great squad and simplifying the structure may be the key to winning, id like to see debreceney take the line on more and look to off load, if the off load not on 2nd phase comes off gregory from the back, these kind of plays will allow our looses more time to be effective and stop doing too much tight stuff.

Too many changes each week, never really letting the team settle, the players look like they have put too much muscle on and its affected their mobility around the park, it doesnt matter what the game plan is as the basics are still lacking, set piece still fails under pressure and the ball skills are still poor. This comes back to coaching, get the foundations solid, strong scrum, consistent line out and the ability to catch and pass under pressure or fatigue then defense and effort falls into place, they have enough depth in key positions to build a gameplan around, but it has to be northland rugby, and in the past when northland has been successful solid set piece and ball skills were the teams strength which alloud the individual talent to shine later in the games, unfortunately the team is lacking in those areas, they will proberly go alright against canturbury as they may be taken lightly, but id like to see the coaches go right back to basics, earn the right to go wide, play terratory, crash of 10s etc, no dumb penalties, and stop all the off the ball shit its wasting too much energy. Upset in the making.

winning when they are expected to must be a new kind of pressure they are learning to deal with, and add to that most of the remaining top tier players got a decent run they passed the test under more pressure than they have had all year.
the game was hard to watch but when expectations are higher the patients runs thinner quicker. Would like Ranger to let the ball go a little more out side him, with the domination he is showing beating tackles I think he has the defenders on the back foot now so he can put his wingers away.
with some tough matches coming up against good attacking teams will be interesting how they attack the rush defence from northland, might start to see alot more inside balls and Debrec (10) being tested.
pretty sure Konia will be quietly happy with his backs dominating McClouds.

great win by Northland, I am glad they put Manawatu away like that as apart from 40mins against Canterbury they have been very poor this year, was happy for Hyland, he looks like a player who is starting to benefit from hard work of the field, seems very sharp in attack, defence and haircut.