Ran into one of my North Harbour contacts this morning..The Highlanders are having a good look at Ethan Roots..interesting

@muddyriver you make some good points, I can’t help feel that we suffer with the quality of our club rugby, sure you might get the odd game where you have intensity for 80 minutes, but it would be fair to say there’s some average stuff out there..
I have always noticed ,some of the boys over the years that have played in the Auckland club comp always seem to bring an extra bit of intensity to the Taniwha ..
The Pryor boys,even though Kara was frustrating with the amount of penalties he gave away..Tom Robinson and Matt Matich ..just seem to play with an intensity which they gained playing in the Auckland comp..be interested to get your thoughts..
I like your point about Ranger, he adds so much attacking knowledge to a team and I think Debreczini looks to or 3 steps ahead of the rest of the backs with the way he views the game..

@J77 starting another union in the far North won’t hide the fact that even though there are many talented players they will still rock up with skill issues ,wether it be simple draw and pass or playing to a game plan and with intensity required to go to another level ..
I have heard some club games in the far North tend to mirror a game of league with forwards continuously smashing into contact ,not looking to pass..so you have got to question some of the coaching ,now I could be totally off the mark here, but you do wonder..
I have known and seen many talented players , but sometimes it’s the little things that require Zero talent sets the ones that go further
Here’s 10 of them ..Zero talent required..

1.Being on time
2.Work ethic
3.Effort
4.Body Language
5.Energy
6.Attitude
7.Passion
8.Being coachable
9.Doing Extras
10.Being Prepared

@Stargazer that’s a lot of red tape..probably explains why they stick with the squad .

@Nath-Jac what do you think about changing the contracting structure..?, I would imagine you would still have to offer a full contract to a Super Rugby player..but for the player that your not 100% sure about or the one that wants to come to Northland but your not to sure about...apparently Northland gets a lot of CVs sent to the union ,but it would a big risk to fully contract someone on either or CV or a video..(that worked really well last time we treaded that path)..2 Argie props come to mind..be interested in thoughts as someone who has coached ..

@Donsteppa I could spike the Steamers drinks , and they would still run out and do the business..I get off a plane coming back from OZ on Sunday evening...I will be in a serious state of WTF if the Taniwha do the unimaginable....I think you can bank this one..we have no bananas skins

@Snollygoster if we had the 2018 team..I would backs us..but you guys should go into this game as massive favourites ..

@taniwharugby it’s a real shame we can’t go outside the squad..maybe we have to look at the way we contract players moving forward ..we have played by the rules ,signing as many guys as we can before the season starts..,running HP programs during the season, it must be incredibly frustrating for the coaching management, especially if there is someone in the Dev squad playing well but because we have got to use the squad contracted players, what do you do..?,
At least if you did not have so many guys contracted ,you could either go back to someone in the Dev squad or loan player who is under used from another union..
Be interested to get someone else’s thoughts ...?

Straker will be back from injury, but nobody else unfortunately..
After watching Jonty Rae hobbling around, that will be a miracle recovery ..Matich will be another interesting one to see if he plays.

@Bones Tevita Li was one of the kids that was supposed to be the next coming , but from what I could see his game never found consistency or improvement to take him to another level , pace for Africa ,but prone to the most outrageous mistakes .