Highlanders 2025
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These teams always throw around some left field selections.
I'm surprised there aren't a few more from the U20s. No Pledger, Holland Jr, Muliaina...
Fletcher Morgan is an odd pick up. Must really be stuff all outside backs around.
A-one Lolofie is an odd absentee.
Josh Augistine must still be coming back from a broken leg.
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Out of interest what’s the status of Jeremiah Asi? Feels like he was an academy player destined for bit things a couple of years back then seems to have vanished last couple of years. He still in the system?
Konrad Toleafoa and Aaron Withy are two more who seemed hyped for big things than haven’t seen much of since. Though at least Asi made NPC.
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@handa457 said in Highlanders 2025:
Out of interest what’s the status of Jeremiah Asi? Feels like he was an academy player destined for bit things a couple of years back then seems to have vanished last couple of years. He still in the system?
Konrad Toleafoa and Aaron Withy are two more who seemed hyped for big things than haven’t seen much of since. Though at least Asi made NPC.
Toleafoa was the dominant player in club rugby I believe. He is just in a difficult spot, where the two players ahead of him for Otago are Lio-Willie and Stodart. I wouldn't be surprised if he buggers off after realising the opportunities are blocked at Otago.
Aaron Withy is probably behind Harry Taylor, Lucas Casey and probably Max Ratcliffe.
Then at the Highlanders add in his brother, Michaels, Lasaqa, Rutledge (down the line), and the young fella who tore it up with the Maori U18s last year. Plenty of loosie options coming through.
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Some legend has clipped together every touch by Finn Hurley from last night. What a huge workrate. Probably about six or eight really high quality touches. Defensively he is like a jack russell. Has nailed how he wants to take down the bigger lads.
Yeah he can make mistakes. We should just expect at least one clanger from him a game.
For a guy of only 21 he has certainly copped some shit since he first played top flight footy at 19. Hopefully what he can do overshadows the occasional clanger.
We will see a few changes. DLB going for a holiday. TUJ potentially coming in.
A change that caught my eye was Narata being a 20 minute player from 40 mins to 60.
Taine Robinson is a lad who has surprised me. For a guy who I had never seen much of. He is very steady at 10, and is providing just what the team needs in the role.
We are becoming a fun team to watch again. Long-range tries, and linking well. Sure beats how we have farted about in previous seasons.
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@SouthernMann yeah Robinson is the player that many imagined Millar was. Extremely good option taker and top notch execution.
Hurley really is DMac MKII.
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@Bones said in Highlanders 2025:
@SouthernMann yeah Robinson is the player that many imagined Millar was. Extremely good option taker and top notch execution.
Hurley really is DMac MKII.
I had no idea who Taine Robinson was when his name dropped last year in the squad. I just had nightmares about the last 10/15 we had from Ta$man in Mitch Hunt
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@SouthernMann I had no idea who he was two weeks ago!
But now that you've tarnished him, I'm not interested
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@frugby it's obvious JJ has the team galvanized this season, we had essentially 5 - 6 loose forwards in the 23 able to contribute towards the victory, where as an inferior coach (just my opinion) such as R Penney has a reliable team figure in Tom Christie out playing for a development side, what I'm more or less trying to say I think the team culture of the landers is on the upswing, the boys are clearly fit Sean withy and Holland huge shifts the past week, big Soane Vikena & Sefo Kautai quite remarkable endurance last night
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@Grooter said in Highlanders 2025:
where as an inferior coach (just my opinion) such as R Penney
I suspect you are not alone in thinking this
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2025:
For a guy of only 21 he has certainly copped some shit since he first played top flight footy at 19. Hopefully what he can do overshadows the occasional clanger.
Absolutely love to see Finn having the game he did last night. The only place I’ve seen him cop shit is on here funnily enough so it’s lovely watching the ones that are constantly on him eat their words. Not bad for a 21 year old eh, massive talent! Couldn’t be happier for him.
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2025:
We are becoming a fun team to watch again. Long-range tries, and linking well. Sure beats how we have farted about in previous seasons.
What vision and time on the ball, and that try! But my fave moment is perhaps "Barrett with authority" then gets crunched by the smallest guy on the field...
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I've been replaying the last twenty minutes of the game last night over and over.
I think it speaks to how much we need the Jamie Joseph style of coaching in the deep south. I miss that style of highlanders where each position was filled by a larger than life bloke who fought in the trenches for the team. Guys like Big Nasi, The Barracuda, Joe Wheeler, Elliot Dixon, Alex Ainley, Ash Dixon. Blokes who at best were only ever on the All Black fringes but just turned up with a chip on their shoulder.
Last night felt like the super rugby final of 2015 all over again. Just a grim determination to refuse to die no matter the odds. Anyone seen the TV Shoresy? There's a line in there that really stood out to me 'I don't want a team of winners, I want a team who hate losing more than anything else'.
Big Jim surely has to have a ticket into the All Blacks after that. Fabian Holland has to be not long behind him too. Taylor, Hurley, Withy and Fakatava had immense shifts last night too and probably moved up the pecking order a bit.
Blooyd proud right now, and wish i was in Dunedin to celebrate in the octagon. It would have been a wild night.
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@Landers92 said in Highlanders 2025:
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2025:
For a guy of only 21 he has certainly copped some shit since he first played top flight footy at 19. Hopefully what he can do overshadows the occasional clanger.
Absolutely love to see Finn having the game he did last night. The only place I’ve seen him cop shit is on here funnily enough so it’s lovely watching the ones that are constantly on him eat their words. Not bad for a 21 year old eh, massive talent! Couldn’t be happier for him.
Was quite interesting to hear both Jamie and Finn himself discussing the need for balance in his game
I won’t pretend like I haven’t been a critic, but I reckon his decision making has been vastly better in these two games this season. I have felt in the past he has misexecuted things which were the wrong option.
It’s amazing the difference a good coach can make… Jamie Joseph might be even more of a messiah than we ever thought!
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2025:
@Bones said in Highlanders 2025:
@SouthernMann yeah Robinson is the player that many imagined Millar was. Extremely good option taker and top notch execution.
Hurley really is DMac MKII.
I had no idea who Taine Robinson was when his name dropped last year in the squad. I just had nightmares about the last 10/15 we had from Ta$man in Mitch Hunt
Robinson looked pretty good for Ta$man last year I thought, and I genuinely thought the Crusaders would snap him up.
