• Categories
Collapse

The Silver Fern

Highlanders 2025

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Sports Talk
highlanders
1.8k Posts 65 Posters 123.3k Views
Highlanders 2025
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • Landers92L Do not disturb
    Landers92L Do not disturb
    Landers92
    replied to Kiwiwomble on last edited by
    #1163

    @Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2025:

    @Landers92 not even when we had gilbert on the wing?

    Funnily enough, that was Gilbert’s best game😂

    KiwiwombleK 1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • S Away
    S Away
    SouthernMann
    wrote on last edited by
    #1164

    Manson has played the way you'd expect of a guy at his first year at this level. Which is the key thing to remember. It is his first time playing at this level.

    The good thing, like Hurley is his points of difference look like he can not just compete but stand out.

    It is just as @Landers92 mentions. The small plays. I expect he will look really good at NPC level. Then step up again and be ready next year to push for a consistent starting spot.

    1 Reply Last reply
    2
  • KiwiwombleK Offline
    KiwiwombleK Offline
    Kiwiwomble
    replied to Landers92 on last edited by
    #1165

    @Landers92 said in Highlanders 2025:

    @Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2025:

    @Landers92 not even when we had gilbert on the wing?

    Funnily enough, that was Gilbert’s best game😂

    im definitely seeing different things to other, and maybe im wrong

    Gilberts always had pretty good positional play i think...but if once he's received it he runs straight back and turns it over...it kind of undermines the good he did

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • S Away
    S Away
    SouthernMann
    wrote on last edited by SouthernMann
    #1166

    This season has just reaffirmed that Gilbert is just an ok player. He is your perfect squad player. However, we have had several injuries that have meant hebhad played a lot more minutes than we would have hoped.

    I also agree that his best game was the one he played on the wing.

    Last week he did some good things. But as well as Robinson, he was terrible under the high ball and it was regularly exploited.

    He's pretty resilient. Doesn't get injured a lot.

    He is the guy who won't lose a game. But, will never win a game either. Everything good he does, you'd expect most half decent players in that position to do as well. You'd never see him do something and go wow, no other player in the comp can pull that off like Sam Gilbert.

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • F Offline
    F Offline
    frugby
    wrote on last edited by
    #1167
    This post is deleted!
    1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • F Offline
    F Offline
    frugby
    wrote on last edited by
    #1168

    Haig playing number eight for Green Island tomorrow, so that's another one who should be back for next week... win this week, take full points next week, and we are back in the running I reckon.

    Landers92L 1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • Landers92L Do not disturb
    Landers92L Do not disturb
    Landers92
    replied to frugby on last edited by Landers92
    #1169

    @frugby said in Highlanders 2025:

    Haig playing number eight for Green Island tomorrow, so that's another one who should be back for next week... win this week, take full points next week, and we are back in the running I reckon.

    Few names in that game. Tai Cribb at lock and Jake Te Hiwi at 12 for GI. Kaikorai have Hayden Michaels at 8 and Dylan Pledger at 10, they also have Gregor Rutledge on the bench.

    Taieri with Jack Sexton at prop, Cam Millar at 10, Matt Whaanga 13 and Josh Whaanga 14, JRK at 15. AU do have Fakatava but it could be a long day for them.

    1 Reply Last reply
    1
  • S Away
    S Away
    SouthernMann
    wrote on last edited by
    #1170

    Kaik running Pledger at is interesting. I'd prefer he stays at halfback. Probably just Kaik fitting him in and utilising his skillset.

    Mika Muliaina also getting his first run at 10 for Uni today.

    Harbour fairly stacked with imports.

    Landers92L F 2 Replies Last reply
    0
  • Landers92L Do not disturb
    Landers92L Do not disturb
    Landers92
    replied to SouthernMann on last edited by Landers92
    #1171

    @SouthernMann Their biggest who played for the Waratahs is playing club footy in Christchurch this weekend. Wonder what went wrong there… wonder if that Harbour Hawks bloke in here can give us the details

    S 1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • S Away
    S Away
    SouthernMann
    replied to Landers92 on last edited by
    #1172

    @Landers92 said in Highlanders 2025:

    @SouthernMann Their biggest who played for the Waratahs is playing club footy in Christchurch this weekend. Wonder what went wrong there… wonder if that Harbour Hawks bloke in here can give us the details

    I think I've seen photos of him in Crusaders WTG pictures.

    1 Reply Last reply
    1
  • F Offline
    F Offline
    frugby
    replied to SouthernMann on last edited by
    #1173

    @SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2025:

    Kaik running Pledger at is interesting. I'd prefer he stays at halfback. Probably just Kaik fitting him in and utilising his skillset.

    Mika Muliaina also getting his first run at 10 for Uni today.

    Harbour fairly stacked with imports.

    Kaik's 10 has broken his hand, so he's had to shift there...

    S 1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • S Away
    S Away
    SouthernMann
    replied to frugby on last edited by
    #1174

    @frugby said in Highlanders 2025:

    @SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2025:

    Kaik running Pledger at is interesting. I'd prefer he stays at halfback. Probably just Kaik fitting him in and utilising his skillset.

    Mika Muliaina also getting his first run at 10 for Uni today.

    Harbour fairly stacked with imports.

    Kaik's 10 has broken his hand, so he's had to shift there...

    Which is fair. Especially if he is only going to play a couple of games before going to NZ U20s

    1 Reply Last reply
    1
  • S Away
    S Away
    SouthernMann
    wrote on last edited by
    #1175

    First game I've turned off for the year. Shithouse

    K 1 Reply Last reply
    3
  • K Offline
    K Offline
    KiwiInLondon
    replied to SouthernMann on last edited by
    #1176

    @SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2025:

    First game I've turned off for the year. Shithouse

    Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be able to draw plenty of positives from it. The experience will be vital for our inexperienced players against the Drua next week…

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • F Offline
    F Offline
    frugby
    wrote on last edited by
    #1177

    Same players, same shit performance... Jamie Joseph has to take a portion of the blame for this.

    We've ultimately gone into the year with just two locks, and their form is now faltering, because they have not been properly rotated.

    We've gone into the season with Broughton (Too small), Renton (Too slow) & Stodart (Not rated seemingly) as number eight options, which has failed us, so we are now stuck with playing two openside flankers, which has very rarely been a successful strategy for any team above NPC level. If you have two All Blacks, maybe, but neither Withy nor Lasaqa are anywhere near a black jersey.

    At first five, he's been purely stubborn with Taine Robinson, who started well, but his form has faded with the team's. Millar has been fit for the past two weeks, but they decided against taking him to Australia. Is he perfect? No, but he does at least have the ability to control a game with his boot, so it means will be dropping it in the 22, rather than on halfway.

    The rest of the backs have generally been good, and at fullback, I maintain his hands are tied behind his back with JRK ruled out, because frankly every other option has showed their limitations.

    Barring a miracle turnaround, our season is over - I want sweeping changes next week.

    K 1 Reply Last reply
    3
  • K Offline
    K Offline
    KiwiInLondon
    replied to frugby on last edited by
    #1178

    @frugby said in Highlanders 2025:

    Same players, same shit performance... Jamie Joseph has to take a portion of the blame for this.

    We've ultimately gone into the year with just two locks, and their form is now faltering, because they have not been properly rotated.

    We've gone into the season with Broughton (Too small), Renton (Too slow) & Stodart (Not rated seemingly) as number eight options, which has failed us, so we are now stuck with playing two openside flankers, which has very rarely been a successful strategy for any team above NPC level. If you have two All Blacks, maybe, but neither Withy nor Lasaqa are anywhere near a black jersey.

    At first five, he's been purely stubborn with Taine Robinson, who started well, but his form has faded with the team's. Millar has been fit for the past two weeks, but they decided against taking him to Australia. Is he perfect? No, but he does at least have the ability to control a game with his boot, so it means will be dropping it in the 22, rather than on halfway.

    The rest of the backs have generally been good, and at fullback, I maintain his hands are tied behind his back with JRK ruled out, because frankly every other option has showed their limitations.

    Barring a miracle turnaround, our season is over - I want sweeping changes next week.

    Hey hey hey. Isn’t this just unnecessarily negative…?

    F 1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • F Offline
    F Offline
    frugby
    replied to KiwiInLondon on last edited by
    #1179

    @KiwiInLondon said in Highlanders 2025:

    @frugby said in Highlanders 2025:

    Same players, same shit performance... Jamie Joseph has to take a portion of the blame for this.

    We've ultimately gone into the year with just two locks, and their form is now faltering, because they have not been properly rotated.

    We've gone into the season with Broughton (Too small), Renton (Too slow) & Stodart (Not rated seemingly) as number eight options, which has failed us, so we are now stuck with playing two openside flankers, which has very rarely been a successful strategy for any team above NPC level. If you have two All Blacks, maybe, but neither Withy nor Lasaqa are anywhere near a black jersey.

    At first five, he's been purely stubborn with Taine Robinson, who started well, but his form has faded with the team's. Millar has been fit for the past two weeks, but they decided against taking him to Australia. Is he perfect? No, but he does at least have the ability to control a game with his boot, so it means will be dropping it in the 22, rather than on halfway.

    The rest of the backs have generally been good, and at fullback, I maintain his hands are tied behind his back with JRK ruled out, because frankly every other option has showed their limitations.

    Barring a miracle turnaround, our season is over - I want sweeping changes next week.

    Hey hey hey. Isn’t this just unnecessarily negative…?

    No I don't think so. This performance was a step backwards from last week, and I think some of the chickens have come home to roost.

    K 1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • K Offline
    K Offline
    KiwiInLondon
    replied to frugby on last edited by
    #1180

    @frugby said in Highlanders 2025:

    @KiwiInLondon said in Highlanders 2025:

    @frugby said in Highlanders 2025:

    Same players, same shit performance... Jamie Joseph has to take a portion of the blame for this.

    We've ultimately gone into the year with just two locks, and their form is now faltering, because they have not been properly rotated.

    We've gone into the season with Broughton (Too small), Renton (Too slow) & Stodart (Not rated seemingly) as number eight options, which has failed us, so we are now stuck with playing two openside flankers, which has very rarely been a successful strategy for any team above NPC level. If you have two All Blacks, maybe, but neither Withy nor Lasaqa are anywhere near a black jersey.

    At first five, he's been purely stubborn with Taine Robinson, who started well, but his form has faded with the team's. Millar has been fit for the past two weeks, but they decided against taking him to Australia. Is he perfect? No, but he does at least have the ability to control a game with his boot, so it means will be dropping it in the 22, rather than on halfway.

    The rest of the backs have generally been good, and at fullback, I maintain his hands are tied behind his back with JRK ruled out, because frankly every other option has showed their limitations.

    Barring a miracle turnaround, our season is over - I want sweeping changes next week.

    Hey hey hey. Isn’t this just unnecessarily negative…?

    No I don't think so. This performance was a step backwards from last week, and I think some of the chickens have come home to roost.

    I’m taking the piss out of your reply to my almost exact comment last week. I’d go further to say the problem isn’t just on the surface and inexperience. It’s a systemic problem of players having zero discipline, skill, and rugby know how. The writing was on the wall for a performance like this. I’m not sure why anyone is surprised

    F 1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • F Offline
    F Offline
    frugby
    replied to KiwiInLondon on last edited by
    #1181

    @KiwiInLondon I personally thought your comments last week weren't justified, and I still wouldn't go that far.

    We were poor against the Canes, but should of won, and then were actually largely decent enough against the Reds & Brumbies, but failed to bury the game and were punished for it.

    This week, we were either going to win, or the performance levels were going to dip further, and and unfortunately it was the latter. Playing with 14 for half an hour didn't help, but outside of a couple of individual moments, we were poor - and I think, as I say, JJ has to take some blame for it.

    K 1 Reply Last reply
    0
  • K Offline
    K Offline
    KiwiInLondon
    replied to frugby on last edited by
    #1182

    @frugby said in Highlanders 2025:

    @KiwiInLondon I personally thought your comments last week weren't justified, and I still wouldn't go that far.

    We were poor against the Canes, but should of won, and then were actually largely decent enough against the Reds & Brumbies, but failed to bury the game and were punished for it.

    This week, we were either going to win, or the performance levels were going to dip further, and and unfortunately it was the latter. Playing with 14 for half an hour didn't help, but outside of a couple of individual moments, we were poor - and I think, as I say, JJ has to take some blame for it.

    We’ll see how you feel after a 3-4 win season. Apply the “outside a couple of individual moments, the team poor” to the entire season. Not a single player in the team from last season has substantially improved. A few have gone backwards.

    Same issues as last season, and the season before, and the season before that. The personnel have shifted but it’s the same old issues. I can’t keep the positivity up season after season.

    1 Reply Last reply
    1

Highlanders 2025
Sports Talk
highlanders
  • Login

  • Don't have an account? Register

  • Login or register to search.
  • First post
    Last post
0
  • Categories
  • Login

  • Don't have an account? Register

  • Login or register to search.