All Blacks 2025
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@Bones any NZ player plying their trade outside of NZ is by definition not giving any value to NZ.
I'm also on record about his form this year and I've routinely said he should be in the 23 as a super sub so I'm not sure where the "don't like the guy" shit comes from.
And for the record I've never been a fan of sabbaticals. Ex-All Blacks can make money after their representative career is over.
Quite frankly I'm forming the opinion that some long standing All Blacks are hanging around too long thanks in part to this sort of accommodation - impacting new All Blacks' development and our competitiveness.
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I'm actually fine with it.
Means he is still available to the AB's if selected.
I don't care who he plays for next super year, after he left the Canes anyway. Play for Moana or some team in Japan, better than the alternative which is packing his bags and leaving and being unavailable.
Does it relieve salary pressure for NZRU? Don't know how that works. -
Who is Ardie Savea's agent? They did a great job of absolutely screwing NZR over and Ardie gets huge big-ups from the NZ media every week when he was mediocre for the ABs last year and his team this year while doing better than expected still missed out on the Super Play Offs and got their arses kicked by the Chiefs.
Shannon Frizzell is another player whose agent does an amazing job. Jeff Wilson bangs about how what great news a Frizzell return would be so often that I almost suspect he's on commission.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2025:
oh good, we get the shit version of Ardie playing 80 mins every week in Black next year as well. Every one seems to battle coming back from these, and we have very real evidence of Savea last friggen year.
Who okayed a 2nd one in 3 seasons? idiotic.
Grow a pair NZRU.
The crest on the front should be bigger than any name on the back.
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@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones any NZ player plying their trade outside of NZ is by definition not giving any value to NZ.
I'm also on record about his form this year and I've routinely said he should be in the 23 as a super sub so I'm not sure where the "don't like the guy" shit comes from.
And for the record I've never been a fan of sabbaticals. Ex-All Blacks can make money after their representative career is over.
Quite frankly I'm forming the opinion that some long standing All Blacks are hanging around too long thanks in part to this sort of accommodation - impacting new All Blacks' development and our competitiveness.
Its a rogues gallery of hangers on and people feathering their own nests.
Big Lester swans off after only being in the black shirt a wet week, fills his wheelbarrow with filthy lucre, and now we roll out the red carpet to get him back in the squad for the next RWC?
The whole thing fucking stinks.
If you are not putting your shoulder to the wheel, you can fuck off.
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@kiwiinmelb said in All Blacks 2025:
I see it as risky for Ardie , especially if Wallace makes the 8 jersey his .Ardie hasn’t established himself as a test 7 yet ( he may do this year ) even if the majority think that’s his best position, it hasn’t really been proven at the highest level on the park yet .
Ardie and Beaudy have been two of our biggest problems since 2017ish.
They get Carter and McCaw like treatment without the commensurate return on the biggest stage.
Fabulous players, but they have been over indulged. They have upset the balance selection wise.
Neither of them have a true position and to become a parody of myself...they are playstation players.
The scary thing in Barretts case is there is such a dearth of 10's knocking around that he is still the 2nd or 3rd best 10 while being absolutely pony himself.
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@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones any NZ player plying their trade outside of NZ is by definition not giving any value to NZ.
I'm also on record about his form this year and I've routinely said he should be in the 23 as a super sub so I'm not sure where the "don't like the guy" shit comes from.
And for the record I've never been a fan of sabbaticals. Ex-All Blacks can make money after their representative career is over.
Quite frankly I'm forming the opinion that some long standing All Blacks are hanging around too long thanks in part to this sort of accommodation - impacting new All Blacks' development and our competitiveness.
Yeah I'm talking about NZ rugby, he definitely provides huge value there. You're focusing on the AB's. He's got a fucking massive fan base outside of GOM's shouting at clouds on an internet forum.
What if it was Aaron Smith? Anyone would fucking bite your hand off to have been able to keep him in NZ and let him feather his nest briefly overseas.
If NZ rugby can keep superstars in the system, whilst saving money on wages and allowing players to feather their nest, I struggle to see how that's such an awful thing. I much prefer the likes of White lock getting a few more years in NZ and providing huge value rather than fucking off at the pinnacle of their career.
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@Jet said in All Blacks 2025:
@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones any NZ player plying their trade outside of NZ is by definition not giving any value to NZ.
I'm also on record about his form this year and I've routinely said he should be in the 23 as a super sub so I'm not sure where the "don't like the guy" shit comes from.
And for the record I've never been a fan of sabbaticals. Ex-All Blacks can make money after their representative career is over.
Quite frankly I'm forming the opinion that some long standing All Blacks are hanging around too long thanks in part to this sort of accommodation - impacting new All Blacks' development and our competitiveness.
Its a rogues gallery of hangers on and people feathering their own nests.
Big Lester swans off after only being in the black shirt a wet week, fills his wheelbarrow with filthy lucre, and now we roll out the red carpet to get him back in the squad for the next RWC?
The whole thing fucking stinks.
If you are not putting your shoulder to the wheel, you can fuck off.
Who knows what he will become. But I agree that he doesn't have the runs on the board in the black jersey to justify special treatment. He's got to show that he's good enough before they give him the jersey back
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@brodean said in All Blacks 2025:
There was no dominance of any kind from the Crusaders scrum when the Blues had the full quota of forwards and props on the field.
The Blues had two yellow cards in the forwards and had two hookers in the frontrow at one stage if you didn't notice. That was the only time the Crusaders looked like they were getting any ascendancy but mostly the scrum just went sideways in those passages of play.
No, the Blues scrum was monstered twice when Ta'avao and Lay were propping together with Tuipolutu and Beehre behind them.
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I'm all for sabbaticals. I don't love that All Blacks who take sabbaticals are guaranteed to get selected in the first squad upon their return but given what we've seen from Robertson as a selector, that would probably happen whether selection was guaranteed or not.
I think that's the bigger irk for me: players being selected for the All Blacks (sometimes in starting roles) when their form doesn't justify it. If Robertson were a better selector, I'd have fewer concerns.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones any NZ player plying their trade outside of NZ is by definition not giving any value to NZ.
I'm also on record about his form this year and I've routinely said he should be in the 23 as a super sub so I'm not sure where the "don't like the guy" shit comes from.
And for the record I've never been a fan of sabbaticals. Ex-All Blacks can make money after their representative career is over.
Quite frankly I'm forming the opinion that some long standing All Blacks are hanging around too long thanks in part to this sort of accommodation - impacting new All Blacks' development and our competitiveness.
Yeah I'm talking about NZ rugby, he definitely provides huge value there. You're focusing on the AB's. He's got a fucking massive fan base outside of GOM's shouting at clouds on an internet forum.
What if it was Aaron Smith? Anyone would fucking bite your hand off to have been able to keep him in NZ and let him feather his nest briefly overseas.
If NZ rugby can keep superstars in the system, whilst saving money on wages and allowing players to feather their nest, I struggle to see how that's such an awful thing. I much prefer the likes of White lock getting a few more years in NZ and providing huge value rather than fucking off at the pinnacle of their career.
Reported for ageism.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Jet said in All Blacks 2025:
@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones any NZ player plying their trade outside of NZ is by definition not giving any value to NZ.
I'm also on record about his form this year and I've routinely said he should be in the 23 as a super sub so I'm not sure where the "don't like the guy" shit comes from.
And for the record I've never been a fan of sabbaticals. Ex-All Blacks can make money after their representative career is over.
Quite frankly I'm forming the opinion that some long standing All Blacks are hanging around too long thanks in part to this sort of accommodation - impacting new All Blacks' development and our competitiveness.
Its a rogues gallery of hangers on and people feathering their own nests.
Big Lester swans off after only being in the black shirt a wet week, fills his wheelbarrow with filthy lucre, and now we roll out the red carpet to get him back in the squad for the next RWC?
The whole thing fucking stinks.
If you are not putting your shoulder to the wheel, you can fuck off.
Who knows what he will become. But I agree that he doesn't have the runs on the board in the black jersey to justify special treatment. He's got to show that he's good enough before they give him the jersey back
My worry is that this post RWC Houdini act only to return pre next World Cup will become the done thing.
As someone alluded to earlier, if players cotton to only needing to be available for the 18 to 12 months pre a RWC to be eligible, fucking off for a 2 year money heist, in the first 2 years of a cycle, will be the norm.
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@Jet said in All Blacks 2025:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2025:
@Jet said in All Blacks 2025:
@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones any NZ player plying their trade outside of NZ is by definition not giving any value to NZ.
I'm also on record about his form this year and I've routinely said he should be in the 23 as a super sub so I'm not sure where the "don't like the guy" shit comes from.
And for the record I've never been a fan of sabbaticals. Ex-All Blacks can make money after their representative career is over.
Quite frankly I'm forming the opinion that some long standing All Blacks are hanging around too long thanks in part to this sort of accommodation - impacting new All Blacks' development and our competitiveness.
Its a rogues gallery of hangers on and people feathering their own nests.
Big Lester swans off after only being in the black shirt a wet week, fills his wheelbarrow with filthy lucre, and now we roll out the red carpet to get him back in the squad for the next RWC?
The whole thing fucking stinks.
If you are not putting your shoulder to the wheel, you can fuck off.
Who knows what he will become. But I agree that he doesn't have the runs on the board in the black jersey to justify special treatment. He's got to show that he's good enough before they give him the jersey back
My worry is that this post RWC Houdini act only to return pre next World Cup will become the done thing.
As someone alluded to earlier, if players cotton to only needing to be available for the 18 to 12 months pre a RWC to be eligible, fucking off for a 2 year money heist, in the first 2 years of a cycle, will be the norm.
What do you propose is the alternative? Once Leicester Fainga'anuku returns and if he proves himself a good enough player to get selected, should the All Blacks just ignore him for two years even though he's eligible? I would prefer he remains in NZ the entirety of the WC cycle too, but I don't think there's really anything that can be done.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones any NZ player plying their trade outside of NZ is by definition not giving any value to NZ.
I'm also on record about his form this year and I've routinely said he should be in the 23 as a super sub so I'm not sure where the "don't like the guy" shit comes from.
And for the record I've never been a fan of sabbaticals. Ex-All Blacks can make money after their representative career is over.
Quite frankly I'm forming the opinion that some long standing All Blacks are hanging around too long thanks in part to this sort of accommodation - impacting new All Blacks' development and our competitiveness.
Yeah I'm talking about NZ rugby, he definitely provides huge value there. You're focusing on the AB's. He's got a fucking massive fan base outside of GOM's shouting at clouds on an internet forum.
What tangible outcomes does that provide whilst he's in Japan?
What if it was Aaron Smith? Anyone would fucking bite your hand off to have been able to keep him in NZ and let him feather his nest briefly overseas.
If my aunt had balls.
Even Sam waited until after he was a centurion.
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@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2025:
@antipodean said in All Blacks 2025:
@Bones any NZ player plying their trade outside of NZ is by definition not giving any value to NZ.
I'm also on record about his form this year and I've routinely said he should be in the 23 as a super sub so I'm not sure where the "don't like the guy" shit comes from.
And for the record I've never been a fan of sabbaticals. Ex-All Blacks can make money after their representative career is over.
Quite frankly I'm forming the opinion that some long standing All Blacks are hanging around too long thanks in part to this sort of accommodation - impacting new All Blacks' development and our competitiveness.
Yeah I'm talking about NZ rugby, he definitely provides huge value there. You're focusing on the AB's. He's got a fucking massive fan base outside of GOM's shouting at clouds on an internet forum.
What tangible outcomes does that provide whilst he's in Japan?
yeah, i'd argue it could have a negative effect, new guys coming through bascially know hes nailed on selection...and they dont even get to prove themselves against him directly
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@pakman said in All Blacks 2025:
Just informing people this is an opinion piece by Hamish Bidwell - just in case people had it confused with an actual journalist or something of value.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2025:
@pakman said in All Blacks 2025:
Just informing people this is an opinion piece by Hamish Bidwell - just in case people had it confused with an actual journalist or something of value.
Bidwell is a twit, he’s barely a qualified journalist and was only able to get into the industry riding off the coattails of his old man.
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@KiwiMurph said in All Blacks 2025:
@pakman said in All Blacks 2025:
Just informing people this is an opinion piece by Hamish Bidwell - just in case people had it confused with an actual journalist or something of value.
~750 words to say nothing of value.
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Sabbaticals are fine, just don't parachute them back in unless they are 100 test greats: aaron smith / mccaw / nonu level - don't select them until they've played locally again and dominated. That in itself will somewhat reduce how attractive it is to a player.
Savea was okay last year - but only okay - he was outplayed all season by a 21 year old rookie. And let's not forget that said rookie would have been much more likely to get his chance if Savea hadn't been selected.
