All Blacks 2025
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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. -
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@Frank said in All Blacks 2025:
If I am Robertson, Ardie announcing another sabbatical should be considered in his selections for games this year.
Marginal calls should go against him.Well, any excuse to get Papalii, Jacobsen and most importantly Blackadder in the same squad I guess.
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This won’t have come as a surprise to Razor.
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We are now less than a week out from the squad being announced, anyone know of any bolter rumours flying around? The big one from last year that no one saw coming was the announcement of Pasilio Tosi, will be interesting to see if something similar happens this year again.
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@reprobate said in All Blacks 2025:
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.This is a pervasive view, but I don’t think it holds much value any more given the quality of play around the world, even in places like Japan. The club scene there is far superior to what they get from their national team. And this is even more so with wavering quality at Super and NPC levels.
At the individual level, yes Ardie had a dip in the black jersey last year after an immense 2023 test season. But looking at his output this Super season he has been a real standout and looked fitter. His level of involvement for an openside has been at a high level which for me will translate to the rest arena - given his experience and understanding of test rugby. Now this won’t work for all players, but for Ardie I have very few concerns.
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@Canes4life said in All Blacks 2025:
We are now less than a week out from the squad being announced, anyone know of any bolter rumours flying around? The big one from last year that no one saw coming was the announcement of Pasilio Tosi, will be interesting to see if something similar happens this year again.
A couple on here have reported Fusitua? Does that count if he gets picked as I would say that most people wouldn't have taken him into consideration.
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