Northland v Tasman
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In hindsight, having a new coach, then losing them, some months before another new coach announced, then getting someone outside the area in - this season was always going to be an issue. Still think we have a competitive team and no reason for us not to perform reasonable well. But we need some more hard thinking before next year.
So putting all of the coaching changes aside the big question for me is how do you build an NPC side each season?
Signing 100% from club rugby doesn’t work as half the squad are professional playing in all sorts of competitions, even club players might move if not given certainty. So a good % are signed early with a few left open until the middle part and later part of club rugby. It should be the coaches call about retention and rollover of players, and the mix of new talent.
Squad preparation - it just seems to me that one game prior to season start is not enough. Did we really plan for that?
Player development - so many times I have seen young players warm our benches for a season and then disappear. We must have one of the worst records in age group rugby of anyone although playing Auckland can’t help. I remember no one wanted to play for the 2nd 15 - that has to change.
Salary cap - when I hear about Wellington Rugby losing $900k it makes me sad. The contracting of players by schools ( call it what it is ), clubs, provincial unions needs rules and guidelines to protect the wide base of rugby in NZ. Affordability and promotion of an even competition has to be part of that.
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@kev said in Northland v Ta$man:
So putting all of the coaching changes aside the big question for me is how do you build an NPC side each season
from where I sit, whatever we seem to be doing, it aint working.
We need to be looking at what the likes of BOP, HB, Taranaki are doing, and find ways to replicate and make it work for us with our own challenges, but as has been mentioned before, whether its the board, the coaches and backroom staff, but somewhere along the way, we seem to be far too accepting of mediocrity.
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@taniwharugby yep it ain’t working. We have made some gains but standards have to improve. You think the players would want that? The new facility adds something to the mix but the professionalism needs to go up.
Who is playing for Ngāti Porou East Coast from Northland? The first five was great in their game against Wairarapa Bush.
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@kev halfback Sam Parkes and Tevita Nabura (both played for Kerikeri) unsure where he is playing there, mid-field or wing, pretty quick.
I expect the players want better for themselves, but if the professionalism isnt there from when they hit age group or dev teams, then when they move into NPC they either fail to meet the standards required, or the professionalism isnt there either and only a few make the move up further.
I dont know what it is, but the recipe just isnt working.
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@taniwharugby said in Northland v Ta$man:
IIRC there was maybe 2 or 3 spots to be signed from club footy before the club season even started.
This is another example of the season structure not working. Most provinces have a similar issue
Because the NPC is run like a franchise competition now and not a representative comp, teams need to lock in their players early or risk losing them. Multi year contracts can cause some weird squad selections too.
Then there’s the disconnect between SR players who aren’t involved in club rugby who don’t compete against that level below.
It’s a mess. I don’t see any easy fixes
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@Stargazer said in Northland v Ta$man:
This isn't Ta$man's first choice line-up, but still a strong squad. A bit surprising, considering this is the first game of their stormweek and their next game is a Ranfurly Shield challenge.
Might be the strongest we have available.
I wondered what we'd do for this game - probably the right move, though I might have been inclined to play Nankivell and Gualter in the midfield and keep Big Levi fresh for the Shield challenge.
Of course, I have it on good authority that for the Shield Challenge, Blackadder and Reece will arise from their deathbeds.
Lomax, Frizell, Christie, Havili, Fainga'anuku and JORDAN have all refused to get on Fozzie's plane until business has been taken care of (and Foz has agreed they need matchplay).
I'm also going ski-ing for a week from tomorrow and don't plan on reading the Fern until any cheap taunts that might arise are old news...
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@Duluth yep it’s a franchise competition now. How does Wellington get away with running a $900k loss? Given what everyone has tried to do to put the game on a strong financial footing you would have thought that would be a huge issue. Teams that are the base for franchises already a huge advantage.
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@Duluth for the most part I agree, but in our case some of the signings were just odd (injured players, out of form players, players that have barely played with no pedigree) and made zero sense, I won't go over names, but most will be obvious...it was like we signed them quickly for fear of someone else picking them up...in a couple of cases, we'd be so lucky.
Some of the dev side guys I talk to scratch thier heads about some of the early signings (not in positions they are contesting)
This is Northland
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Yeah errors on top of the broken system don’t help.
I do think the bigger problem is that the contract situation forces early selections and has significantly severed the link to club rugby.
Any solution I can think of would be resisted by players association (more 1 year contracts, forcing teams to leave x number of spots open until after club rugby etc)
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I missed the start.. what are the Ta$man changes?Edit I think this is the updated side
1 Ryan Coxon, 2 Quentin MacDonald, 3 Samuel Matenga, 4 M Graham-Williams, 5 Quinten Strange, 6 Max Hicks, 7 Anton Segner, 8 Tim Sail, 9 Noah Hotham, 10 Timothy O'Malley, 11 Macca Springer, 12 Alex Nankivell, 13 Levi Aumua, 14 Timoci Tavatavanawai, 15 Tomasi Alosio
Reserves: 16 Feleti Kaitu'u, 17 Kershawl Sykes-Martin, 18 Luca Inch, 19 J Gray, 20 Angus Fletcher, 21 Louie Chapman, 22 Taine Robinson, 23 Will Gualter -
Solid scrums early on..
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Pickerill need to tidy the rucks up
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Nice patience and continuity
