2018 AB Depth Chart

Tim

Forwards

Loosehead	Hooker	Tighthead	Locks	Blindside	Openside	No 8
Moody	Coles	Franks	Retallick	Kaino	Cane	Read
Crockett	Taylor	Ofa Tu'ungafasi	Whitelock	Big Gap	Todd	Big Gap (Kaino can fill in here)
Hames	Harris	Nepo Laulala	Big gap	Ioane	Savea	Squire
Manu	Coltman	Jeffery Toomaga-Allen	S Barrett	Squire	Gibson	Ioane
Lienert-Brown	Parsons	Siate Tokolahi	Romano	Fifita	Dillon Hunt	Whitelock
Ofa Tu'ungafasi	Funnell	Atu Moli	Scrafton	Mitchell Brown	K Pryor	Shields/Messam
Mitchell Graham	GPT	Sione Mafileo	Franklin		D Pryor	Savea
Reg Goodes	Riccitelli		Fatialofa		Lentjes
Hodgman	Dixon		Bird		Boshier
Aki Seiuli	Adrian Smith		Tuipulotu

Backs

Halfback	10	12	13	Wings	Fullback
Smith	Beauden Barrett	SBW	ALB	Dagg	Smith
TJP	Lima Sopoaga	Crotty	Crotty	Ioane	Dagg
Weber	Richie Mo'unga	Laumape	Goodhue	Naholo	Jordie Barrett
Pulu	Mitchell Hunt	ALB	Fekitoa (might be gone)	Smith	DMac
Drummond	Ihaia West	Moala	Ioane	Nanai	Nanai
Hall	Otere Black	Buckman	Moala	Aso	Havili
	Stephen Perofeta	Faiane	Aso	Savea	NMS
	Hayden Parker	Ngatai	Procter	Duffie	Stevenson
	Bryn Gatland	Aso	Vaega	Stevenson
		Faauli	Tamanivalu	NMS (low b/c injuries)
		Havili
		Thompson

Who are the top 2018 available players in each position? Ranked from 1 to 10? I will edit this thread to keep it up to date with the fern consensus.

Lets start with LH props.

Moody
Crockett - 35 next January, when will he retire?
Hames? Wasn't good against Lions, gives away a lot of penalties, contribution around the field so, so.
Manu. Inconsistent scrummaging, was playing well before this year's injury. Gets injured quite a bit. Been in AB environment.
Lienert-Brown. Test possibility or journeyman?
Ofa Tu'ungafasi
Mitchell Graham (out for season)
Reg Goodes (out for season)
Hodgman
Aki Seiuli

Up and comers and youngsters:

Who are they? Hodgman looks good, hopefully he will injury free next year. Lindenmuth was good for the U20s, but it takes quite a while to mature as a prop.

mariner4life

Ben May appearing on anything linked with the All Blacks offends me

Tim

@mariner4life LOL. He's about the only fit option at the Hurricanes. Give me names.

mariner4life

given recent history, look for people debuting this year in Super rugby.

Chris B.

Not Ben May.

Reg Goodes , Mitchell Graham and Alex Hodgman ahead of him for a start.

Tim

@Chris-B. Was thinking of Mitchell Graham but hasn't been injured a lot of the last 18 months? Goodes is certainly better than Maym but isn't he a long-term concussion casualty?

Stargazer

@Tim said in 2018 AB Depth Chart:

Who are the top 2018 available players in each position? Ranked from 1 to 10? I will edit this thread to keep it up to date with the fern consensus.

Lets start with LH props.

Moody

Crockett - 35 next January, when will he retire?

Hames? Wasn't good against Lions, gives away a lot of penalties, contribution around the field so, so.

Manu. Inconsistent scrummaging, was playing well before this year's injury. Gets injured quite a bit. Been in AB environment.

Lienert-Brown. Test possibility or journeyman?

Ben May? Is not very good. Do the Chiefs have a better option here?

Up and comers and youngsters:

Who are they? Hodgman looks good, hopefully he will injury free next year. Lindenmuth was good for the U20s, but it takes quite a while to mature as a prop.

U20s players, if you want them on the list, who looked good this year: Ezekiel Lindenmuth and Pouri Rakete-Stones (who can cover LH, TH and even hooker, although I've never seen him play in the no. 2 jersey).

Last year's U20s made us cry.

Chris B.

@Tim said in 2018 AB Depth Chart:

@Chris-B. Was thinking of Mitchell Graham but hasn't been injured a lot of the last 18 months? Goodes is certainly better than Maym but isn't he a long-term concussion casualty?

Hopefully we're only down to the No. 6 choice and they might not actually be required before the summer break.

Ofa Tu'ungafasi as a loosehead before Ben, as well.

Tim

@Chris-B. Yeah, Ofa has improved massively at LH.

Tim

OK, on to tight head.

Franks
Ofa Tu'ungafasi
Nepo Laulala
Jeffery Toomaga-Allen
Siate Tokolahi
Atu Moli
Sione Mafileo

Is Oliver Jager NZ qualified? Quite a few tightheads in Super Rugby teams aren't.

cgrant

Back to the LH, Seuli (spelling ?) has been in great form for the Highlanders : strong scrummager and very dynamic in the loose.
Lindenmuth is one to watch for the future.
Hodgman's scrummaging is a concern. Just a question of technique, I guess because he is a huge man.
Lienert-Brown is not big enough for the international scene IMO.
Ben May has done well for the Canes last year and this year as well but he is over 30 so he won't be in contention.

Stockcar86

If we can propose injured players, Brendon Edmonds at loosehead

Tim

@Stockcar86 Hasn't he been injured for two years? Not in contention.

Stockcar86

@Tim said in 2018 AB Depth Chart:

@Stockcar86 Hasn't he been injured for two years? Not in contention.

April 2016, so 14 months

booboo

@Tim good thread. Like this sort of stuff. Will contribute out of match time ... and sober ...

Tim

Right, on to Hooker.

Coles (hopefully back for the RC)
Taylor
Harris (not sure about this guy, at all - outplayed by Parsons and Taylor this year)
Coltman
Parsons
Funnell (always liked the look of him, would love to watch him starting against quality opposition)
GPT (FFS Blues)
Riccitelli (young but promising)
Dixon (exposed by the Lions, journeyman at best)
Adrian Smith (deadset Harbour legend)

Asafo Aumua is the obvious young player to look for.

pukunui

@cgrant said in 2018 AB Depth Chart:

Back to the LH, Seuli (spelling ?) has been in great form for the Highlanders : strong scrummager and very dynamic in the loose.
Lindenmuth is one to watch for the future.
Hodgman's scrummaging is a concern. Just a question of technique, I guess because he is a huge man.
Lienert-Brown is not big enough for the international scene IMO.
Ben May has done well for the Canes last year and this year as well but he is over 30 so he won't be in contention.

Is he the one with dreadlocks/longish hair?
I have noticed him a lot in the loose this year. Always makes yards.

booboo

@Tim said in 2018 AB Depth Chart:

Right, on to Hooker.

Coles (hopefully back for the RC)

Taylor

Harris (not sure about this guy, at all - outplayed by Parsons and Taylor this year)

Coltman

Parsons

Funnell (always liked the look of him, would love to watch him starting against quality opposition)

GPT (FFS Blues)

Riccitelli (young but promising)

Dixon (exposed by the Lions, journeyman at best)

Adrian Smith (deadset Harbour legend)

Asafo Aumua is the obvious young player to look for.

Dare I mention Elliot ...

Jeez ..

... stuff ...

.. and things...

Tim

@booboo Elliot's off overseas.

pukunui

Lots of people (on this thread snd the exodus one) suggesting that Crockett won't make it to the next RWC because of his age. Is this even a thing anymore? He seems to be in the form of his life and guys like Brad Thorn, Richie, Woodcock and Kevvy have proven that you can keep playing well into your mid-late 30s.