Blues 2019
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@Dice Bourke still had more skill than of the 3 no8s ,so your telling me Saiili and Lowery were better selections..?
Saiili was mud and Lowery no better..real home town selections in my opinion ,if Mafu was that good, why was he not re signed for another season..? -
@Steven-Harris Nah, I'm just saying no other team seemed to rate him either.
Ma'afu was pretty skillful but he also had the physicality to go along with it. I rated him higher than Bourke.
I'm wondering if Bourke was too skillful for his own good as he was a bit of an odd ball player and played so differently to any other 8.
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@Steven-Harris said in Blues 2019:
@Dice Bourke still had more skill than of the 3 no8s ,so your telling me Saiili and Lowery were better selections..?
Saiili was mud and Lowery no better..real home town selections in my opinion ,if Mafu was that good, why was he not re signed for another season..?I'm sure we wanted to sign him again, but he got a decent overseas offer and left right away for it.
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12242648
Might be hope for Blues in 2020
A first five who can actually kick the ball and organise a backline
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@Dice Yes I like how no one else seemed to rate Colin Bourke yet we get criticised for not signing him but yes, Saili was poor for a lot of his tenure. His hands were terrible. Dare I say him being a St Peter's boy enhanced his reputation with Pat Lam. Funnily enough, I thought 2013-2014 were his best seasons for us and he definitely outplayed Luatua in 2014.
Don't even get me started with Chris Lowrey he was awful.
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@Steven-Harris said in Blues 2019:
@Dice Bourke still had more skill than of the 3 no8s ,so your telling me Saiili and Lowery were better selections..?
Saiili was mud and Lowery no better..real home town selections in my opinion ,if Mafu was that good, why was he not re signed for another season..?The problem with Bourke wasn’t his skills (which were exceptional). It was his willingness to do any hard work whatsoever.
The bloke thought he was part of the backline and spent the whole game playing that way.
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@SammyC No issues with what you are saying, there may have been issues in and around his work ethic but you can’t deny his skill level which was ahead of the numbers 8s the Blues had available at the time..
The Peter Saili selection I will always point to as home town selection from a Marist Old Boys coach who could not see past his own..To be honest it’s just another in a long line of questionable selections made by Blues coaching staff for well over a decade..
Interesting hearing from a friend who was at the Blues awards the other night, Many of the younger players and their partners where going through alcohol like it was kids drinking fizz..
Laughing and chatting while awards were being handed out..talk about disrespectful, apparently the sponsors were not impressed.
Saw an interview with Te Arihi Maipi and TJ Faiaane ,he sounded as though he was drunk .bloody embarrassing if you ask me..
Quite frankly given the circumstances of their season you have got to wonder -
@Steven-Harris said in Blues 2019:
@SammyC No issues with what you are saying, there may have been issues in and around his work ethic but you can’t deny his skill level which was ahead of the numbers 8s the Blues had available at the time..
The Peter Saili selection I will always point to as home town selection from a Marist Old Boys coach who could not see past his own..To be honest it’s just another in a long line of questionable selections made by Blues coaching staff for well over a decade..
Interesting hearing from a friend who was at the Blues awards the other night, Many of the younger players and their partners where going through alcohol like it was kids drinking fizz..
Laughing and chatting while awards were being handed out..talk about disrespectful, apparently the sponsors were not impressed.
Saw an interview with Te Arihi Maipi and TJ Faiaane ,he sounded as though he was drunk .bloody embarrassing if you ask me..
Quite frankly given the circumstances of their season you have got to wonderFree piss is still free piss even for highly paid professional athletes.
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@SammyC said in Blues 2019:
@Steven-Harris said in Blues 2019:
@Dice Bourke still had more skill than of the 3 no8s ,so your telling me Saiili and Lowery were better selections..?
Saiili was mud and Lowery no better..real home town selections in my opinion ,if Mafu was that good, why was he not re signed for another season..?The problem with Bourke wasn’t his skills (which were exceptional). It was his willingness to do any hard work whatsoever.
The bloke thought he was part of the backline and spent the whole game playing that way.
I hope Vaea Fifita is reading this
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@African-Monkey I think bad hands is a St Peter's trait.
Just when Saili was starting to look decent, he left.
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@SammyC said in Blues 2019:
@Steven-Harris said in Blues 2019:
@Dice Bourke still had more skill than of the 3 no8s ,so your telling me Saiili and Lowery were better selections..?
Saiili was mud and Lowery no better..real home town selections in my opinion ,if Mafu was that good, why was he not re signed for another season..?The problem with Bourke wasn’t his skills (which were exceptional). It was his willingness to do any hard work whatsoever.
The bloke thought he was part of the backline and spent the whole game playing that way.
He was a fullback stuck in an 8s body.
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@Dice said in Blues 2019:
@SammyC said in Blues 2019:
@Steven-Harris said in Blues 2019:
@Dice Bourke still had more skill than of the 3 no8s ,so your telling me Saiili and Lowery were better selections..?
Saiili was mud and Lowery no better..real home town selections in my opinion ,if Mafu was that good, why was he not re signed for another season..?The problem with Bourke wasn’t his skills (which were exceptional). It was his willingness to do any hard work whatsoever.
The bloke thought he was part of the backline and spent the whole game playing that way.
He was a fullback stuck in an 8s body.
Liam Messam tightened up his game considerably. Bourke never did.
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@Dice Hey! You take that comment back!
But yeah, just as Saili started to play some good rugby, other younger players began to overtake him so it was a bit of bad timing for Saili. We needed him to come right about 3 years before that and so did he for the benefit of his own career.
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@Dice Saiili was stuck in the body of someone impersonating a professional rugby player.
Every year the Blues team was named and his name was in the squad you were just left shaking your head ..hoping it was some sort of misprint ..the Blues would have been better of taking the field with 14 players that’s how much of a liability i thought of him..and I wasn’t the Lone Ranger ,a former All Black great Buck Shelford thought the same way. -
I think with Peter Saili it was one of those deals where people were constantly enticed by the physical ability/potential and assumed they could fix him/he would figure it out. Alas it never really happened. Nick Williams falls into a similar category.
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@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2019:
I think with Peter Saili it was one of those deals where people were constantly enticed by the physical ability/potential and assumed they could fix him/he would figure it out. Alas it never really happened. Nick Williams falls into a similar category.
Sione Lauaki
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It's a shame about Saili as he was a dominant force in some pretty weak St Peter's sides when he was there and looked destined for big things in the game in his teens and was the same when he turned out for Marist. I also found it strange with the off field trouble he and his brother would get into as their father was a very strict individual who wasn't afraid to dish out criticism to not only his own, but anyone else performing badly too. Lets just say he had no filter haha
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@African-Monkey I remember Saili had the next MJ tag from some journos when he started out. That's a bit of pressure to live up to really.
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when the blues were looking at 8s to pursue, they were 2; Sai'ili and Fritz Lee.
I liked Sai'ili, thought he had huge potential, showed moments of his potential, but mostly failed to deliver, not too disimilar as Tevita Li.
