Waratahs v Highlanders - QF
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@booboo said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@rancid-schnitzel said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@crucial said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@act-crusader said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@no-quarter said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@act-crusader said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@sammyc said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
Alainono > bridge > lam in my opinion.
Alaimono has been great this year, on attack and defense. Also gets himself involved in close of play doesn’t run his way.
Agree.
Lam seems a poor mans Hosea Gear to me. All the physical attributes and can look a world beater every now and then, but goes missing for the most part and is waiting for the action rather than being a creator.
Lam is a great finisher but he doesn't have the all-round game of someone like Alaimalo, and I agree he does tend to go missing at times. He's more competing with Rieko for the power winger spot IMO.
Ioane is not a winger. He is a midfielder. Ask Tana
Or ask most Blues 'fans' before he was used there and shown up. It was like the endless cries for JB to be shifted to the midfield despite evidence to the contrary at this level.
Is JB Jordie Barrett? I don't think a single person has wanted him at 13. Any "cries" have been for 12, where he has yet to play this level.
Reiko to 12
JB to 13That'd work
Haven't had a 15 at 13 since we last lost an RWC.
Ahem.
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@no-quarter said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@act-crusader said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@gunner said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@frank said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
Left field idea (very left field perhaps)
Can Laumape play wing?
And of course covers 2nd five.
If so he’d really put the power into power wing!
I’m sure he’d be more than capable but imagine he wouldn’t have the top end speed to be a genuine starting option?Aerial skills under the high ball might be an issue. We need specialist winger/fullbacks that have experience reading the kicks.
Definitely lacks top end pace as well, he is always easily run down after making a break. He'd be an absolute last resort covering wing.
Speaking of lack of pace, what happened to Jules?
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@antipodean stitch apparently...
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I have to confess "too tall" to be a 2nd five confuses me.
Scott McLeod and Kahui weren't exactly midgets. Nor is SBW.
It does rule out the low centre of gravity hit-up man, but that just means they need another trick. SBW is able to reach over and around a tackler to pop up a ball. McLeod had a fantastic wide pass, so his centre could stand wide. Kahui did his best work on defence.
Blistering pace or a really good swerve is best put at centre, but any guy who can give his outsides the ball in space can play 12. I'm not saying Jordie is best at 12, but his height doesn't bother me one bit.
Usain Bolt is "too tall" to be a sprinter, if you go by body mechanics, because big men don't have acceleration of shorter ones. It just happens that his strengths overcome his weaknesses.
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@mariner4life said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@no-quarter i just don't see JB at 12. He's too tall which is a liability in close. I don't see explosive acceleration either, nor a power game.
He has good vision and a decent pass, strengths that make him a good fullback who can slot in at first receiver
He's faster than he looks. Giraffes generally give that impression. He played for NZ U21s at 12 and was NZ player of the year there for Canterbury so I certainly don't see any issue with him playing that position. Writing him off because of his height is a bit ordinary. Just because he doesn't have the "traditional" dimensions doesn't mean he won't succeed in that position.
You Chief supporters have to watch more Canes games.
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@rancid-schnitzel said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@mariner4life said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@no-quarter i just don't see JB at 12. He's too tall which is a liability in close. I don't see explosive acceleration either, nor a power game.
He has good vision and a decent pass, strengths that make him a good fullback who can slot in at first receiver
He's faster than he looks. Giraffes generally give that impression. He played for NZ U21s at 12 and was NZ player of the year there for Canterbury so I certainly don't see any issue with him playing that position. Writing him off because of his height is a bit ordinary. Just because he doesn't have the "traditional" dimensions doesn't mean he won't succeed in that position.
You Chief supporters have to watch more Canes games.
That seems like a much higher achievement than NPC player of the year...
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@bones said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@rancid-schnitzel said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@mariner4life said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@no-quarter i just don't see JB at 12. He's too tall which is a liability in close. I don't see explosive acceleration either, nor a power game.
He has good vision and a decent pass, strengths that make him a good fullback who can slot in at first receiver
He's faster than he looks. Giraffes generally give that impression. He played for NZ U21s at 12 and was NZ player of the year there for Canterbury so I certainly don't see any issue with him playing that position. Writing him off because of his height is a bit ordinary. Just because he doesn't have the "traditional" dimensions doesn't mean he won't succeed in that position.
You Chief supporters have to watch more Canes games.
That seems like a much higher achievement than NPC player of the year...
That's what I meant asshole 🖕
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@rancid-schnitzel How are your wordpress skills?
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@bones said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@rancid-schnitzel How are your wordpress skills?
Brilliant article. Wish I'd written it myself!
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@act-crusader said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@crucial said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@act-crusader said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@no-quarter said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@act-crusader said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@sammyc said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
Alainono > bridge > lam in my opinion.
Alaimono has been great this year, on attack and defense. Also gets himself involved in close of play doesn’t run his way.
Agree.
Lam seems a poor mans Hosea Gear to me. All the physical attributes and can look a world beater every now and then, but goes missing for the most part and is waiting for the action rather than being a creator.
Lam is a great finisher but he doesn't have the all-round game of someone like Alaimalo, and I agree he does tend to go missing at times. He's more competing with Rieko for the power winger spot IMO.
Ioane is not a winger. He is a midfielder. Ask Tana
Or ask most Blues 'fans' before he was used there and shown up. It was like the endless cries for JB to be shifted to the midfield despite evidence to the contrary at this level.
And the knight in shining armour award goes to....
Can I also have another award if I trawl back though the various Blues threads and find all the times where fans have cried out for a certain player to get a start/get moved positionally because they know better than the coach, only for the change to actually take place and be shown up as to why it shouldn't have happened in the first place?
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@african-monkey said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@crucial A bit like you trying to defend the Blues and the coaching staff every week and telling Blues fans on here that we were out of line with our criticisms over and over....
Would be similar if that's what actually happened.
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SBW is tall, but also huge and powerful. McLeod was also big, but i would hesitate to throw him up as a midfielder players should aspire to. Just because players are of a similar height doesn't mean they have the same physical attributes.
Rancid i never said he wasn't quick, he's obviously quick, but i don't see explosive speed.
His height was one thing i mentioned, among a list of reasons. Fuck even suggesting a Barrett isn't the 2nd coming gets some of your panties in a bunch.
JB is a big, tall, languid, silky (well, when he grows in to his body) giraffe, who has all the attributes to be a very good 15 when he grows up a bit. Right now, i don't see him as a 12, nor is there any real reason to move him from his current spot.
And i am talking test rugby here. I could give a fuck about the Hurricanes, play him at halfback if you want.
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@crucial said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@african-monkey said in Waratahs v Highlanders - QF:
@crucial A bit like you trying to defend the Blues and the coaching staff every week and telling Blues fans on here that we were out of line with our criticisms over and over....
Would be similar if that's what actually happened.
yea, for a while there you kinda did. But even you gave up on it.
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I liked that original post because I agree that right now 15 is easily his best position, where he gets to use his natural tools (height, kick, he has a nice swerve/outside break too) while filling a position where we are (surprisingly) a bit weak and need a new longer termer.
Midfield on the other hand is an area of riches - at 2nd, we still have Laumape and ALB plus Goodhue - after SBW and Crotty leave. Plus Rieko (probably) moving there in the future. I don’t even see a need for him to play midfield for the Canes unless Laumape, Proctor, Aso etc. are injured. And they are young too.
I suspect he could be a very useful 2nd five eighth, but right now he’s (IMO) our in front at 15, and who’s behind him? Honestly, if I was going to ask him to cover a position, I’d ask him to be ready to cover 1st (as secondary cover) and have him trying be a second first receiver by swapping out with whoever is at first. I reckon B.B. will bolt after the next WC so we’ll be left with Dmac, Mo’unga, and?
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@gt12 I think JB has all the tools to be a great FB, and i look forward to him developing them. He's started pretty bloody well, and being so young he has so much time to get better. I actually have no interest in moving him, because FB is probably one of the most important positions in the AB system now.
As for who is going to play 10, better get Canterbury to fire up the production line again. I think it is in the national interest if they rebuild that before the stadium to be honest.
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That’s a good point, as long as either Dmac or Mo’unga work out, we should be fine until Canterbury (or Horowhenua) inevitably cranks our another cracker.
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@gt12 Yeah - I can't see the point in trying to shift Jordie to the midfield, when we have a number of good options there. Similarly with Rieko.
After the RWC, I reckon SBW, Crotty and BFA will be gone and they can be covered - hopefully - by Laumape, ALB and Goodhue in the midfield, and Jordie at fullback.
Shift Jordie to the midfield and you've probably got Havili or DMac to start at fullback (maybe Alaimalo) - while DMac is potentially also our first five cover - or even our first five!
Beauden better not turn out to be a treacherous money-grubbing little Hurricanes shit or I will have some harsh words to say about him. He's got another full World Cup cycle in him.
One of the problems for the Highlanders (and the reason Quade is in the picture) is that we've been hurt at Super level by the defections of too many first fives - Cruden, Sopoaga, Slade, Banks, Taylor, Bleyendaal just off the top of my head.
The position that most concerns me for the future though, is lock. Where are the plus two-metre locks who will replace the lineout power of Retallick and Whitelock?
Pari Pari Parkinson has that size, but who else?