@African-Monkey
Totally agree! No doubt a funeral to attend this week. The reality will be in the face! So many players at the end of the Jaguars game looked devastated. Far more than usual. Give the lads a break, get it together this week and slam the sunwolves.
@kev haha, well Dan Bowden hasn't been much chop for a while, his poor dad tho. 😁
Stoked that Tana can see the big picture here for these young fullas. I think they need a bloody good rest and some fun times, being under the pump for too long will fry them.
These guys sure as hell don't deserve public dissection at this point in their rugby careers.
Heaps of experts will be quoting how much they're paid to do their job blah blah, but no job is worth it if it's 365 24/7, I hope they get most of June off. Not because they shouldn't make ABs or Maori ABs but because having a mindful rest could be very influential to their form going forward.
@Duluth said in Blues v Highlanders:
@KiwiMurph said in Blues v Highlanders:
Some serious question marks have to be asked of Tana's outside back recruitment.
He lost Li and Lam, didn't want Visinia and brought in Collins, O'Donnell and Ambrose Curtis. He also missed out on promising Northlander Solomon Alaimalo. Trainor has yet to be sighted except for the Brisbane 10s where he looked poor.
Yeah the outside back selections have been strange
Also not signing GPT at hooker. He was one of the last signings for the Highlanders. With Parsons having concussion issues, Moulds not good enough at lineout time it seems crazy not to select a good set piece hooker who has been in great form in the last two NPCs.
Last year selecting Matenga ahead of Fatialofa and Seu is unforgivable. That talent from the region is probably lost for good.
Parsons concussion issues only arose part way through npc, so there's no way you could know that was going to happen. GPT and Moulds were both wider training the previous year at the same time. They both got little to no game time. Both had good NPC seasons. They both had serious injury issues last NPC season. So really signing of Q McDondald was out of left field. Blues could have retained both.
Moulds had excellent impact off the bench v Landers and the Blues lineouts were all won from there on in.
Parsons had massive issues at line out time and he's usually bang on, so what's the issue? Probably lots of small things making a big mess.
Good to see a couple of new caps with Blundell and Hohaia. Hope Breen isn't out for long, Hawkins had one of his better days so he can keep that up all season.
Moulds nailed the end of game interview and said it all really.
@bones said in Blues 2018:
@tim "real professional sport"?
Bidwell, if he was a real sports journalist we might care what he has to say. Bin it with all his other mutterings.
Great game, could have gone either way. Take nothing away from the effort off the bench but it probably wasn't our strongest and certainly less experienced which I think contributed to the loss.
Our set piece was excellent so good to see the line outs running smoothly. Harbour looked a bit disorganised there at times.
Bit concerned about our locking trio and where they sit now as far as injuries go.
Firstly really proud of the Boys for their near brilliant season. Great to see them still taking it to Wellington right to the end. Wellington are the form team this year, pretty sure they take out the premiership if they were up there.
Jackson looked like a one eyed one armed bandit for half the game.
Shame we aren’t seeing much of Scrafton this year. The current locks have been solid but he needs game time and looked ready for more a month ago.
@antipodean Parsons is signed for 2021 so he’s the go to guy.
When the weather is a bit damp, there’s heaps of grip on the ball, it makes throwing a shit load harder. Harris also had one not straight anda bunch of line out ball got attacked by Blues.
What Steve said is absolutely true. If Moulds had more game time and remember he’s not even been on the bench for the last couple of weeks he would’ve been more match hardened. His tackles were strong, clean outs solid.
What I like is his ability in the tackle to present really good ball.
Moulds deserved more game time than he’s had. Apisai is playing well at last he’s got his future on the line.
@Duluth said in Brumbies vs Blues:
@Northlandallday said in Brumbies vs Blues:
Honestly I’m happy Blues lost! Management aren’t worried about winning! They want to give lollipops to lads for trying hard.
Good to see Apisai play well
It is he’s had to gain a lot of confidence back from some very poor games.
@African-Monkey Coventry the coach of harbour whose captain is Parsons.
Honestly I’m happy Blues lost! Management aren’t worried about winning! They want to give lollipops to lads for trying hard.
And they wonder why we are struggling for numbers after primary school. Doesn’t make sense at all.
Shame we aren’t seeing much of Scrafton this year. The current locks have been solid but he needs game time and looked ready for more a month ago.
@Duluth Abel is in career best form and nearly 30, Moulds is 27 so given some game time he’d be peaking anytime soon, so let’s dump all that development and back another guy whose not been part of the hard slog at the blues whose not been loyal to any team. Blues still have a season ahead to be competitive I’d rather Moulds coming off the bench or starting than worrying about Apisai’s opportunities.