Blues 2025
-
@ploughboy as far as hookers and replacing Riccitelli goes, I’ve posted a few times now that I’ve heard from a few sources now that Slater is headed your guys way.
If that's true I'd consider Bradley Slater a major boon. He's coming into prime age, was good enough to get selected for All Blacks XV, and has over 50 Super caps under his belt.
-
An interesting thread popped up on Reddit today. A parent asking whether his son should go to the Warriors or Auckland/the Blues.
Warriors offering twice as much, and a three year contract. Auckland/Blues a two year deal in an acadamey.
The Warriors are doing a heck of a job getting all over the top talent all around the country.
-
An interesting thread popped up on Reddit today. A parent asking whether his son should go to the Warriors or Auckland/the Blues.
Warriors offering twice as much, and a three year contract. Auckland/Blues a two year deal in an acadamey.
The Warriors are doing a heck of a job getting all over the top talent all around the country.
@SouthernMann what the warriors can do is offer players money straight out of school, something academies have never done. Hard not to turn down cash at that age. Comes down to how much a player backs themselves in an academy really doesn’t it
-
The Blues are at their best when they promote from within region. They are just coming into a bit of a re-build period.
They shouldn't need 'major' signings. Even with who they have, there is a huge amount of experience.
Barrett, Clarke, Lam, Perofeta, Papali’i, Tuipulotu, Eklund? That is a really experienced core. Should be sufficient to bring through the talent available in the region.
@SouthernMann said in Blues 2025:
The Blues are at their best when they promote from within region. They are just coming into a bit of a re-build period.
They shouldn't need 'major' signings. Even with who they have, there is a huge amount of experience.
Barrett, Clarke, Lam, Perofeta, Papali’i, Tuipulotu, Eklund? That is a really experienced core. Should be sufficient to bring through the talent available in the region.
I'm not interested in rebuilding. I'd like to see them making title shots every year.
Razor brought in over 80 players during his tenure. His squad was in constant flux for those consecutive titles. Over 30 were from out of the Crusaders catchment. Some star imports include Bryn Hall, Digby Ioane, Oli Jager, Sevu Reece, Sione Havili, Pablo Matera, Christian Lio-Willie and John Afoa.
He did what was needed to keep winning titles and I'd like to see the Blues challenging every year.
-
Given Moana have signed Savea, Laumape and Sopoaga I think we need some players like that who brings experience and ability. I'd like to see at least 1 fairly major signings but preferably 2.
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
Given Moana have signed Savea, Laumape and Sopoaga I think we need some players like that who brings experience and ability. I'd like to see at least 1 fairly major signings but preferably 2.
You have Rico Simpson coming through the system nicely and also have Perofeta and Sullivan to replace Plummer in that 10 role when BB isn’t there. It’s almost addition by subtraction. No need to find a replacement there
-
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
Given Moana have signed Savea, Laumape and Sopoaga I think we need some players like that who brings experience and ability. I'd like to see at least 1 fairly major signings but preferably 2.
You have Rico Simpson coming through the system nicely and also have Perofeta and Sullivan to replace Plummer in that 10 role when BB isn’t there. It’s almost addition by subtraction. No need to find a replacement there
@Landers92 said in Blues 2025:
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
Given Moana have signed Savea, Laumape and Sopoaga I think we need some players like that who brings experience and ability. I'd like to see at least 1 fairly major signings but preferably 2.
You have Rico Simpson coming through the system nicely and also have Perofeta and Sullivan to replace Plummer in that 10 role when BB isn’t there. It’s almost addition by subtraction. No need to find a replacement there
We will still need to find replacements for the squad members. Simpson is talented and we can bring some of the young talent through like him but we need to also buy some experience with ability. I'm not saying we need to replace all of those guys with imports but we should absolutely get 2 or 3. It's 400+ caps so I'd like to see some solid experience included in the replacements.
-
@SouthernMann said in Blues 2025:
The Blues are at their best when they promote from within region. They are just coming into a bit of a re-build period.
They shouldn't need 'major' signings. Even with who they have, there is a huge amount of experience.
Barrett, Clarke, Lam, Perofeta, Papali’i, Tuipulotu, Eklund? That is a really experienced core. Should be sufficient to bring through the talent available in the region.
I'm not interested in rebuilding. I'd like to see them making title shots every year.
Razor brought in over 80 players during his tenure. His squad was in constant flux for those consecutive titles. Over 30 were from out of the Crusaders catchment. Some star imports include Bryn Hall, Digby Ioane, Oli Jager, Sevu Reece, Sione Havili, Pablo Matera, Christian Lio-Willie and John Afoa.
He did what was needed to keep winning titles and I'd like to see the Blues challenging every year.
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
@SouthernMann said in Blues 2025:
The Blues are at their best when they promote from within region. They are just coming into a bit of a re-build period.
They shouldn't need 'major' signings. Even with who they have, there is a huge amount of experience.
Barrett, Clarke, Lam, Perofeta, Papali’i, Tuipulotu, Eklund? That is a really experienced core. Should be sufficient to bring through the talent available in the region.
I'm not interested in rebuilding. I'd like to see them making title shots every year.
Razor brought in over 80 players during his tenure. His squad was in constant flux for those consecutive titles. Over 30 were from out of the Crusaders catchment. Some star imports include Bryn Hall, Digby Ioane, Oli Jager, Sevu Reece, Sione Havili, Pablo Matera, Christian Lio-Willie and John Afoa.
He did what was needed to keep winning titles and I'd like to see the Blues challenging every year.
Most of those are quite odd players to cite. Lio-Willie had played two Super games. Jager was playing for Canterbury. Afoa was 38 and played what three games. Sevu Reece ended up down there as a Super rookie whose French contract got canned. George Bower was a squaddie at Otago. Ioane played three games. None of those, except for Matera would be marquee signings.
The Blues had a period when they brought guys in. It didn't work. You don't want to be losing your young talent because they can't get a game behind some mid-level holding guy you have brought in.
-
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
@SouthernMann said in Blues 2025:
The Blues are at their best when they promote from within region. They are just coming into a bit of a re-build period.
They shouldn't need 'major' signings. Even with who they have, there is a huge amount of experience.
Barrett, Clarke, Lam, Perofeta, Papali’i, Tuipulotu, Eklund? That is a really experienced core. Should be sufficient to bring through the talent available in the region.
I'm not interested in rebuilding. I'd like to see them making title shots every year.
Razor brought in over 80 players during his tenure. His squad was in constant flux for those consecutive titles. Over 30 were from out of the Crusaders catchment. Some star imports include Bryn Hall, Digby Ioane, Oli Jager, Sevu Reece, Sione Havili, Pablo Matera, Christian Lio-Willie and John Afoa.
He did what was needed to keep winning titles and I'd like to see the Blues challenging every year.
Most of those are quite odd players to cite. Lio-Willie had played two Super games. Jager was playing for Canterbury. Afoa was 38 and played what three games. Sevu Reece ended up down there as a Super rookie whose French contract got canned. George Bower was a squaddie at Otago. Ioane played three games. None of those, except for Matera would be marquee signings.
The Blues had a period when they brought guys in. It didn't work. You don't want to be losing your young talent because they can't get a game behind some mid-level holding guy you have brought in.
@SouthernMann said in Blues 2025:
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
@SouthernMann said in Blues 2025:
The Blues are at their best when they promote from within region. They are just coming into a bit of a re-build period.
They shouldn't need 'major' signings. Even with who they have, there is a huge amount of experience.
Barrett, Clarke, Lam, Perofeta, Papali’i, Tuipulotu, Eklund? That is a really experienced core. Should be sufficient to bring through the talent available in the region.
I'm not interested in rebuilding. I'd like to see them making title shots every year.
Razor brought in over 80 players during his tenure. His squad was in constant flux for those consecutive titles. Over 30 were from out of the Crusaders catchment. Some star imports include Bryn Hall, Digby Ioane, Oli Jager, Sevu Reece, Sione Havili, Pablo Matera, Christian Lio-Willie and John Afoa.
He did what was needed to keep winning titles and I'd like to see the Blues challenging every year.
Most of those are quite odd players to cite. Lio-Willie had played two Super games. Jager was playing for Canterbury. Afoa was 38 and played what three games. Sevu Reece ended up down there as a Super rookie whose French contract got canned. George Bower was a squaddie at Otago. Ioane played three games. None of those, except for Matera would be marquee signings.
The Blues had a period when they brought guys in. It didn't work. You don't want to be losing your young talent because they can't get a game behind some mid-level holding guy you have brought in.
The point is they were players that were not developed in the Crusaders catchment who have been instrumental to their success.
John Afoa helped get them into the finals. Razor did what was needed.
The Blues had years between 2004 and 2021 where we were relying mostly on local talent from the catchment.
Things have actually gotten better since we started bringing in outside players like.
Alex Hodgman
Karl Tu'inukuafe
Otere Black
Beauden Barrett
Nepo Laulala
Finlay Christie
Sam Darry
Bryce Heem
Ricky Riccitelli
Luke Romano
Anton Segner
Laghlan McWhannellThis year we didn't really have any notable signings in terms of experienced players with ability.
-
A big NPC from Che Clark would be useful
I wouldn't be surprised to see Sullivan in the midfield next season. Cotter talked about it earlier this year. Taele/Lam should be the top pair though
-
@Duluth said in Blues 2025:
A big NPC from Che Clark would be useful
A massive talent to be sure but he really needs to hit the gym and put on at least 5kg - preferably 10kg.
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
@Duluth said in Blues 2025:
A big NPC from Che Clark would be useful
A massive talent to be sure but he really needs to hit the gym and put on at least 5kg - preferably 10kg.
Agreed. He's a long way off at this stage.
-
An interesting thread popped up on Reddit today. A parent asking whether his son should go to the Warriors or Auckland/the Blues.
Warriors offering twice as much, and a three year contract. Auckland/Blues a two year deal in an acadamey.
The Warriors are doing a heck of a job getting all over the top talent all around the country.
@SouthernMann said in Blues 2025:
An interesting thread popped up on Reddit today. A parent asking whether his son should go to the Warriors or Auckland/the Blues.
Warriors offering twice as much, and a three year contract. Auckland/Blues a two year deal in an acadamey.
The Warriors are doing a heck of a job getting all over the top talent all around the country.
Not really a lot of detail in that OP, but further down he does state the kid is already in the SG Ball team.
A majority of posters have it right by pointing out that he should chose the sport he wants to play the most, not be swayed by the contract.
-
@Landers92 said in Blues 2025:
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
Given Moana have signed Savea, Laumape and Sopoaga I think we need some players like that who brings experience and ability. I'd like to see at least 1 fairly major signings but preferably 2.
You have Rico Simpson coming through the system nicely and also have Perofeta and Sullivan to replace Plummer in that 10 role when BB isn’t there. It’s almost addition by subtraction. No need to find a replacement there
We will still need to find replacements for the squad members. Simpson is talented and we can bring some of the young talent through like him but we need to also buy some experience with ability. I'm not saying we need to replace all of those guys with imports but we should absolutely get 2 or 3. It's 400+ caps so I'd like to see some solid experience included in the replacements.
-
So I'm wondering how we will go next year. We need to replace these guys:
Ioane, Plummer, Tele'a, Riccitelli, Suafoa, and Choat.
It's a second year in a row we will need to replace key players.
Ioane, Plummer, Tele'a, Riccitelli have been star players for us and Suafoa/Choat have been key squad members racking up plenty of game time with a lot of starts and experience. We will need to spend some dollars to get players of similar quality.
I'm not a 100% sure who is available but will throw some names out there who are or might be off contract.
Ioane/Plummer - Obviously Rieko and Plummer are massive losses. That said I thought Lam was our best centre last year so he's an option there. At the moment Lam would be the best 12 and 13 option with Ioane gone. Maybe a Taele and Lam partnership.
With Plummer and Ioane going they need two midfield options plus someone who can cover 10. It's worth keeping a hold of Grindlay if we can and developing him.
Another option might be to bring Sullivan in as a midfield option at 12 if Perofeta and Forbes are still available.
In terms of squad replacements for those two potentially Kaleb Trask, Quinn Tupaea, Rameka Poihipi, Gideon Wrampling, Levi Aumua, and Thomas Umaga Jensen.
Tele'a - Off the top of my head Tito-Harris and Mathis could be options. Tele'a was key to our success and he didn't have the same impact this year which I think was telling. Would have been good if we kept anyone of Kade Banks, Caleb Tangitau or Kneepkins.
Potentially Etene Nanai Seturo, Kade Banks or Dan Sinkinson, Oli Mathis, Xavier Tito Harris.
Riccitelli - potentially the hardest to replace. A key team member of our success that has helped us develop a rock solid set piece and winning the collisions. Very high workrate. Potentials - Bradley Slater, Ioane Moananu, George Bell, Sione Vikena, Ray Tuputupu and Vernon Bason. Ideally it would be someone with a lot of experience like Slater or someone with a lot of potential like Bell or Tuputupu.
Suafoa, and Choat - Sadly I can't see Cameron Suafoa making a come back even in remission. Cameron Suafoa obviously covered 6, 8 and lock. He was a player of huge potential and seemed like a great person too.
Choat has been a reliable workhorse and servant for the Blues.
He was a key component of our more success in recent years being a good professional example for younger players.
Potential replacements - Rob Rush, Lotu Inisi, Semisi Tupou Ta'eiloa, Sione Havili Talitui, Zach Gallagher, James Thompson, Malachi Wrampling-Alec, Jimmy Tupou, Mitchell Dunshea, Oliver Haig, Xavier Saifoloi, and Ethan Blackadder
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
Suafoa, and Choat - Sadly I can't see Cameron Suafoa making a come back even in remission. Cameron Suafoa obviously covered 6, 8 and lock. He was a player of huge potential and seemed like a great person too.
Choat has been a reliable workhorse and servant for the Blues.
He was a key component of our more success in recent years being a good professional example for younger players.
Well, for these two there seem to be two pretty obvious replacements from within the system. Randall Baker (U20) can play lock, 6 and 8, and already has the size and physique for the next level. Caleb Woodley (U19) is an openside who has a big engine and provides a lot of physicality in defence. He plays a game very similar to Choat's.
They’re both young and inexperienced, neither of them having played NPC yet. But they’re players of promise. These squad openings are good opportunities to lock these kinds of players up, otherwise you run the risk of losing them to other teams.
And a player like Baker needs to be kept within the system. The Blues have already lost Akira Ioane to Japan. Like you’ve said, there’s, unfortunately, little chance that Suafoa will play professional rugby again. And it’s still unclear what Sotutu is going to do next. There’s currently a premium on bigger ball carriers with potential – it’s why players like Arese Poliko and Malachi Wrampling are already contracted – and I think Baker falls into this category as well. At 1.90m+ and 110kg+ (from the eye test), Baker offers considerable bulk which should really suit the kind of game being played by the Blues right now.
-
@brodean said in Blues 2025:
Suafoa, and Choat - Sadly I can't see Cameron Suafoa making a come back even in remission. Cameron Suafoa obviously covered 6, 8 and lock. He was a player of huge potential and seemed like a great person too.
Choat has been a reliable workhorse and servant for the Blues.
He was a key component of our more success in recent years being a good professional example for younger players.
Well, for these two there seem to be two pretty obvious replacements from within the system. Randall Baker (U20) can play lock, 6 and 8, and already has the size and physique for the next level. Caleb Woodley (U19) is an openside who has a big engine and provides a lot of physicality in defence. He plays a game very similar to Choat's.
They’re both young and inexperienced, neither of them having played NPC yet. But they’re players of promise. These squad openings are good opportunities to lock these kinds of players up, otherwise you run the risk of losing them to other teams.
And a player like Baker needs to be kept within the system. The Blues have already lost Akira Ioane to Japan. Like you’ve said, there’s, unfortunately, little chance that Suafoa will play professional rugby again. And it’s still unclear what Sotutu is going to do next. There’s currently a premium on bigger ball carriers with potential – it’s why players like Arese Poliko and Malachi Wrampling are already contracted – and I think Baker falls into this category as well. At 1.90m+ and 110kg+ (from the eye test), Baker offers considerable bulk which should really suit the kind of game being played by the Blues right now.
-
@Mauss Any opinions on Blues U20 and Harbour NPC players Jack Lee and Tristyn Cook? Cook seems to play more as a six than a lock now.
@Tim said in Blues 2025:
Any opinions on Blues U20 and Harbour NPC players Jack Lee and Tristyn Cook? Cook seems to play more as a six than a lock now.
Can't say I've seen a lot of Jack Lee, at least not enough to form any sort of informed opinion.
I've seen a lot more of Tristyn Cook, for Blues, Harbour, NZ Schools and NZ U20s. Then again, I find it hard to place him. He's got some tools - he's got good hand-eye coordination and body mechanics for a taller player, he's got pace, solid in the lineout - but I'm not sure he completely knows how to put all of those together in the optimal way.
His biggest improvement area to me would be in the contact area: footwork at the line, accelerating into contact, body positioning in the collision, all of these could be better, I think. And those are important factors if you want to play 6.
But those things often come with age and with putting on some more weight. I thought players like Cam Christie and Taine Plumtree had similar issues, but they've both improved their contact work massively in recent years. No reason Cook can't do the same.
-
@Tim said in Blues 2025:
Any opinions on Blues U20 and Harbour NPC players Jack Lee and Tristyn Cook? Cook seems to play more as a six than a lock now.
Can't say I've seen a lot of Jack Lee, at least not enough to form any sort of informed opinion.
I've seen a lot more of Tristyn Cook, for Blues, Harbour, NZ Schools and NZ U20s. Then again, I find it hard to place him. He's got some tools - he's got good hand-eye coordination and body mechanics for a taller player, he's got pace, solid in the lineout - but I'm not sure he completely knows how to put all of those together in the optimal way.
His biggest improvement area to me would be in the contact area: footwork at the line, accelerating into contact, body positioning in the collision, all of these could be better, I think. And those are important factors if you want to play 6.
But those things often come with age and with putting on some more weight. I thought players like Cam Christie and Taine Plumtree had similar issues, but they've both improved their contact work massively in recent years. No reason Cook can't do the same.
-
@Bovidae said in Blues 2025:
Sam Hainsworth-Fa'aofo would be a better option as a 7 in the immediate future.
He'd definitely be more SR-ready than a player like Woodley. But if we're talking about players potentially replacing Choat specifically, then I think Woodley is the more like-for-like replacement.
Hainsworth-Fa'aofo strikes me as more of a 7/8 while Choat is a 6/7: someone who works hard on defence, who is mainly a support option on attack, looks to disrupt the opposition ruck and aims to win the physical battle at the breakdown.
