Highlanders 2026
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This is the list I have at the moment:
Ending 2025
DLB
LoweEnding 2026
Millar
Haig
Te Hiwi
Vikena
Hurley
Taylor
Bell
Stodart
Robinson
Howden
Ta'avao
LavaniniEnding 2027
Whaanga
Fakatava
Tavatananawai
Lasaqa
De Groot
Solomon
Pledger
Tito-HarrisEnding 2028
JRK
Tangitau
Holland
Tengblad (from 2027)Unknown
TUJ
Tele'a (two years will run out 25)
Wingham (two years will run out 25)
Ma'u
Withy
Bartlett (two years will be to 26)
Dunshea
Nareki
Broughton
Kautai (two years to 26)
Casey
Lennox -
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
Bringing in a 38-year-old Aaron Smith into a squad he has been away from for years is not the answer. We also have a perfectly capable cohort of halfbacks. With Pledger being absolutely top draw. With Lennox, Taranaki need to stop stuffing with his development. The kid is a halfback. Leave him there. We also don't need another small utility back. We have Solomon and Hurley. Both are better outside backs than Lennox.
Go hunting for a 110kg no8? Will stodart is 116kg. Withy can play thr workhorse role at 8. Casey can go there as well. Looking at the loosie mix. Sure, we are not the Chiefs with five All Black sixes. We do, have a strong group of guys all 24 and under. We have a strong group of sixes and opensides. We now need to leverage them to work out how to get them to cover the 8 gig as well.
With Frizzell. We'd be dumb to knock him back. From socials it looks like Dunedin is his primary NZ base too. If he wants to be around for a couple of years. That is a win.
Loosie isn't a major issue. A starting 10, prop depth, hooker depth and centre is where our issues are. The squad has come a long way in recent years from when Jona Nareki and Sam Gilbert were some of our star players.
On the Lennox thing the Naki isn't stuffing him around, simple playing him where they is best for the Naki, they aren't there to develop Clan players. We got Logan Crowley at 9 too, and even at club level Lennox plays a lot or 14/15 as Stratford also got a handy 9, so use their recourses as best for club. I think it a huge string to Lennox's bow how good he is at 14/15 as well as 9.
Of course they should sign Frizzell,, a no brainer, he got pissed and caused trouble etc, and so deserved to be punished, but that's over. -
@Dan54 said in Highlanders 2026:
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
Bringing in a 38-year-old Aaron Smith into a squad he has been away from for years is not the answer. We also have a perfectly capable cohort of halfbacks. With Pledger being absolutely top draw. With Lennox, Taranaki need to stop stuffing with his development. The kid is a halfback. Leave him there. We also don't need another small utility back. We have Solomon and Hurley. Both are better outside backs than Lennox.
Go hunting for a 110kg no8? Will stodart is 116kg. Withy can play thr workhorse role at 8. Casey can go there as well. Looking at the loosie mix. Sure, we are not the Chiefs with five All Black sixes. We do, have a strong group of guys all 24 and under. We have a strong group of sixes and opensides. We now need to leverage them to work out how to get them to cover the 8 gig as well.
With Frizzell. We'd be dumb to knock him back. From socials it looks like Dunedin is his primary NZ base too. If he wants to be around for a couple of years. That is a win.
Loosie isn't a major issue. A starting 10, prop depth, hooker depth and centre is where our issues are. The squad has come a long way in recent years from when Jona Nareki and Sam Gilbert were some of our star players.
On the Lennox thing the Naki isn't stuffing him around, simple playing him where they is best for the Naki, they aren't there to develop Clan players. We got Logan Crowley at 9 too, and even at club level Lennox plays a lot or 14/15 as Stratford also got a handy 9, so use their recourses as best for club. I think it a huge string to Lennox's bow how good he is at 14/15 as well as 9.
Of course they should sign Frizzell,, a no brainer, he got pissed and caused trouble etc, and so deserved to be punished, but that's over.Take your eye patch off buddy. They are stuffing Lennox around. He isn't going to be a Super level outside back. He is a Super level halfback. Their selection priorities are impacting the ability of him to develop career wise.
He will say he will do whatever the team needs. However, the is a classic case of high performance processes not working. You need aligned processes. From a NZ rugby perspectife. Halfbacks are halfbacks. 10s are 10s. Lennox's career prospects are not improving because he can cover the outside backs. It improves because he is a quality halfback. If he doesn't play there. He does not get rhe ability to develop.
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Depth at 7 is stacked now with Casey, Lasaqa and Withy. Love to see it.
Im wondering whether they’ll make a change and move Withy to 6 permanently, considering he’s been playing there all season with the Stags. But the flip side to that is you lose that big body at 6, like TK Howden or a Shannon Frizell, or do they slot them at 8 instead of Broughton?
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Withy is about the same size as most of the other no8s in NZ Super sides.
About the same height as Sotutu and Renton, taller than Lio-Willie, Iose, Lakai, Broughton, Savea and Fletcher Anderson.
The only markedly bigger 8s height and weight wise are Parker, Srodart and Wrampling.
He doesn't need to be the explosive eight when we have primary ball carriers at six and seven.
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
Withy is about the same size as most of the other no8s in NZ Super sides.
About the same height as Sotutu and Renton, taller than Lio-Willie, Iose, Lakai, Broughton, Savea and Fletcher Anderson.
Yep - but he is an inferior ball-player to all those except Renton.
Howden, Lasaqa, Withy wasn't good enough over the long-term this year, and I fail to see why that would be different next year - but you need a squad of guys. Withy's versatility means he can play 8, but I find it hard to make a loose forward trio that is well-balanced with him at 8, given the style of player Howden and Haig are, for this to be considered the first option.
Of Interest. Sean Withy's W/L by Starting Position across NPC & SR:
2025
6: 5W/3L
7: 0W/6L
8: 0W/6L2024
6: 2W/9L
7: 6W/4L
8: -2023
6: 4W/0L
7: 2W/7L
8: - -
We have three guys who are interchangeable at six in Stodart, Haig and Howden.
We have three who are likely to be interchangeable at seven in Lasaqa, Casey and Withy.
We do not have an option at eight.
The workrate Withy offers means he will be a starter. Doesn't offer what we need off the bench.
JJ likes a tall six. He likes an explosive seven.
Has shown a track record of like a workrate guy at eight.
Citing his W/L record in generally por performing Landers/Southland/Otago sides is a bit of a moot point
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@SouthernMann will stodart is definitely destined to be our 8 long term (not saying that's what happens round 1 2026) I guess at super level he needs time as bench loose forward firstly but his days as the landers reserve Lock should be done with
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
We have three guys who are interchangeable at six in Stodart, Haig and Howden.
We have three who are likely to be interchangeable at seven in Lasaqa, Casey and Withy.
We do not have an option at eight.
The workrate Withy offers means he will be a starter. Doesn't offer what we need off the bench.
JJ likes a tall six. He likes an explosive seven.
Has shown a track record of like a workrate guy at eight.
Citing his W/L record in generally por performing Landers/Southland/Otago sides is a bit of a moot point
Withy has played six career games at number eight. There is very little about him currently that suggest he is a number eight, other than the fact he is an above-averaged height openside flanker. Size and Height are two very different things.
For the Highlanders, he only ended up there because Stodart was too young and both Broughton & Renton were injured. He played his one and only game at 8 for Southland this week because Tupou Taeiloa was injured.
If he wants to be a number eight, he probably needs to add a good 8kg to his frame, because as mentioned he does not have the dynamic ball-playing skills the likes of Lio-Willie has, nor the natural size of a Parker.
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@SouthernMann Definitely gonna be a difficult decision for Jamie, I think all three of (Casey, Withy, Lasaqa) need to be in that starting 23 somehow. But then you also have guys like Howden, Haig, Stodart and Broughton who deserve a spot aswell.
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@upthelanders said in Highlanders 2026:
@SouthernMann Definitely gonna be a difficult decision for Jamie, I think all three of (Casey, Withy, Lasaqa) need to be in that starting 23 somehow. But then you also have guys like Howden, Haig, Stodart and Broughton who deserve a spot aswell.
It is a nice problem to have. One we haven't had in a long time. It has generally been we have a first 15 with some average guys in a few spors, then gets a bit scratchy from the bench on. A few injuries and we have been in this shit. It was only a couple of years ago that Gilbert and Jona were our star players.
Having three guys in several positions we can rotate our squad will be a massive improvement.
Will come down to the style JJ wants to play.
Have only got a couple of positions where we are a bit rooted if the top guy falls over. If we don't land Jacomb for example, we may not even have a top guy at 10.
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
@Dan54 said in Highlanders 2026:
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
Bringing in a 38-year-old Aaron Smith into a squad he has been away from for years is not the answer. We also have a perfectly capable cohort of halfbacks. With Pledger being absolutely top draw. With Lennox, Taranaki need to stop stuffing with his development. The kid is a halfback. Leave him there. We also don't need another small utility back. We have Solomon and Hurley. Both are better outside backs than Lennox.
Go hunting for a 110kg no8? Will stodart is 116kg. Withy can play thr workhorse role at 8. Casey can go there as well. Looking at the loosie mix. Sure, we are not the Chiefs with five All Black sixes. We do, have a strong group of guys all 24 and under. We have a strong group of sixes and opensides. We now need to leverage them to work out how to get them to cover the 8 gig as well.
With Frizzell. We'd be dumb to knock him back. From socials it looks like Dunedin is his primary NZ base too. If he wants to be around for a couple of years. That is a win.
Loosie isn't a major issue. A starting 10, prop depth, hooker depth and centre is where our issues are. The squad has come a long way in recent years from when Jona Nareki and Sam Gilbert were some of our star players.
On the Lennox thing the Naki isn't stuffing him around, simple playing him where they is best for the Naki, they aren't there to develop Clan players. We got Logan Crowley at 9 too, and even at club level Lennox plays a lot or 14/15 as Stratford also got a handy 9, so use their recourses as best for club. I think it a huge string to Lennox's bow how good he is at 14/15 as well as 9.
Of course they should sign Frizzell,, a no brainer, he got pissed and caused trouble etc, and so deserved to be punished, but that's over.Take your eye patch off buddy. They are stuffing Lennox around. He isn't going to be a Super level outside back. He is a Super level halfback. Their selection priorities are impacting the ability of him to develop career wise.
He will say he will do whatever the team needs. However, the is a classic case of high performance processes not working. You need aligned processes. From a NZ rugby perspectife. Halfbacks are halfbacks. 10s are 10s. Lennox's career prospects are not improving because he can cover the outside backs. It improves because he is a quality halfback. If he doesn't play there. He does not get rhe ability to develop.
Gee and here's me seeing him play on wing for the Highlanders during the season, for a nic of SouthernMann, you should know that.. Of course he a 9 that can play wing or fullback where he does for his club team. And why is it wearing an eyepatch to say the Naki should play Lennox where it does best for Naki. Lennox has said multiple times he is happy playing at wing or fullback, probably because it makes him more vale to teams like the Highlander etc. He is never probably going to be more than 3rd 9 for the Clan so he's worth more as a utility. He's not AB material so aligned principles from club-NPC-Super etc wouldn't be even considered. It's probably about what's best for player personally (more $s being utility) and for Barnes it best for Naki. Barnes , and his club coaches aren't paid by NZR.. And as I said, JJ was happy to play him on wing.
Just out of interest JJ agrees with me, a quote from him.
But Joseph’s comments suggest that Lennox is firmly in the mix for one of the three halfback spots for 2026, and his ability to cover the outside backs is a skillset that would allow the Highlanders to go to a 6-2 bench split when needed. -
@upthelanders said in Highlanders 2026:
@SouthernMann Definitely gonna be a difficult decision for Jamie, I think all three of (Casey, Withy, Lasaqa) need to be in that starting 23 somehow. But then you also have guys like Howden, Haig, Stodart and Broughton who deserve a spot aswell.
The beauty of all that is these things tend to work themselves out. Injuries happen. Eg Haig and Howden were both injured at the start of last season at 6. We lost Renton and Broughton at 8.
A tough decision when they are all healthy, yes, but it always works itself out. Most depth we’ve had in the loose trio in a long time.
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@upthelanders said in Highlanders 2026:
@SouthernMann Definitely gonna be a difficult decision for Jamie, I think all three of (Casey, Withy, Lasaqa) need to be in that starting 23 somehow. But then you also have guys like Howden, Haig, Stodart and Broughton who deserve a spot aswell.
What works in Withy’s favour at 7 is that he is a genuine lineout target. Stats may be wrong but Casey hasn’t received a single line out this NPC season and Lasaqa has one.
The big area of concern is the breakdown. We had the worst breakdown in the comp and the loose forward trio plays a big role in that. Howden and Withy were serial offenders in that regard.
Having all three small 7s on the 23 means our breakdown and lineout is going to get shredded, so those three can’t co-exist in the same 23.
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I just hope that JJ doesn’t muck around with guys like Pledger and Casey. These guys are pure talent and need game time straight away.
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@upthelanders I trust he will back them, as we saw last season Lasaqa and Hurley game 1 were asked to provide impact which they did then the following week were rewarded with a start against the blues
