Poll: Best AB coach - professional era
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Oh @Nepia was completely reasonable about Hammett, it was his defenders that were completely unreasonable!
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@No-Quarter said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
Oh @Nepia was completely reasonable about Hammett, it was his defenders that were completely unreasonable!
Hammer was much maligned - and, I say this as someone who may have succeeded him in his job!
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@Nepia said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@ACT-Crusader said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
Went for Mitchell.
Dark days between 98-02 (signs started in 97 too) and he IMO got it back on track and started to build the foundation of our success for the years ahead.
Picked some very young players too that had talent but still had big question marks.
03 RWC, outcome was unfortunate but an experienced Aussie team had a night.
This might be your most contrarian post ever.
Mitchell's period of success in 2003 was based on Henry's Blues gameplan, and then he neutered it at the RWC by not allowing the forwards to ruck.
Henry had to completely overhaul pretty much everything that went on during Domeheads reign of psychobabble. Pretty much every player's book from that era mentions how fucked the culture was.
That team would have been better with Deans as the head coach, instead he hitched his wagon to Mitchell and blew his chance to be AB coach.
@ACT-Crusader i assume you caught the very fish you were baiting
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Cullen was past in in 03, but yeah, Ben Atiga lol, where did that selection come from?
I remember he was in the Auckland side that took the Shield off Canterbury around the world cup and scored the try to clinch victory, but I have no idea how he got into the convo for an AB RWC spot lol.
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@African-Monkey said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
Cullen was past in in 03.
He was second top try-scorer in 2003 in both the Super 12 and the NPC.
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@sparky said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@African-Monkey said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
Cullen was past in in 03.
He was second top try-scorer in 2003 in both the Super 12 and the NPC.
Past it may be rough, but not the payer he was after his injury in 2000? My memory is a bit hazy.
Still would have had him and Mehrtens in the squad having said that.
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@African-Monkey said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@sparky said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@African-Monkey said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
Cullen was past in in 03.
He was second top try-scorer in 2003 in both the Super 12 and the NPC.
Past it may be rough, but not the payer he was after his injury in 2000? My memory is a bit hazy.
Still would have had him and Mehrtens in the squad having said that.
He was a shadow of his former self but still the best FB in the country at that time is the way I remember it
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No 39 was a peach
Man the AB midfield used to be able to run straight and fast and distribute like a machine gun
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@sparky said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
Most sensible watch that and think "Wow!"
John Hart in 1999 thought "Let's pick him at Centre."
John Mitchell thought "Let's go with Ben Atiga instead."
Cullen's book came out during that RWC so he hadn't so much burned his bridges as ground them into a fine powder, eaten them and shat them down Mitch's throat.
My Nana's poodle was more likely to have been picked at that point!
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@African-Monkey it was a clear case of, we are going to pick someone as emergency cover that won’t ark up if he doesn’t get selected or plays a solitary 3 minutes….(and his name wasn’t Cullen!)
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@Chris-B said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
That's an interesting test.
I only vaguely follow NFL - but, I know who Barry Sanders is.
I can go back to Bee Gee as a 19 year old, but I can't really make an honest assessment.
Slightly later, there was Batty and Stu Wilson - and then JK, but none of them were really Cullen-like.
I'll have to guess Bruce Robertson?
I can go back to a 19 year old BG as well. He was sensational when he burst on the scene.
Cullen was done by 2003; when his knees went, he lost his jet shoes. Kinda sad to watch at the end.
Robertson had a little bit of jet shoe on the outside as well, but nothing like what Cullen had.He was not an outside; although he did play at fullback for the ABs a couple of times, I think.
Could take a gap like no other. Especially in his early days.
Pretty much the same height and weight as Cullen.
He was in the AB team of the 20th century; one of only two old time players voted into that team (the rest came from the 80's and 90's).Sanders was f'n unbelievable; and the sorry ass loser Lions broke him.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
Maybe a bit unfair, but I think Hansen simply continued Ted's work rather than moved the team on. Not all Hansen's fault, but I feel the rot set in under him.
Yes 100%
Definitely not his fault, cause it was working!
But didn't last and the rot set in.
And the two that followed him haven't cut the rot out.And the rot seems to have worked it's way down into the pro rugby department of NZR.
Maybe the ferners should start looking at those guys.
Most of the other pro black teams are not going that flash.
That BF semifinal crashout at the WWRC was sooooo predictable. -
@No-Quarter said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@African-Monkey said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@sparky said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@African-Monkey said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
Cullen was past in in 03.
He was second top try-scorer in 2003 in both the Super 12 and the NPC.
Past it may be rough, but not the payer he was after his injury in 2000? My memory is a bit hazy.
Still would have had him and Mehrtens in the squad having said that.
He was a shadow of his former self but still the best FB in the country at that time is the way I remember it
It's funny how life is.
Razor is maligned for continuing to pick Beauden Barrett, yet Mitchell was maligned for dropping Cullen.
I loved Cullen, one of my absolute favourites but he had lost that tiny bit of spark, lets be honest.
Beauden Barrett lost his jet shoes 4-5 years ago yet is still one of the first names on the team sheet.
In conclusion......
Fuck being an AB coach, there'll always be a bunch of fluffybunnies having a whinge no matter what you do.
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@mohikamo said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
He was not an outside; although he did play at fullback for the ABs a couple of times, I think.
Could take a gap like no other. Especially in his early days.
Pretty much the same height and weight as Cullen.
He was in the AB team of the 20th century; one of only two old time players voted into that team (the rest came from the 80's and 90's).Sanders was f'n unbelievable; and the sorry ass loser Lions broke him.
I'm assuming you're not old enough to have seen Bert Cooke - and he was tiny!
Steve Pokere could take a gap, but I don't recall him having jet shoes.
I'll have to say, Super Sid?
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@Chris-B Bert Cooke would be too small for most U16 sides these days
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@taniwharugby said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@Chris-B Bert Cooke would be too small for most U16 sides these days
The only All Black I can think of who was lighter than him was Afa Stone.
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@MN5 said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@No-Quarter said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@African-Monkey said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@sparky said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
@African-Monkey said in Poll: Best AB coach - professional era:
Cullen was past in in 03.
He was second top try-scorer in 2003 in both the Super 12 and the NPC.
Past it may be rough, but not the payer he was after his injury in 2000? My memory is a bit hazy.
Still would have had him and Mehrtens in the squad having said that.
He was a shadow of his former self but still the best FB in the country at that time is the way I remember it
It's funny how life is.
Razor is maligned for continuing to pick Beauden Barrett, yet Mitchell was maligned for dropping Cullen.
I loved Cullen, one of my absolute favourites but he had lost that tiny bit of spark, lets be honest.
Beauden Barrett lost his jet shoes 4-5 years ago yet is still one of the first names on the team sheet.
In conclusion......
Fuck being an AB coach, there'll always be a bunch of fluffybunnies having a whinge no matter what you do.
Yup, and sometimes that fluffybunny is your own son!
