Blues 2017
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Māori All Blacks lock joins as replacement
Taranaki and Maori All Blacks lock Leighton Price has joined the Blues for the rest of the Investec Super Rugby competition. The 1.98m, 112kg lock is a replacement for North Harbour’s Brandon Nansen, who is out for the rest of the competition with injury. Price has played 41 first class games for Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki, as well as a New Zealand Under-20 representative and in last year’s Maori All Blacks for their northern tour. He may be pressed into action immediately dependant on the severity of injuries to current Blues second rowers, Jimmy Tupou, Patrick Tuipulotu and Josh Goodhue. Two other young players have assembled with the club as short term injury replacements. North Harbour’s Hapakuki Moala Liava’a, a former New Zealand Schools and New Zealand Under-20 representative, returns to cover at loose forward, after completing the pre-season training with the Blues. Auckland outside back Pisi Leilua, a Samoa Under-20 and Auckland Sevens player from the Suburbs club, is also a short-term injury replacement after impressing with the Blues A team.Finally clarity:
- Price is the replacement of Nansen
- Tupou, Tuipulotu and Goodhue are all injured (no room for the conspiracy theories that I've read at some places regarding PT)
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@mimic said in Blues 2017:
I'm guessing Tana is hoping that Moala can make the same progress that Nonu made.. People said the same thing about Nonu earlier in his career
Moala is 26, so already older than Nonu was when he was already the #1 AB 2nd-5. Nonu took a while to develop, but that was because he started out so young.
Moala isn't going to get that much better than he is now. Play him on the wing Tana.
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@Chester-Draws Also, while Nonu had plenty of power I think it was his footwork that was underrated - especially in the mid-later part of his career - he could really step himself into gaps/weak shoulders.
Moala is a more traditional power player where he will power through/over people. He's probably a tad slow than ideal for the wing but yes Moala on the wing and Nanai at fullback would be a much better option than the current situation of Collins at fullback - it doesn't matter so much in non-NZ derby matches but in the NZ derbies Collins just doesnt add enough. Can't see it changing now though unfortunately.
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i think Nonu went to another level of excellence as a test player when he developed his distribution game
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@kiwiinmelb have to wonder if some part of that was driven by the arrival of SBW and therefore someone to really push him, obviously he matured a lot, but having the competition from what would be one of the more high profile recruitments by NZR where some (less knowledgable) expected him to waltz in and take Nonu's 12 jersey would have helped greatly.
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@kiwiinmelb said in Blues 2017:
i think Nonu went to another level of excellence as a test player when he developed his distribution game
I still remember when he had a glaring miss on BOD in Waikato, and most people said 'he'll never play for the ABs again'. Shows that an attitude to learn and improve goes a long way - by the end he was the complete package.
Man I miss Nonu. And Smith. And McCaw.
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@nzzp i think he had a few issues in his early days in defence as a 13 with guys beating him on his outside ,
those problems all seemed to go when he moved to 12
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@kiwiinmelb said in Blues 2017:
@nzzp i think he had a few issues in his early days in defence as a 13 with guys beating him on his outside ,
those problems all seemed to go when he moved to 12
Sure helped having Conrad outside you telling you where to stand. What a player. Sensational.
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Thinking about the Blues in 2018. In a good sign, there won't be a huge number of spots available, but there won't be none either.
There are probably 22 players who will definitely be picked:
As Perofeta covers fullback, I expect that they'll try for four 1st 5s: Black, West, Gatland, and him. West is short (5'9"), but I'd love to see him counter attacking from the back in the last 20-mins. I wonder if he will head to the Hurricanes if we pick up Black?
Half back is a bit of a mystery, Nock will need to show something this year, with Milo-Harris the other in-zone option? Who else can we pick up?
Matt Vaega is a good option to cover centre and wing, and there are four players who can play 12 in the squad (SBW, Moala, Faiane, Collins). If he has another good NPC he might be hard to retain though.
Will Jordan Trainor get picked up again? He's another young player who needs consistent game time in which to demonstrate some form. Caleb Clarke is very promising, but young and raw. Should be good competition in the Mitre 10 cup - there's seldom a shortage of decent wings in NZ ...
I expect Dalton Papali'i to be signed as a loose forward, as well as Murphy Taramai. Hopefully we retain (the superior) Kara Pryor.
One more lock, hooker, and prop on each side remain. No idea who they'll be. Would like to see GPT return, but perhaps they will look for someone a bit more dynamic around the park.
That gives 36 players, with seven unnamed. Anyone know how big squads are next year?
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@Tim I thought Nock signed on for 3 years...he needs to get uninjured and play some rugby!
edit found
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@taniwharugby Cheers dude. He is definitely in next year then. Hope he gets some decent ball from the Northland backs this year!
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My wishlist would be: A dominant tighthead prop, a dynamic hooker who throws well, and a quality starting halfback - would love a slick passer, with Pulu off the bench for the last 20 to 30 minutes.
I wonder when if Webber is signed to the Chiefs for 2018? How about Moli? I wonder if Mafileo will get some starts, with Tu'ungafasi coming off the bench?
This year we seem to have solved our lock problems. Hopefully Black and Perofeta will solve our 10 problems.
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@Tim I can see us being without one of West or Gatland if Black is signed. I think West is probably the one worth keeping between the two because he could have a niche as an impact player off the bench. We also have Harry Plummer and Wiseguy Faiane on developmental contracts, which might factor in on how many 10s we keep next year.
For halfback, I'd be keen to pick up TTT if available. I like his skillset and upside. The good young halfbacks tend to come through at Super level around their 3rd or 4th year, and if we snag him, we'd get him in his 3rd year.
Trainor is definitely back next year having signed until 2019.
I'd give Clarke a spot(think he is already on the Blues' books in some capacity). He probably won't play much or at all next year if selected, but he can take one of O'Donnell's or Ranger's spot, since those two don't even play anyway. It'd be good for him just to be with the team full time.
I can definitely see Papali'i picking up the spot left behind by Luatua. I wouldn't mind us also making a play for Seu to add some depth and height in the backrow. He's a backrow/lock like Luatua, which could come in handy.
I'm definitely all for GPT coming back, but that ship might've sailed. Tana didn't pick him up two years in a row despite good form, but I'm still hoping. I'm all in on getting young Asafo Aumua, who has all the traits of the modern dynamic hooker. He has Coles and Riccitelli ahead of him down at the Canes, so he definitely seems like someone we could realistically pick up.
It sucks seeing Tupou take up a spot, but it's not so bad if he's well down the pecking order. However, I'd rather give his spot to a developmental lock in Sam Slade(covers 6 too) or Jacob Pierce though.
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Glad to see him moving for more game time. Sad to see him move on, but excited to see what he can develop into as a starting (hopefully!) pivot. A pity he's arriving when some great players like Charlie are moving and on.
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Otere would be good
The team is setting up to have a decent 10 make some plays. Feels a bit like NFL teams investing in their offensive line - getting prepared for a 10 so they have something to play with.
Back 3 and midfield - pretty good. WIth SBW, Nanai, Ioane and others there's enough there to go forward
10 - looking hard
9 - serviceable, with potential (and previous form)
loosies - no problem
Locks - PT and Scott Scrafton look fine at this level
Front row - we'll miss Big Charlie, but Ofa, Parsons and Pauluisi Manu will be good enough
WE're not a complete package, but it's been 14 long years of looking up. Next year will clearly be our year
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@nzzp said in Blues 2017:
Otere would be good
The team is setting up to have a decent 10 make some plays. Feels a bit like NFL teams investing in their offensive line - getting prepared for a 10 so they have something to play with.
Back 3 and midfield - pretty good. WIth SBW, Nanai, Ioane and others there's enough there to go forward
10 - looking hard
9 - serviceable, with potential (and previous form)
loosies - no problem
Locks - PT and Scott Scrafton look fine at this level
Front row - we'll miss Big Charlie, but Ofa, Parsons and Pauluisi Manu will be good enough
WE're not a complete package, but it's been 14 long years of looking up. Next year will clearly be our year
Does that mean they'll have the best spine in the comp ... oops sorry wrong thread/code ...
