Blues 2019
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Scott Gregory has been offered a spot with the wider training squad at the Blues,be interesting to see if Rayasi hangs around if he misses a contract with the Blues.
Hope he hangs around,simply because as we saw last year injuries do happen,in my opinion Caleb Clark was signed far too early last year as well,should have been offered a wider training spot,I see the same issue with Hoskins Sotutu,has’nt exactly rocked the world at Mitre 10 Cup level in my opinion..it would a real bugger to see Evan Olmstead miss because once again they signed a guy far too early.@steven-harris Sotutu is a better signing than Jimmy Tupou. That's who Olmstead should be there instead of.
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In 2002 Graham Henry came back to Auckland and they won the NPC. I looked forward to 2003's Super Rugby season thinking that we'd murder it.
This year I look to 2019 Super Rugby thinking "well, we might qualify 7th or 8th."
@tim I guess it will depend on who really does the coaching, decides on the game plan and selections. If Tana is still taking all decisions and doesn't listen to his assistants, I fear for the Blues, but if there is significant input from the assistant coaches, they should improve a lot.
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@tim I guess it will depend on who really does the coaching, decides on the game plan and selections. If Tana is still taking all decisions and doesn't listen to his assistants, I fear for the Blues, but if there is significant input from the assistant coaches, they should improve a lot.
@stargazer said in Blues 2019:
@tim I guess it will depend on who really does the coaching, decides on the game plan and selections. If Tana is still taking all decisions and doesn't listen to his assistants, I fear for the Blues, but if there is significant input from the assistant coaches, they should improve a lot.
Tana is still picking shit players. Doesn’t matter how good your assistants are if you serve dross like Collins for them to work with.
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@stargazer said in Blues 2019:
@tim I guess it will depend on who really does the coaching, decides on the game plan and selections. If Tana is still taking all decisions and doesn't listen to his assistants, I fear for the Blues, but if there is significant input from the assistant coaches, they should improve a lot.
Tana is still picking shit players. Doesn’t matter how good your assistants are if you serve dross like Collins for them to work with.
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@kirwan Might've been a sly dig from Henry on the Short Ball podcast, when he stated that Nanai was a pretty good "communicator".
@tim said in Blues 2019:
@kirwan Might've been a sly dig from Henry on the Short Ball podcast, when he stated that Nanai was a pretty good "communicator".
I missed that, Ted is very dry.
It’s unbelievable that they have signed Nonu when TJ is playing so well. If he got an extended run at 12 we could see his recent form at SR level.
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@tim said in Blues 2019:
@kirwan Might've been a sly dig from Henry on the Short Ball podcast, when he stated that Nanai was a pretty good "communicator".
I missed that, Ted is very dry.
It’s unbelievable that they have signed Nonu when TJ is playing so well. If he got an extended run at 12 we could see his recent form at SR level.
@kirwan Only worry I have about Faiane is that he might be a bit small at higher levels.
Might see him at 12 and Nonu at 13 next year.
I'm not enthusiastic about Nonu. Would've preferred we signed Manu, Little, and Matt Vaega. Two good centres, two good 12s, plus SBW.
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haha, little aint coming back to nz mate. hell be close to a million dollar player if he chooses japan for internationals.
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haha, little aint coming back to nz mate. hell be close to a million dollar player if he chooses japan for internationals.
@muddyriver Fark, they should've signed him when had the chance.
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haha, little aint coming back to nz mate. hell be close to a million dollar player if he chooses japan for internationals.
Or Fiji (much more likely IMO), in which case the NH beckons after Super rugby.
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Aumua would suggest we don't have Manu
Brown.. has Kara Pryor been cut? The coaches didn't seem to have much faith in him.
@duluth Steven Harris said on here recently that Pryor may be heading overseas.
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@chris Jed Brown would be a good backup 7. Much better than Taramai.
Not a fan of Aumua, gutted if we miss Manu. Mind you, we do need two centres ...
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Jed Brown? The guy is almost as injury prone as Blake Gibson. Fuck we might see Murphy Taramai get a lot of minutes for us next season again unfortunately.
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@chris Jed Brown would be a good backup 7. Much better than Taramai.
Not a fan of Aumua, gutted if we miss Manu. Mind you, we do need two centres ...
@tim Harris also mentioned somewhere that Scott Gregory was offered a wtg contract. That would see the mid field/outside backs options being Nonu, SBW, Faiane, Amua, Tele'a, Gregory, Ioane, Nanai, Clarke, Duffie, Trainor, Collins. This seams to be one more than normal so I fear for Trainor missing out or being picked up somewhere else. (yes I wrote Collins last deliberately).
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@tim Harris also mentioned somewhere that Scott Gregory was offered a wtg contract. That would see the mid field/outside backs options being Nonu, SBW, Faiane, Amua, Tele'a, Gregory, Ioane, Nanai, Clarke, Duffie, Trainor, Collins. This seams to be one more than normal so I fear for Trainor missing out or being picked up somewhere else. (yes I wrote Collins last deliberately).
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@daffy-jaffy IIRC, Gregory is on a dev contract. Am hoping Talea is the same.
@tim This below off the Blues site says he is on a full contract. Its a shame injury ruined his rep season so we couldn't assess him.
The Blues continues to invest in youth for 2019 and beyond after announcing that three members of the New Zealand Under-20s rugby team will play for the club in Super Rugby next year.
Harry Plummer, Tanielu Tele’a and Hoskins Sotutu, among the seven players from the Blues region in the New Zealand Under-20 side, have been signed for two-year contracts with the Blues.
They were among five young players from the Blues region who spent 10 weeks with the club as part of the Interim Player Contract (ITC) scheme and impressed sufficiently to earn full contracts from 2019.
