Chiefs 2024
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This made me laugh.
“Shaun Stevenson has been my little project the last couple of weeks, just making sure he’s pushing the right amount of tin and he’s not taking any shortcuts,” Messam says.
“He always makes sure that he doesn’t have eye-contact with me, I always pull him aside. But he’s been impressive the last couple of weeks, I think he might have hit a PB.”
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A loose forward combination of Finau, Jacobson, Parker (6, 7, 8 ) could be pretty handy.
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The new captain is still to be named, but I think that the obvious choice is Jacobson. If McMillan continues with co-captains ALB might take on that responsibility. There are other provincial captains in the squad like Ross and Boshier, although Boshier might not be guaranteed a start each week.
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@Tim I think the Chiefs should be heavy favourites for the title. They seem to have all bases covered and will be hurting from last year's final. The Crusaders without Mo'unga and Whitelock will be there or there abouts (most likely the final) but the Chiefs should favour themselves to go one better than last year.
The Blues, Brumbies and Hurricanes might be able to upset that prediction though if they can keep key players fit.
The rest of the teams don't seem to have enough firepower to do the business this year for me.
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@Canes4life said in Chiefs 2024:
@Tim I think the Chiefs should be heavy favourites for the title. They seem to have all bases covered and will be hurting from last year's final. The Crusaders without Mo'unga and Whitelock will be there or there abouts (most likely the final) but the Chiefs should favour themselves to go one better than last year.
The Blues, Brumbies and Hurricanes might be able to upset that prediction though if they can keep key players fit.
The rest of the teams don't seem to have enough firepower to do the business this year for me.
Chiefs without Cane, BBBR, and Weber are also a pretty different and much younger team.
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@gt12 yeah but the Chiefs still have an established 10, they have two All Black's ready to replace the dinosaur that was Rettalick, and Ratima is primed to have a big year at halfback. I don't actually think the Chiefs lose much when you think about it.
When you factor in the return of Tupaea and how deadly that back-three was last year behind a sound pack, the Chiefs are going to be very hard to beat.
Then again, I'm feeling quite confident about my maturing Canes side, who despite losing Ardie will have a raft of players starting to hit the so-called golden ages of 25/26, many whom will be pushing for national selection.
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@Canes4life said in Chiefs 2024:
yeah but the Chiefs still have an established 10, they have two All Black's ready to replace the dinosaur that was Rettalick, and Ratima is primed to have a big year at halfback. I don't actually think the Chiefs lose much when you think about it.
When you factor in the return of Tupaea and how deadly that back-three was last year behind a sound pack, the Chiefs are going to be very hard to beat.
Plus, unlike a few competitors, no head coach change. That means no transition period as new systems etc are introduced
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@Duluth said in Chiefs 2024:
@Canes4life said in Chiefs 2024:
yeah but the Chiefs still have an established 10, they have two All Black's ready to replace the dinosaur that was Rettalick, and Ratima is primed to have a big year at halfback. I don't actually think the Chiefs lose much when you think about it.
When you factor in the return of Tupaea and how deadly that back-three was last year behind a sound pack, the Chiefs are going to be very hard to beat.
Plus, unlike a few competitors, no head coach change. That means no transition period as new systems etc are introduced
I think this is the big thing in the Chiefs' favour, but I feel this is the most open season of Super Rugby in a while. Didn't seem to really matter whilst Razor was there, the Crusaders would always find a way.
What you really want to see is all the teams beating each other, as opposed to teams going on long unbeaten runs. Crusaders, Hurricanes and Blues hold the unknown, and the Highlanders the true youth, so they are probably a year away from properly challenging.
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@Canes4life said in Chiefs 2024:
@gt12 yeah but the Chiefs still have an established 10, they have two All Black's ready to replace the dinosaur that was Rettalick, and Ratima is primed to have a big year at halfback. I don't actually think the Chiefs lose much when you think about it.
When you factor in the return of Tupaea and how deadly that back-three was last year behind a sound pack, the Chiefs are going to be very hard to beat.
Then again, I'm feeling quite confident about my maturing Canes side, who despite losing Ardie will have a raft of players starting to hit the so-called golden ages of 25/26, many whom will be pushing for national selection.
Lots to agree with there. I think that at lock we should be OK if we don't have injuries, and if Jacobson takes the Cane role, we should be OK up front, especially if Finau matures.
Our backline could be very dangerous, but I'm not 100% sold on either of our HBS at this level. Ratima does look very good though.
@Duluth makes a good point about the lack of change in coaching, which should be a good thing. McMillan has been going very well.
However, new coaches have a pretty good record in Super rugby - Rennie won in his first year, Razor in his first year, Boyd in his second (after finaling in his first). Also Cheika won in his second year. That could be a good sign for the Blues with a pretty established squad and a refreshed coaching team that might be able to push them over the edge.
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@gt12 said in Chiefs 2024:
Our backline could be very dangerous, but I'm not 100% sold on either of our HBS at this level. Ratima does look very good though.
I'll be interested to see how McMillan uses the halfbacks. I am assuming that TTT is clearly the no.3. To get the best out of Roe and Ratima I would be starting Roe and finishing with Ratima, which is essentially what Waikato does. More likely, there will be rotation.
While we will definitely miss Weber's experience and defence, his box kicking put the Chiefs under pressure too often, and his passing could be erratic - much more noticeable being at the game.
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@gt12 Boyd isn't a coach, I'm assuming you meant Laidlaw? He's had some success as an assistant in what was mostly a successful year for the Canes in 2015, and then obviously coached the NZ Sevens side in a pretty dominant period.
