@Stargazer said in Blues 2023:
@frugby The Sullivan brothers are slightly different as they played their last few years of 1st XV rugby in Auckland, and the Chiefs lured Bailyn south to Hamilton. They played younger age grade rugby for HB. They are both regularly back in HB and I don't think it would bother them to temporarily move back to HB more than it does other players who regularly do the same. Remember we have over 20 SR players and the majority of them don't play for the Canes!
Well if it doesn't bother them, why don't they? Don't forget also, with those 20 SR players, are lot of them are effectively the reverse situation to what we are talking about.
Just thinking about the Highlanders ones alone, MMT, Fakatava, Lowe, all of those boys were signed from the NPC, rather than as academy players. They were coming to Dunedin with the sole purpose of playing for the Highlanders, in a temporary sense.
For example, take Jordie Barrett when he briefly played for Canterbury. Yes he was down there to play rugby, but he was also studying at Lincoln, and living in Christchurch as a permanent base. This concept has been around since the NPC days... even pre-professionalism, when guys played for Otago because they were living there for University.
