All Blacks 2026
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
Huh, go figure. I thought Parker made a bloody good fist of it as a debutant in a clearly dysfunctional, confused team. Not blockbuster by any means, but there's not many forwards who are in their first season.
I think he's worth perservering with, unless the new coach wants to go in a diffrrent direction and has someone else in mind for the job.
There's a definite spot for his style in my team, worth persevering to see if he can become more rounded for sure.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
Huh, go figure. I thought Parker made a bloody good fist of it as a debutant in a clearly dysfunctional, confused team. Not blockbuster by any means, but there's not many forwards who are in their first season.
I think he's worth perservering with, unless the new coach wants to go in a diffrrent direction and has someone else in mind for the job.
There's a definite spot for his style in my team, worth persevering to see if he can become more rounded for sure.
Yeah, and it can be a very thankless task playing alongside Sititi and Savea at the same time, as both aren't really helping in the close in stuff. Lakai helped out a bit which took a bit of the workload off Parker in retaining the ball as the year went on, but it also didn't help in some ways as Lakai was forced to play as an 8 whilst Savea stupidly had the 7 jersey on all year even though he does everything but the job required of a 7, and I'm gonna assume that Papali'i will come back into the picture which will help with the balance of the loose trio.
Can we really afford to have Savea and Sititi in the same matchday 23 for the Boks tour?
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
Savea and Sititi in the same matchday 23 for the Boks tour
In 20 & 21 perhaps.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey I won't be unhappy to see him moved on, he definitely played his part in the rot and I think he's far from indispensable - on the other hand, I'm very certain he wouldn't get away with any petty bullshit under a different HC and he has had some good results in the past.
Yeah I don't know where I stand with him. You've nailed it with what you've said, but yeah, don't know if i'd be disappointed either way with whether he gets kept on or not.
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey I won't be unhappy to see him moved on, he definitely played his part in the rot and I think he's far from indispensable - on the other hand, I'm very certain he wouldn't get away with any petty bullshit under a different HC and he has had some good results in the past.
Yeah I don't know where I stand with him. You've nailed it with what you've said, but yeah, don't know if i'd be disappointed either way with whether he gets kept on or not.
If he stays, I'll be extremely wary and skeptical. He'll have a lot to prove.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
Savea and Sititi in the same matchday 23 for the Boks tour
In 20 & 21 perhaps.
One of the things about the omission of Sotutu was his inability to play on both sides of the ball, yet for the whole 2025, that's all Sititi did. We've all said enough about Savea on here regarding his workrate which doesn't need to be bought up again.
I think Sititi will/could benefit massively from a new coach. He was one of many who fell into bad habits where they were being lazy and only getting into the things that they wanted to do (your mate Will Jordan being another). He's a talented player, and I'm hoping/thinking that a new coach will make him work harder off the ball.
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@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
"Play both sides?". Full of shit more like
Yeah, from some of the evidence shown in 2025.
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@canefan said in All Blacks 2026:
"Play both sides?". Full of shit more like
Yeah, from some of the evidence shown in 2025.
One of the features of the Razor tenure was shitty D and failure to get control of the breakdown/ collision area. So someone wasn't doing their core jobs
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
Will Jordan
If someone can give him a rocket and get him to be a team man, he's got a lot of game breaking ability to offer. Potential to be a huge danger from fullback to the opposition, as long as he's not a danger to his own team also.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
Will Jordan
If someone can give him a rocket and get him to be a team man, he's got a lot of game breaking ability to offer. Potential to be a huge danger from fullback to the opposition, as long as he's not a danger to his own team also.
He's got a lot to work on to be a world class fullback I feel. His distribution remains suspect, he has an alright punt on him so he has that going for him, but like most of our outside backs, he remains suspect in the air also. He just looked like a winger playing fullback last year. The only one who seems any good in the air is Caleb Clarke.
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@African-Monkey I'm starting to look forward to seeing if we can get massive improvement in our flawed genius players with decent coaching.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
Will Jordan
If someone can give him a rocket and get him to be a team man, he's got a lot of game breaking ability to offer. Potential to be a huge danger from fullback to the opposition, as long as he's not a danger to his own team also.
I don't know if it's not being a team man, I just wonder if right wing is his ceiling (and I don't mean that derogatory, he's a class right wing), and he just doesn't have the skillset to be a top class fullback.
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia his flaws don't disappear just because he's on the wing. They just get hidden until he plays a RWC final.
Yeah, but I think they're less of an issue on the wing. When he's on the end of a chain he doesn't need to pass accurately to people in space as often (for an example).
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@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
I thought Parker made a bloody good fist of it as a debutant in a clearly dysfunctional, confused team.
Good point. Probably why I think a new HC will aim to stop the dysfunctional shit before any major surgery.
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@Nepia said in All Blacks 2026:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
@Nepia his flaws don't disappear just because he's on the wing. They just get hidden until he plays a RWC final.
Yeah, but I think they're less of an issue on the wing. When he's on the end of a chain he doesn't need to pass accurately to people in space as often (for an example).
And if his flaws are a result of shit application and coaching, then maybe he could be an excellent fullback.
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@African-Monkey said in All Blacks 2026:
@Bones said in All Blacks 2026:
Huh, go figure. I thought Parker made a bloody good fist of it as a debutant in a clearly dysfunctional, confused team. Not blockbuster by any means, but there's not many forwards who are in their first season.
I think he's worth perservering with, unless the new coach wants to go in a diffrrent direction and has someone else in mind for the job.
His big body was definitely a big plus in Boks 1.
Throw in Paps (or Lakai) at 7 and you can afford to carry RD or Wally at 8.
