@mohikamo said in All Blacks 2025:

@pakman said in All Blacks 2025:

Jeremy Paul is quite 'volatile', but his observations, from about 28:00 on, in respect of the 2025 AB squad are very insightful:

One thing that you have to remember is that SA (and now Aus) have more flexibility in making selections, than Robertson.
It’s kinda like Rassie (and now Schmidt as well) can pick players for his club team, that are not actually contracted to his club.
The squad dynamic is different. Players can be moved in and out so easily.
No SA player will ever feel he’s out of the Bok picture. Even if he’s not currently in the squad, living wherever, playing for the Red Diamonds.
A more contemporary type modus operandi.

Robertson is more restricted in what he can do.
It’s almost like the AB team for 27WC is already picked and, most important, contracted.
In terms of player selections, he’s committed already. He can only tinker.
I have no doubt, if he could have, he would have picked at least one player who was a member of another club this season.
For NZ, if you aint in the club, you may as well go off-shore, earn some coin, and that’s the end of it.
You are either in, or you're out.

I would say the biggest problem with the NZR system is that you end up with dead wood clogging up pathways. Guys like ALB & Reece getting minutes ahead of younger prospects with years ahead of them and way more upside. There's no rugby reason why Reece was picked 4 times before Carter stepped on the paddock this season.

In that sense I can't help thinking that the NZ XV should be a much more used vehicle for giving players a crack to see what they have got. If they scheduled 6 matches or so a year (3 in June/July and 3 in November) and had a really solid connection with the AB coaching staff you would be able to get a much better look at what players can offer in a national team environment. As is I can't help feeling that guys like Love end up languishing in a system that rewards longevity over form and guys like Shaun Stevenson never really get a fair crack.

If you have a central contact system you really have to be an excellent arbiter of talent. You don't have the luxury of letting players slip through your fingers or not getting the best out of the players under contract.

The Silver Fern

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