The Silver Fern

@frugby I did wonder how things would play out if Fakatava and Pledger both had the season of their lives who they’d handle that. There’s every possibility Fakatava takes the third halfback slot in the All Blacks with a decent season.

@Crazy-Horse He's only 22 so has a decent ceiling ahead of him as well. Loss of Pledger also opens up the possibility of a Lennox on the bench covering outside bcks, and Pasetoa covering 10 & midfield and then a 6 - 2 split in the forwards.

Wild the talent stags are attracting. They've got young Josh Augustine and Stan Mclurie waiting in the wings too don't they? Good to see Dunshea is on board for 2026 too.

To be fair I'd be bloody nervous to be approaching JJ too. Love that he kept smashing his lunch while being interviewed.

@Chris can you elaborate on the Papalii turning down a Black Jersey story? First I'm hearing of it.

@taniwharugby couldn't agree more. In my mind the most balanceed trio we could have would be Scooter at Six. Papalii or Jacobson at Seven, Ardie at Eight with Sititi on the Bench. But would be interested in your thoughts.

Given there's a few blokes away, any known ring ins outside of the Wider Training Group?

My Vote is Ethan De Groot. I rate him over Tamaiti Williams (as a starter) and think he's just quietly one of the best loosehead props in a generation.

As a one eyed highlanders supporter I will die on this hill, and your stats and reasoning mean nothing to me.

I suspect it may have been a case of ‘we’d love someone in the 1.97 - 2:04 range but also need someone who’s young, ready to move south and up to super rugby level (or will be soon enough) and he ticked more boxes than anyone else. So I can sympathise with the decision even if I agree I’d have preferred a talker lock.

My bigger concern is that we might try and rush Frizzell back into the mix next year and loose someone like Haig or Stodart because of it.

For me the bigger question isn’t recruiting a 21 year old lock (that feels like the best future proofing we can achieve):

@jimmyb my guess is they want a young lock for the future. Hence the rumours on here that they chased Dylan Eti and Fiti Sa. If Dunshea and Lavinini both head overseas next year that leaves thin depth behind Holland. It’s handy having Crib and Tengblad studying under those two for a season before they’re gone.

@frugby reckon this might speak to a recruitment issue? Bit of a struggle to get players down south?

@SouthernMann thought that was the case. Assumed the early post meant they'd released early. Guess we'll know in a couple of minutes!

Where was the wider training group announced? I can't see anything online. Also odd that' there's only nine players instead of Tweleve, and no Soucheon thought s few people were saying he would be part of the squad. Great to see Grindlay in there.

@Tim feel like someone on here last month was saying Arscott to Blues WTG. But no idea of the accuracy of the statement.

Pretty balanced squad. And nice to see Cribb back with a full contract.

Sorry to bang on like a broken drum but this likley means Wingham, Soucheon, Casey, Shearer, Harvey and Grindlay for WTG. Any oil on the other six?

Bit odd they don’t do it same day as squad announcements.

Will wider training groups be announced with squads tomrorow too? At this stage I’m more interested in that then the squad which as others have said is essentially a known quantity at this stage.

Presumably one of Grandly or Casey get shifted to full squad.

How do we feel about DLB returning? I haven't watched his NPC form but he's been quite Dogshite the last few seasons so I'm surprised he's back in the mix. Did his form improve for NPC? Feels like there's surely got to be a young Loosehead who offers more than he does.

@SouthernMann that's true. Though interestingly Arscott, and Michaels are still listed, as is DLB. So I'm just hoping it's a mistake.

Highlanders website is notorious for being poorly updated. I recall in the 2024 season, a lot of the academy info was wrong, player profiles had mistakes around caps and a lot of the team records were wrong or outdated. So hopefully this is another example of poor website management not Wingham not returning.