@shark said in Bledisloe I:

@chester-draws said in Bledisloe I:

It's funny to see complaints about how our backline is unsettled, only to then suggest a new combination. Thereby ensuring the circus continues.

Goodhue's combination with Crotty isn't helpful because 1) the starting 2nd five is SBW when fit, 2) Crotty will just injured soon enough, and 3) the ABs play a very different pattern from the Crusaders, making provincial combinations rather less useful.

Our midfield combo is all over the show. Even if we assume that SBW and Crotty are the #1 combo when both fit, what are the chances of that actually happening for an extended period as they're both ibncreasingly probe to injury? So we have to either keep the Crusaders midfield together or re-unite Crotty and ALB. Then after a couple of games SBW comes back. At some point in the RC they may try something entirely different such as SBW and ALB or SBW and Goodhue, or they may be forced to by injury. This could easily continue into 2019 and after that SBW will be gone, as may well be Crotty also. I'm not all that confident we'll even have both at our disposal this time next year.

What gets me re the midfield is we've had two and a bit seasons since we lost Nonu and Smith, yet we still don't have a clear #1 combination that's actually sustainable, nor a clear succession plan.

sort of back to the bad old days before Nonu and Smith.

My problem with SBW and Crotty as a combo is speed. Surprisingly i would be happier with ALB to add a bit of speed. I do understand why selectors love Crotty though, he's a fucking smart player.

Shark you are bang on with your points about settling though. Deciding that the two most injury prone guys are the #1 combo is fucking dangerous. However we've seen before having your eggs in a bunch of baskets can pay off come World Cup time.

@shark said in Bledisloe I:

@nepia said in Bledisloe I:

@shark said in Bledisloe I:

@cgrant said in Bledisloe I:

@shark said in Bledisloe I:

@mariner4life said in Bledisloe I:

@shark said in Bledisloe I:

ALB is bench fodder. Don't let those late season jinking feet fool you: he isn't half the centre Goodhue is, although he would be quicker. Goodhue is the man who can put the outside backs in holes. ALB may be nippy but he's a boy trying to do a man's job.

Obvious troll is obvious. ALB is way truth and light. Feeds outsides, runs quick, tackles. Total package.

The northland kid can wait his turn until both SBW and Crotty are on the sick list. Ie next week

He's another midget Chief who doesn't know which position he is.

ALB is 1.87 m tall and weighs 103 kg. Not exactly a midget.

And on another site his stats are 1.85m and 96kg. Hardly a big guy in his position, in this day and age.

So is Crotty a Crusader midget on the @shark scale?

He's a well-proportioned 12 and an under-sized centre, for mine. But he plays above his weight at 13, and it's also mightily helpful that he's has SBW inside him (ahem) for a number of tests. Crotty and ALB together in midfield is a little small for my liking.

All good, just trying to keep up:

:winking_face:

I'm obviously on the wind-up a little bit re ALB. But I am concerned about whether we have enough punch in midfield with ALB and Crotty together. In saying that, it worked ok in 2016 in a number of tests. I'll hardly throw my toys if they're named together though.

How about ALB at 12 with Goodhue as a long-term combination? I think ALB's size and jinking feet are possibly more suited to playing one further in, and his pace also might offer a counter-point if Goodhue is in fact found to be an ponderous as several people have suggested.

@barbarian said in Bledisloe I:

@mariner4life I'm in Switzerland, no idea how I'm going to watch the game.

After the last two Sydney Bledisloe matches I've decided that I am the problem. I'm the bad luck charm, and so have taken myself as far from the ground as feasibly possible.

Antipode of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

The opposite side of the world to Sydney is Relva, Azores, Portugal.

If You're quick - there's still time

@shark said in Bledisloe I:

I'm obviously on the wind-up a little bit re ALB. But I am concerned about whether we have enough punch in midfield with ALB and Crotty together. In saying that, it worked ok in 2016 in a number of tests. I'll hardly throw my toys if they're named together though.

How about ALB at 12 with Goodhue as a long-term combination? I think ALB's size and jinking feet are possibly more suited to playing one further in, and his pace also might offer a counter-point if Goodhue is in fact found to be an ponderous as several people have suggested.

Is Goodhue slow? I was really hoping not.

ALB/Goodhue looks like the long term combo at this stage.

@dogmeat The antipode of my place is the Valley of the Pig (Vale de Porco) in Portugal!

@chris-b said in Bledisloe I:

@dogmeat The antipode of my place is the Valley of the Pig (Vale de Porco) in Portugal!

Tasty name

@chris-b said in Bledisloe I:

@dogmeat The antipode of my place is the Valley of the Pig (Vale de Porco) in Portugal!

the Hutt Valley of Europe

@canefan I can smell the bacon from here!

@mariner4life I live in the polar opposite - the local girls are stunners to a man...so to speak!

@chris-b Small world - I have been there - or rather driven through on my way from Salamanca to Braganca in the mid 80's.

I have to say the locals were not an attractive bunch - neither physically nor socially. I had been in Portugal 5 minutes drove around a corner and a bunch of old pricks decided the funniest thing imaginable was to throw a cat under the wheels of my car.

@dogmeat It's on my bucket list.

Might need to take my Gareth Morgan's arse, kicking boots

@mariner4life said in Bledisloe I:

@shark said in Bledisloe I:

I'm obviously on the wind-up a little bit re ALB. But I am concerned about whether we have enough punch in midfield with ALB and Crotty together. In saying that, it worked ok in 2016 in a number of tests. I'll hardly throw my toys if they're named together though.

How about ALB at 12 with Goodhue as a long-term combination? I think ALB's size and jinking feet are possibly more suited to playing one further in, and his pace also might offer a counter-point if Goodhue is in fact found to be an ponderous as several people have suggested.

Is Goodhue slow? I was really hoping not.

ALB/Goodhue looks like the long term combo at this stage.

in open space he looks slow , but so did Conrad , he went ok

@shark said in Bledisloe I:

I'm obviously on the wind-up a little bit re ALB. But I am concerned about whether we have enough punch in midfield with ALB and Crotty together. In saying that, it worked ok in 2016 in a number of tests. I'll hardly throw my toys if they're named together though.

How about ALB at 12 with Goodhue as a long-term combination? I think ALB's size and jinking feet are possibly more suited to playing one further in, and his pace also might offer a counter-point if Goodhue is in fact found to be an ponderous as several people have suggested.

Wasn't it about 3 seasons ago when the midfield was Crotty/ALB for most of the tests? The best the midfield has looked since Nons and Connie.

@bones said in Bledisloe I:

Nons and Connie

bro...

@mariner4life it fits for them to be replaced by Ants and Ryzzaaaa.

Bones has been banned.

Not sure pace is an issue for our midfield options. Other than when ALB played the Lions, all of our first choice options - Crotty, ALB, SBW have looked fine. Laumape hasn’t struggled for speed and I think Goodhues pace is fine.

Where our issues have been is with combination and fitness (ie not getting crook). I thought Crotty/ALB looked the goods a couple of years ago. ALB was young and eager and had a bit of edge to his game. Crotty was the organiser and Mr Reliable on defence.

A combination of Crottys injuries, ALBs second year form slump and SBW coming back, the selections have been a little all over the place and we have seen a few different combos that just quite haven’t hit the mark. Don’t get me wrong I think we are well served with these guys (although I worry about Laumapes defence) but we hope that guys can stay fit and build towards 2019 with the least interruption.

My concerns are backup hooker should Coles not get back to where he needs to be; loose forward bench option, back 3 combination.

@tim said in Bledisloe I:

Bones has been banned.

The contents of this post have been removed due to the member being banned.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

hit him you pussy!