@Bovidae said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

A few surprises for me. No MSR, but Tupou on the bench. Jacobson is definitely the backup 7.

LCF is the safe option on the right wing.

Is it? He's a midget who seems a bit of a turnstile on defense.

I'd say Springer will be licking his lips and I'll bet Aumua is eyeing up our right hand edge as well.

Overall, I'm not very impressed by that team - some very good players surrounding by quite a few question marks. I'd choose the Crusaders forwards over ours by quite some margin.

I reckon if I was McLeod and Amua I would be lining up Quinn Tupaea a turnstile right there.

Thinking looking at squads crusaders mite get this done, Chiefs the big favourite for whole comp but they've got big issues in the pack, just my opinion

Finau and Burr with some biff at training today.

@Bovidae hahahah great clip eh, Peni had a smile on his face. Heard worse stories from other players but some people are overreacting hard.

@booboo said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

What is this? 2016?

View image

Add McDonald and Crotty to Moody and Franks, and you have the oldest bench ever.

How the hell is Quentin MacDonald still running around in 2024???

@African-Monkey said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

How the hell is Quentin MacDonald still running around in 2024???

Is this related to age (doesn't seem that old) or ability (extremely reliable player)?

@Bovidae said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

A good chance for the back three to expose Aumua's concrete feet on defence.

@Chris said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

I reckon if I was McLeod and Amua I would be lining up Quinn Tupaea a turnstile right there.

You're both right

There's plenty of questions about both midfields defence.

QT has always been a really poor defender and missed plenty of simple ones in preseason.. even ALB was missing basic stuff in those games but I suspect he'll come right

McLeod was a terrible defender until last year but that was mostly on the wing. His lateral movement was really poor when in the midfield. Multiple NPC games missing 6,7,8 tackles. Will be interesting to see if he can cope with DMac sliding out towards him

I agree Aumua can get caught flat footed but his bigger issue is shooting up, getting stepped and leaving a huge space for others to cover

Whichever midfield tightens the defence up should have a big influence on the result. They both look quality with ball in hand

@Bones Age. Just a player I completely forgot about.

A few comments from Penney & Perrin about the match

They both comment positively on Fihaki. Big match for him.. if he's untidy again I'm not sure they can give him time to settle. Springer would be a solid fullback

It's certainly not a foregone conclusion, the Chiefs have also lost a lot of talent from least year (Cane, Retallick, Webber, PGS, Nawara injured) just off the top of my head and their pre-season form has been underwhelming.

I feel an awful great deal is going to come down on Dmac's shoulders as to whether he finds his spark on attack or not and if he doesn't it could be quite a long night for the Chiefs.

@Windows97

Yeah the Chiefs were crap in preseason. DMac struggled too. That probably doesn't mean much

Tab has it Chiefs 1.47 vs Crusaders 2.8

I'd have the Crusaders a lot closer than that. The pack in particular still looks very good

@Duluth said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

I'd have the Crusaders a lot closer than that. The pack in particular still looks very good

The poor old Crusaders get to replace two AB props with another two AB props, and have another not playing.

No way are the Chiefs heavy favourites. There are still questions over Boshier being the answer at 7, and they will have to collectively play much better than in the pre-season games.

There will be a good crowd based on pre-sales, assuming a decent number of walk-ups too.

Yeah don't get why the Crusaders are outsiders. Sure, they don't have a number of their Backline from last season, but their forward pack is still good enough to keep this game in the balance, and the Chiefs have lost a bit of sting in their pack.

@African-Monkey no Robertson, no Mo'unga, no Jordan, no Blackadder, no Taylor, no Havili, no Newell and the biggest loss of them all IMO is the Crusaders no longer have Sam Whitelock. When Whitelock and Mo'unga weren't playing the Crusaders went down a couple notches and I expect that to be the case this year until their young fellas find their feet. The Saders are always slow starters aswell.

The Chiefs to me are favourites because for the most part of last year they were the top team and despite losing Cane, Rettalick and Weber they just look to have a lot more experience across the park. Plus they've got that continuity with their coach, they've got an AB first five, and they are at home. I reckon the Chiefs will win this game comfortably with the Crusaders potentially biting back later in the year.

@Canes4life now that you say it like that, Chiefs by 25+

Big loss for the Good Guys is Fainga’anuku. At this level he was so important to how we played on both sides of the ball. He did a lot of little things right, plus he could score tries.

@ACT-Crusader yeah he's another. I don't think it will be that much obviously but I reckon Chiefs by about 10. Happy to be proven wrong though.

@Bovidae said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

@Duluth said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

There are still questions over Boshier being the answer at 7, and they will have to collectively play much better than in the pre-season games.

There are questions marks all right - and maybe a few of these !!! and hopefully after the game not to many of these ^#&$@ (#^@($*@

The Chiefs have lost a lot of go forward and experience out of their pack, Vaa'i, Finau and Jacobson really need to step up and provide some hard carrying to break the gain line because if they don't I'm not sure who else will...

DMac can't kick for toffee