Northland 2025

@hikastags said in Northland 2025:

Excited to see how the two Aussies Hooper & Pasitoa go.

on pre-season matches, one has gone very well, the other, less so....

IMO, we have largely underachieved, sadly there seems to be an acceptance of mediocrity over the years when it seems some are just content with not coming last (I'm talking at Management/Board level)

We are attracting quality players back, with the likes of Parker, Evans, Renata, Heenan et al, and by all accounts almost got Beehre back too, getting players in Super squads, but need to build on this and get some actual success on the park.

A Shield win on Saturday would be a monumental start to the season, but against a quality looking 'naki squad, that is a tall order...

In saying that, we have beaten them in Taranaki 2 of their last 3 meetign in Taranaki, but those 3 games go from 2022 to 2010, and the win/loss pattern says they will win this one, comfortably.

@taniwharugby which one has gone well? I haven’t been following pre-season. I saw we got pantsed by Auckland.

I’m not very optimistic about our shield chances. Taranaki have had better prep than any team coming into this season. I think the Naki have played 3/4 preseason games compared to everyone else’s 1 or 2.

@hikastags Hooper went very well.

Yeah I'm not confident either, but if we get off to a flyer, confidence can do funny things for a team!

@taniwharugby

I hear you on coaches; some of them have been quality, but they move on pretty quickly.
Fuck, I can just remember the end of Ted Griffin, and I took this from Google AI Overview

Ted Griffin was a legendary and highly successful coach of North Auckland rugby, known for his tactical prowess, blunt style, and ability to inspire his teams, including famous players like Sid Going. He coached North Auckland for 21 years, achieving significant victories and capturing the public's imagination with exciting rugby.

Key aspects of Ted Griffin's North Auckland coaching career:
Longevity and Success:
Griffin coached North Auckland for 21 years, a remarkable tenure in rugby. During his time, the team won 127 of 213 matches, scoring 3219 points and conceding 2215.
Antagonism towards Auckland:
Griffin was known for his deep-seated antagonism towards the Auckland rugby team, and North Auckland achieved notable successes against their rivals under his leadership.
Tactical Acumen:
He was a skilled tactician and thinker of the game, with his teams well-prepared and known for pushing the tactical envelope, leading to memorable spectacles.
Memorable Victories:
His teams defeated touring sides like France, Fiji, Australia, New South Wales, and Tonga, and came very close to beating the Springboks and the British Lions.
Impact on Players:
Griffin played a significant role in the careers of notable players like Sid Going, whose attacking style he supported and allowed to flourish.
Legacy.
His legacy is cemented by his success and the excitement his teams generated, with packed crowds at both Rugby Park and Okara Park becoming common during his coaching tenure.

AI is F’n good, couldn’t have summed him up any better.

He was actually around for 25 seasons (he spent four years in the national setup).
Just shows what you can do if you get the time.

I’m thinking that currently the off-field culture is good, the issues are on-field
Like you say, the acceptance of mediocrity.
Taranaki in particular being something of indictment of Northland, with what must be similar resources, they have much more success.

@hikastags

For 2025 I count:
14 SR players
1 Eng prem
1 pro italy
2 US MLR
the rest club

You'd think they should be able to organise a few wins

A lot in Perth were talking up Pasitoa
But he has been injured, and barely played the past two seasons, the reason he was released I assume.
I think I have seen a team with him in it play, but I dont recall him, which is not a good sign!
If he shows some form in the NPC, I can see him possibly being back at the Force

@mohikamo bit before my time...

I think in recent times, Whitcombe was making some good progress before heading off shore for a stint.

Konia and Dewes were.kept at the helm far too long, I am not sure why, but Konia a former mid fielder struggled to get much out of Scott Gregory, Tamati Tua, a couple of young talents....sure, they may have also been the problem, it he also persisted with Blake Hohaia who was constantly found wanting at NPC level...I felt Konia was like Fozzie in that he was a nice guy but too easy on players

From what I heard of Dewes, he had very little interest in developing players...he seemed to be a very good coach, our technical skills under him were good but he did nothing for some young props around the region.

I think Taranaki is probably not the best to compare, they are a much more.wealthy province, I'd liken us to HB, Southland and to a lesser extent, Ta$man...all of whom have had more success over the past decade or more than us.

Anywhoo, I think our top 23 will be competitive, has potential to be a top 4 team, but as always squad depth will be an issue, but with the young club players they have included this year, I'd like to see us play some good rugby and if finals footy is the result, all the better.

A bit of luck early on, and who knows...

@taniwharugby

@taniwharugby getting high performance out of a squad is our challenge. We have a bigger crop of young players than ever before (vs journeymen) - and more SR experience. You have to think that a capable and settled coaching setup is what we need now to move us up the ranks.

Looks like northland may be forced to use some of thier development players.

Renton and Evans are 50-50
Reihana and Pasitoa likely out

So our starting backline could be something like:
Howling, J Stewart, B Rush, R Stewart, Alaimalo, Balakana (cos we know he won't be dropped) Trainor

Murphy and Salmon on bench

Unsure on Nichols injury status, if ok, he slots into centre and pushAlaimalo to eing and Balekana to bench, cos see above.

Havent heard more on LHE and Mullan HIA, so assume they ok.

Our pack is going pretty well under Ross Wright, so they will hopefully continue to give our backs the ball, let's hope they start to better utilise it.

Well

That was a bit unfortunate

Had a better win/loss than both Ta$man and Counties, and still didn't make it.

@mohikamo we put ourselves in position to score plenty of times too, but we couldn't seal the deal. Only 2 4 try BP was costly, comms mentioned yesterday we got past 24 points in a game the least out of everyone.

Plenty to like about our season, but also same old frailties evident when push came to shove.

As I said in another thread, if youd offered me 5 wins, including over Auckland and Wellington and a draw with Canterbury at the start of the season if have jumped at that...as that would usually be enough to get into the top 8.

Very unfortunate
Yeah
A 50/50 record in a 14 team comp with 8 play-off spots would normally be enough.

Being still in it up to the last game of the regular reason is a pass mark for me.
The last two games were virtually play-off games anyway.
And they went ok, just didn't quite crack it.

The squad should be reasonably satisfied.
Good if they could keep most of them together for another shot at it next year.

@mohikamo think the bulk of the squad are back, plus hearing Heremaia Murray is likely to return along with a Northlander currwntly playing npc also likely to head back too.

Also hearing that Peita is likely to get a super contract and Renton a wtg one, so that bodes well too.

Disappointing.

Can’t help but wonder when the Tani’s will play to their potential consistently. We have too many good players to be missing out on the playoffs.

It’s been mentioned elsewhere, but we’ve got to start backing some of our young guys more often. Why do we sign guys then never play them?

Stewart (the 10) had a great game on debut, but probably wouldn’t have even been on the bench if not for injury. Why hasn’t he been developed with minutes off the bench during the season? Maybe because the coach has some weird obsession with the unneeded import Balakana and having two wingers on the bench?

That’s my rant for the evening.

Plenty to like about the season, but soo bloody frustrating and disappointing not to be in the playoffs.

Jordan Trainor is in the form of his life. Is he available for a NZ franchise for the 2026 SR ?

@cgrant yeah unsure if he is off to MLR again, but i also haven't heard anything of super teams interest.

He has been so good for us, his running lines and work under the high ball has been top notch.

@cgrant said in Northland 2025:

Jordan Trainor is in the form of his life. Is he available for a NZ franchise for the 2026 SR ?

I think that ship may have sailed.

@Gunner said in Northland 2025:

Disappointing.

Can’t help but wonder when the Tani’s will play to their potential consistently. We have too many good players to be missing out on the playoffs.

It’s been mentioned elsewhere, but we’ve got to start backing some of our young guys more often. Why do we sign guys then never play them?

Stewart (the 10) had a great game on debut, but probably wouldn’t have even been on the bench if not for injury. Why hasn’t he been developed with minutes off the bench during the season? Maybe because the coach has some weird obsession with the unneeded import Balakana and having two wingers on the bench?

That’s my rant for the evening.

Plenty to like about the season, but soo bloody frustrating and disappointing not to be in the playoffs.

Hurt us at the end of the year not having spread the load during the season. That said lots of close games that we won. Forwards outperformed for me. Scrums were a real strength.

The backline is the work on. Got a bit better as the season went on but not giving Salmon more game time was disappointing. Be nice to have a player with express pace as well.

Hope the young guys (e.g. Zac Shanks) got something out of the season and are hungry to make the squad next year.

Not used
Duncan, Heremaia, Holwell, Letoga, Reid, Tu'ungafasi, Waerehu

Squad was pretty stable, injuries only really factored in the very last game.

@mohikamo Good to see the list. Some guys will have played big minutes. Others not so much. Some big players missing for us. That’s the way it goes.

@mohikamo Nice breakdown in terms games played
Personally I thought we overplayed some of the lads and it came back to bite us at the back end of the season
Reihana could have started off the bench and Hooper whom I believe will go on to represent the Wallabies should have been given more game time so that the loose trio who played most of the minutes could have been rested
I also believe if your gonna pick young guys , play them a couple fellas away simply because we persisted in a winger from the MLR
Only proved the difference in levels
Solid enough season but I couldn’t rate it any more that 5.5-6 out of 10
Only 30 tries scored , 1 ahead of Southland and Auckland

@Steven-Harris yep, that was our best frustrating season in decades!

We showed plenty of fight, something we haven't always managed.

But our inability to turn opportunities into points was a big issue.

Lack of tries, line breaks, defenders beaten were all in the bottom 3 of the comp stats.

There were times when we had lapses and looked like things would get away from us, but they didn't.

I think the only games we were soundly beaten was Taranaki and Otago, the losses to Ta$man and Waikato we were in them and had our chances.

As you say, playing Reihana every minute so that the must win game at seasons end, you have to throw the reins to a debutant...not ideal, even if he did a good job.

I dis find our subs puzzling alot of the time, Peita was consistently one of our best but was always subbed around 60, regardless of how the others were going, and while Moulds still has alot to offer he did seem to fade about 50 mins and was not often subbed until around 65 - 70 after which his game was struggling.

It is concerning NRU are allowing our coach to head back to MLR and return a few weeks before the season kicks off...hope the rest of the coaching staff are here and get out and watch club rugby.

The less said about Balekana and Mau'u the better, both those signings pissed me off.

I think the bulk of the side are back next year, we just need some more strike power and we should be contesting the top 8.

@taniwharugby In a perfect world I would still love to see a big ball carrying lock (Joe Tamani has been superb for Otago in this facet )
We have 3 hard working locks but I’m not sure if any of them give you fast gain-line
Also a genuine 7 who is a nuisance at the breakdown ,Heenan was accurate but you can see he’s coming to the end of his time
We also need X factor out wide ,you could see the attack structures working perfectly at times opening holes in areas where there didn’t appear to be gaps but unfortunately just not having that bit extra pace was key
Thought Brady Rush had a fantastic season to be fair
We are currently chatting with Tupaea Cook Savage who wants to return home but would also like to see a bit more work done around ,Nathan Salmon,Kiwi Duncan,Hoani Reid and Petro Ratumaituvuki who we know can do something out of nothing

@Steven-Harris

Yeah, a pass mark only (even tho they didn't make POs)
I haven't given them many pass marks lately.

They were on the cusp virtually the whole way, so looks like they resisted the temptation to mix it up with the players.
Get their attack game going a bit better next year, and they'll be an even bigger problem for the others.

@mohikamo yeah they seem reluctant to give the youngsters a chance.

Other teams seem more than willing to give their.young fellas a run while we dont, and not just this year.

I mean Reuben Stewart is a prime example, he is 19 or just gone 20, got limited minutes but showed he was upto it, yet when our midfield struggled, particularly when Alaimalo struggled there, why not give him a good shot at it, instead he got what 2 10 min runs?

Salmon also, granted he had handling issues.this year, but really needs to be out there playing, not on the bench and not bought on until the last 10 or 15.

Several other players could have been given chances, but for, well...

Brady Rush is an interesting one, I was not keen on him starting, had never done anything before to warrant being signed again, even at club he wasn't a real standout...but gee, he took his chances this year and deserved his starts.

Him, Trainor and Evans were our best backs.

Our forwards were awesome this year - scrum time, lineout when Moulds was throwing, winning the contact. Ran out of gas ️ in the last game with injuries etc. I loved what Heenan did for the team. Accurate, a leader, a real professional - we only have a few guys fit that fit that category - Moulds, Cory Evans leads the backs….but signs this year that players are learning to stay in games.