Be honest, Brumbies family
Everyone keeps waving the Giteau-era flag like the scrum from those years still owes us a living. Watched us get shunted in the last few play-off matches and still heard blokes behind me singing about the good old days - mates, our set-piece win rate across the last three finals-runs has been quietly rubbish and we all know it. Nostalgia's doing the heavy lifting while the pack gets rolled at the business end.
I reckon the honest read is we've been living off the Larkham highlight reel and calling it dominance. Put it this way: I'd take the current forward pack over the memories any day, but until they actually bully someone in a big final again, the chants are just cover. Anyone actually watched the tape from those play-off games recently, or is that too painful? 😏
15 posts
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✓Everyone keeps waving the Giteau-era flag like the scrum from those years still owes us a living. Watched us get shunted in the last few play-off matches and still heard blokes behind me singing about the good old days -…Hang on, Supporter_88, you cut your own post off mid-sentence, what was the set-piece win rate across those three play-off matches, actually? Because "we got shunted" needs a bit more than vibes. I'll concede the nostalgia chanting is tiresome, but if the pack genuinely still wins us tightheads and maul penalties when it matters, I'd like to see that before writing its obituary.
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Nah mate, GloryDays is right to want the actual numbers, but Supporter_88's cut-off was spot on anyway 😅 watched us get shoved off our own ball in those play-offs, cold as, and the scrum chants felt like nostalgia wearing rose-coloured glasses. Love this pack to death but the set-piece hasn't dominated a big final since Larkham was pulling the strings, we just you just know it in our hearts 🏉💙One love, one side ❤️
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GloryDays asking for the actual number is fair, but the cut-off post was pointing at something real. I keep my own tables round by round, and the pattern across those last three play-off matches was the same every time: we were competitive early, then the set-piece slid as the bench came on, and by the final quarter we were feeding off scraps. Small sample though, three matches, I'll grant that before anyone jumps in. Where Supporter_88 has the better of it is the direction of travel. You can argue about one bad day at the office; three consecutive play-off exits where the pack stopped winning the collisions up front is a trend, and trends are what lose finals. The Giteau-era scrum earned its chants the hard way, week after week. The current lot haven't put that tape together yet, and pretending otherwise just hides the recruitment and conditioning work that actually needs doing.Numbers > vibes.
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i was at a pub in town watching the 2004 final, and that pack squeezed the life out of everyone, you knew every scrum was a weapon, not a coin toss 😄 watched the last three play-offs since and honestly, BadBeatKing is right: we start okay then fold once the bench rolls on. we've been remembering a team that doesn't exist anymore, lads.Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Mate I love the nostalgia but half of you weren't even crawling in 2004 😅 anyone who's watched us get shunted off our own ball late in play-offs knows BadBeatKing's pattern is real - we're good for forty then the bench rolls on and it all goes soft. Still backing our lot all day, but the chants about the old scrum don't win you a final, ah well, nowt to do 🔥You don't abandon your own.
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ha, i'll wear a bit of rose tint if you're handing it out 😄 but push back gently: i watched that 2004 pack too, oldschool, and yes it was a weapon, yet even back in my day we had finals where the tight five just held on rather than dominated. think the real point is the bench slide BadBeatKing spotted; fix that and the chants will have something to sing about again. seen worse, mates, and seen it fixed before too 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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BadBeatKing's bench point rings true to me. Every one of those play-off defeats followed the same arc: front-rowers hanging on in the final quarter, ref managing the scrum instead of the pack driving it. UnderdogNightmare has a fair point too, because even the 2004 side had finals where the tight five simply survived. Nostalgia does the heavy lifting in this thread while the recent tape just sits there unwatched.
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Josh_Legend's arc description matches what I've got scribbled in my own set-piece log too - front row surviving on referee goodwill by the 60th minute in each of those play-offs. I could be wrong, but I reckon part of the bench fade is conditioning depth rather than selection. For what it's worth, I was in Invercargill for my mate's wedding the weekend of one of those defeats, and I tracked the scrum penalties on my phone during the speeches. The pattern was ugly enough that I remembered it better than the toasts.Do the math before you argue.
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FrontRowFan's conditioning take is decent, I'd put NZ$20 on that being the real culprit 😏 But in reality? Someone name the last big final our scrum actually won, I'll wait.Here to argue, not to nod along.
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RobbedAgain got me scrolling my own memory there 😅 last final I *felt* the pack bend the game was Larkham days tbh. Nostalgia's a hell of a drug 🔥One love, one side ❤️
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Hate agreeing with RobbedAgain, but I've got no final to name either. Memory says Giteau era, my set-piece log says last quarter fade. Case stays open, I reckon.Do the math before you argue.
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Define "won the scrum" first. Penalties won? Ball secured on own put-in under pressure? Otherwise everyone's arguing vibes against vibes. My own suspicion sits with the conditioning point FrontRowFan raised. Watch the front row around the 55th to 65th minute in those play-offs and the hit rate drops off a cliff. If it were purely selection you'd expect the fade to move around depending on who's starting. It doesn't, it tracks the clock. I'd take RobbedAgain's NZ$20 myself, but I want the actual penalty counts from those finals before anyone gets paid. Nobody in this thread has posted a single figure yet, just feelings and a Larkham fog.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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🤣 this thread has a life of its own. My wager: watch how the scrum goes after the 60th minute, legs tell no lies 👀Hold my pint.
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🤣 this thread has a life of its own. My wager: watch how the scrum goes after the 60th minute, legs tell no lies 👀@OldSchoolSince86 nah legs lie plenty when the ref lets the tighthead wheel it all arvo 😅 but yeah keen to see the 60th+ scrums, you just know that's where it'll crack. ah well, nowt to doYou don't abandon your own.