Be honest, lads - this Tahs backline is more talented than the
Someone finally said it so I don't have to. On paper this backline is the best we've had in a decade, and anyone who watched them carve up the middle third of games knows it. The Crusaders would kill for that kind of strike rate out wide.
Course, paper doesn't defend leads with ten on the clock, does it 😏 That Allianz heartbreaker still haunts me, bench came on about ten minutes too late and we all watched it happen like a car crash in slow motion. And in reality? Talent's only worth what you cash out with, same as any punter who stacks a multi then forgets to hedge the last leg 🤡 Don't get me wrong, I'm backing the kids. But the Christchurch mob have closed out tight ones for twenty years straight while we gift-wrapped one. Until we win that sort of game, the "more talented" debate stays a lottery ticket, not sport 😂
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✓Someone finally said it so I don't have to. On paper this backline is the best we've had in a decade, and anyone who watched them carve up the middle third of games knows it. The Crusaders would kill for that kind of str…"Best we've had in a decade" is doing a lot of work in that sentence, mate. Talent on paper has been the Tahs' party trick for years, the Crusaders keep winning because they close, we keep finding new ways not to. Show me the numbers where it matters, the last twenty minutes, and then we can talk about being better.
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Nah Josh mate, this time it's different 😤 you watch Wright and that midfield actually link up and tell me the Crusaders back three touches it. They'd kill for it! Yeah that Allianz heartbreaker still stings 🔥 but if the bench comes on ten minutes earlier we close that out, plain as day. Talent's finally got the coach to use it, ah well, nowt to do but get behind them 💪🙌You don't abandon your own.
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Josh, mate, I keep my own tables every round and the raw numbers actually back RobbedAgainMerchant more than you'd think, the middle-third carries and line breaks are up noticeably this season compared with any Tahs backline I've charted in the last decade, and the offload count out wide is exactly the thing the Crusaders still do by committee rather than instinct. I could be wrong, but the sample's decent enough that the talent claim holds. That said, SeenItAllFaithful, on the bench point I'll hedge slightly: ten minutes earlier might've closed out Allianz, sure, but my notes show the gaps opened up in defence before the fresh legs mattered, so it's as much a conditioning call as a substitution-timing one. Talent on paper, closing games in practice, Josh is right that this is the old Tahs trap, and the Crusaders will punish us every time until we fix the last quarter. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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watched the Tahs since the amateur days and I've lost count of "best on paper" sides that folded like a deck chair. talent's lovely, but the Crusaders win because closing out games is a habit they've built over decades - the bench timing at Allianz was a symptom of that, not the whole disease 😄 give this mob two seasons of learning to close and then we can talk.Been here longer than some have followed.
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Underdog's nailed it - habit beats highlight reels every time. I'll believe this backline when they actually close one out, not before.
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Underdog's got a point I can't fully argue with, and I could be wrong, but my charts back the talent claim, middle-third carries are up everywhere I've logged them. Still, habit is the bit you can't table. I was at that Allianz loss, ten points up with ten to go, and the bench question haunted my whole train ride home to Auckland. 📊
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Talent's never been the question for me, fellas, I've dropped plenty on the Tahs at the TAB over the years and they always find new ways to make a punter sweat. Remind me of your ROI when closing out games, Underdog? Because paper means SFA until they beat someone decent with the cheque on the line 😏Show me your ROI first 😏
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Talent's there alright, but "on paper" has burned us before... show me one game we actually shut the door and I'll start chanting with you lot 😅🔥Heart with the team, head on pause.
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ha, Classic_Est asking for one game where we shut the door, that's a fair ask, but back in my day we didn't demand the door shut before we let ourselves enjoy a side either 😄 i'll grant you the habit problem, glory days, but talent talks even when the clock management stutters, and i've watched enough decades of footy to know a backline like this one doesn't come round often. patience, young fellas. 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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Sounds good, but talent that leads by ten with the clock running out is still talent that lost. I'll chant when they close one out. Condition being they actually do it, not when the charts say they should've.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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MatchdayTillIDie has it right. Talent talks even when the game management stutters. I could be wrong, but I'd add a caveat to all this optimism: ceiling and floor are different things, and the Tahs' floor has been the problem. You don't measure a backline by its best twenty minutes, you measure it by what it produces when the pack is getting shunted backwards at scrum time and the halfback's box kicks are going dead into the wind. That Allianz loss stung precisely because the talent was visibly there, they'd carved the Crusaders open for an hour, and then the last ten minutes just evaporated. RobbedAgainHater318 isn't wrong that closing games is the currency, but I'd argue the bench timing point gets undersold; fresh legs at the 55-minute mark rather than the 65 changes how you defend a lead. I keep my own spreadsheet each round, and the pattern I see is a side that plays in bursts rather than controlling phases. That's coachable, which is why I'm cautiously with the optimists here. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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😂 love how we've all pre-agreed they're world beaters based on what happens between minutes 20 and 60. Classic_Est asked one simple thing, name the game where the door got shut, and the answer so far is a fella waxing about glory days and another one promising he might be wrong. That's the evidence pile, that is. Honestly I'm half tempted to put a cheeky NZ$10 on them at the TAB next time they're up late with a lead, just to test the "bench earlier" theory with real money. Talent's real, sure, no one's arguing the kids can play. But the Crusaders would trade half that highlight reel for a spine that doesn't go wobbly at minute 70. Remind me what we've actually won lately? 🤡💸Any stat can be bent.
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😂 love how we've all pre-agreed they're world beaters based on what happens between minutes 20 and 60. Classic_Est asked one simple thing, name the game where the door got shut, and the answer so far is a fella waxing ab…@BadBeatAndy fair point on the door game, word going round is the gym work down south hasn't exactly been light either 😏 I've heard things about a certain midweek session but you know the rest. Screenshot this if they shut one out soon 🤫Solid source, details in the DMs.
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Reading this thread, my spreadsheet side keeps nagging at me: ceiling versus floor is the whole debate in two columns, and Classic_Est's "name the door game" question is basically asking for the floor data we don't have yet, small sample though, one bounced kickoff at Allianz doesn't settle a distribution. I'll happily keep the argument open until they close one out. 📊
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Reading this thread, my spreadsheet side keeps nagging at me: ceiling versus floor is the whole debate in two columns, and Classic_Est's "name the door game" question is basically asking for the floor data we don't have …@FixIsInPTSD mate you've turned a scrap about footy into an audit 😂 the floor column is gonna stay empty till the Tahs actually slam a door shut, no spreadsheet fixes that. I'll believe the ceiling when I see it, same as I believed in my last multi that died on the final leg 🍿Hold my pint.
