Be honest, Tahs fans, this squad is one season away from being
Half of you had us pencilled in for the bottom four before round one and now you're suddenly talking like season-ticket holders who called it all along 😏 The pack depth genuinely looks Crusaders-tier now, that's a big call but watch the scrums next month and tell me I'm wrong. Meanwhile the doom mob from 2021 are still posting like we're fielding a development side.
Genuine question for the pessimists: if we're top four by June, are you actually backing us at the TAB or was all that doom-talk just vibes? Because I put actual money on a top-four finish and some of you lot look nervous every time the Tahs win 🤡💸
12 posts
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✓"Crusaders-tier" based on what exactly. A decent trial and some recruitment hype? I asked this in the pre-season thread and got vibes in return: which front-rower beyond the starting trio has actually scrummed meaningful Super Rugby minutes for us? Depth on paper is how you end up bottom four while calling it a rebuild. Watch the scrums next month, sure, happy to eat that if the reserves hold against the likes of the Crusaders, but until then it's a punt, and I don't put money on punts.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Tbf the doom crowd said the same thing before the Tahs tonked us up front in the derby last year 😅 Depth takes minutes, that's how every Crusaders pack got built 🏉🔥You don't abandon your own.
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I could be wrong, but TrueBeliever has a fair point, depth is only proven in minutes, and one trial tells you very little. That said, Gary's right that the derby last year showed the starting pack can dominate even a good Blues八, so the ceiling is clearly there. The honest answer: contenders if the backups scrum well by mid-season, bottom four if the injury toll bites early. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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Fair call both ways, I reckon. Back in the day we waited years for a pack that could even hold its own, let alone dominate, I sat through some wet Friday nights at the old ground where our scrum folded like a deck chair and you'd drive home just shaking your head. Young lot never saw that, and honestly good on them. But TrueBeliever's got a point worth keeping. Depth gets built the same way it always did. Minutes, scrums under fatigue, blokes stepping up when the starter's in the sin bin. The Crusaders didn't luck into their front-row factory, they ran it for a decade. If ours is half as good as the hype, we'll know by mid-season, not round two. Seen worse squads than this one, mind, and I'm happy to be a bit hopeful for once 😄Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Nah TrueBeliever, you're asking for a CV from the bench props when the point is we finally HAVE a bench that can scrum 😅 Gary's spot on tbh, every Crusaders pack got built the same way, minutes and hard tours. Doom merchants gonna doom till round ten, same mob who wrote us off before the derby 🔥😤One love, one side ❤️
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millie, love the fire but let me ask you this: how many times have we sat here in march thinking the same thing? i was at carisbrook days when we reckoned a decent trial meant silverware by august. seen worse squads on paper than this one and watched them fold by round six. depth takes minutes, sure, and gary's right about that. but one trial against tired legs doesn't make you crusaders-tier, they earned that over a decade of hard tours and blokes dragging themselves off paddocks. give me ten rounds before i put a TAB multi on us doing anything serious 😄 ceilings are lovely things. floors win titles. i'll believe the pack when i see it survive a wet july in dunedin.Been here longer than some have followed.
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Fair point about March optimism, but paper squads folding by round six is exactly what last year's ledger says otherwise about. Source on that pattern applying to this pack?
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GloryDays, I keep my own minutes-per-prop table and the depth is real this year, though I'd still wait on hard tours before calling it Crusaders-tier 📊Do the math before you argue.
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FrontRowFan tracking minutes like it's his TAB multi 😂 love the commitment. Veterans doom every March, mate - remind me of your ROI on pessimism?😏
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Wait, we're crowning the pack before anyone's played a real tour? 😱 Same vibes every March tbh. Seen plenty of "Crusaders-tier" packs fold by round six, you just know 💪
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RobBeliever, my minutes table will cost you a NZ$ cold one if the pack holds up past round eight, otherwise it's on me. Fair wager either way. GloryDays is right that March ledgers have burned us before, and UpsetKing is right that no one's played a proper tour yet, so I'm happy to leave the Crusaders-tier call sitting in the "pending" column until we've seen the front row tested away. Small sample though, and this year's depth chart does look better than the 2021 doom mode most of us are still nursing.Numbers > vibes.