Beauden Barrett's best rugby is behind him and the Canes should've
Anyone watched Beauden chase a kicker through in the last two seasons and tell me with a straight face his best footy isn't behind him? Love the bloke, two MVPs, legends forever, but the Canes have been paying top dollar for highlight reels from 2016-2018. Meanwhile our young first five sits on the pine in Wellington every week learning nothing. That's NZ$1.4 million a season going to a bloke whose best years happened under a different coach and a different forward pack.
And before the defenders arrive, sure thing mate, he still runs a nice game when the pack is on the front foot. Funny how that's been rare in derbies lately though. I'd put decent money at the TAB on him having moved on before this rebuild actually happens, because the club will keep picking names over futures like they always do. Rebuild was due two seasons ago and everyone knew it. They'll figure it out the year after it mattered. 🤡💸
9 posts
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✓Chasing a kicker is one thing, but he still ran our attack in those Super Rugby Pacific derbies and the table doesn't lie about where we finished. Rebuild the halves, sure, but don't tell me the kid at Wellington benches himself into form on NZ$1.4 million worth of expectation overnight. Source on his best being gone, Jack, or just the chase clips?
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Nah Jack's got a point tbh 😤 love Beaudy to bits but we've been watching 2016 highlights on NZ$1.4m a season. Give the Wellington kid a proper go already 🙌You don't abandon your own.
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Gate's got a point about expectation, I'll give him that, but two seasons of the same halves pairing is plenty of tape in my book. I keep my own round-by-round sheet and the pattern's been consistent: Beaudy still manages a game fine when it's slow, but the moment a derby turns into a footrace he's chasing kickers instead of controlling tempo. That's not a one-off blip, that's the shape of the last two years. The nuance though is what the Wellington kid costs us by sitting on the bench every week. You can't judge him off ten-minute cameos, small sample and all that, but neither can Gate judge him unfit for the job when he's never had a proper run. At NZ$1.4 million a season we're paying for 2016-2018 memories while the succession plan gathers dust. Give the kid six full rounds. If he sinks, at least we'll know, and we'll have found out two years earlier than the current plan allows.
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saw the 2018 semis live at the cake tin and beaudy was pure magic that night, so i'll never talk him down entirely. but back in my day clubs moved aging stars on a year or two before it got uncomfortable, and watch as long as i have and you'll get the pattern. the Wellington kid deserves game time, beaudy deserves a farewell tour somewhere warm 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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Funny thing is the tape agrees with both camps here. When the forwards dominate and the game slows, Beaudy still manages a test-grade operation, but watch any derby that turns into a footrace and he goes hiding behind the structure. My condition for backing the Wellington kid is that he actually gets a proper block of starts, ten minutes off the bench proves nothing to me. Show me the numbers on a real run of games and I'll concede the point.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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RobbedAgainHater318 nailed it I reckon, though I'd add a caveat. That split he describes between slow Test-grade managing and derby footraces? It's exactly what my own round-by-round sheet shows too, and I've kept one since 2021. Small sample caveat on my end though, the derby subset is maybe a dozen games, so take it with a grain of salt. Where I land is with UnderdogNightmare and the timing. Sat at a table with a former provincial coach over a few pints in town last winter and he said the same thing almost word for word. Clubs move blokes on a year before it gets uncomfortable, and two seasons of the same halves pairing against a kid sitting on the bench at Wellington every week? The NZ$1.4m isn't even the sorest part, the sorest part is the opportunity cost. Still love Beaudy, but love doesn't build next year's squad.Numbers > vibes.
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Half a million-odd of that $1.4m would fund a proper halves rebuild, sure thing, mate 😏 Funny how the round-by-round sheet boys agree with each other but never with the scoreboard.
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Chloe's got a point about the scoreboard, I'll give her that, though my sheet says the same thing the tape says, which is why I trust it 📊 Here's where I land, and I could be wrong, but I think we're arguing the wrong question. The issue isn't whether Beaudy's best footy is behind him, because on the evidence it plainly is (2018 semis at the Cake Tin, agree with you Underdog). The real question is whether a transition costs us more now or in two years, and honestly nobody's answered that yet. The Wellington kid sitting on the bench every week while NZ$1.4m goes to a 33-year-old who goes hiding in derby footraces? That maths bothers me too, but I've watched enough rebuilds fail because the young fella got chucked in before the pack could give him front-foot ball. Context matters. We haven't earned the right to fast-track anyone until the forwards stop getting bullied up front. So I'm not calling a verdict either way yet.Do the math before you argue.