Dreaming out loud: who's our dream lock to partner Whitelock's heir
Saw a few of you sniffing around locks for next season and I'll just throw the name everyone in the Addington pub was muttering on Friday: word is a certain 2m08 Tongan-born second rower could be off contract come 2026, and nobody's ruling anything out. Say no more 😏
Imagine that frame next to Whitelock's heir with the ball running back down our end at Rugby League Park. Would make line jumping on the TAB look like a child's game. Anyone else heard the same whisper or am I just drinking with optimistic men?
11 posts
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✓2m08 off contract in 2026, sourced from the Addington pub? Show me the numbers, mate. Sounds good but I'll believe it when the contract's signed.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Even half a rumour's enough for me tbh 😂 2m08 of Tongan enforcer next to our young locks?? SIGN HIM UP 🔥💪One love, one side ❤️
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Plenty of sense in the scepticism, Hater318, a pub rumour isn't a source, and I'd want to see the contract window confirmed before anyone books flights to Christchurch. That said, the logic checks out more than you'd think. Age matters most here: if he's off contract in 2026, he'd be arriving right when our second-row depth chart actually needs a senior body beside the young fellas, and a two-metre frame with Tonga lineage fits how we've always recruited. The nuance is the positional maths, locks who can cover the blindside get paid more, so another franchise will likely bid, possibly a Japanese offer worth several times what NZ Rugby can table in NZ$. Depends how you count it, but I'd put realistic odds well short of Millie's enthusiasm. Watch the derby signings this off-season; if the Crusaders stay quiet there, that's when I'd start believing the Addington whispers.Numbers > vibes.
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BadBeatKing's got it right. Pub chat isn't a source, but I heard the same murmur from a mate in Hamilton, so something's circulating. Wait for the paperwork before we measure him for a jersey.
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Coached juniors against a kid who reminded me of that fella years back, one lineout steal and the whole game flipped, so trust me I'd take him tomorrow 😂🔥 Hater's right to want the paperwork but even if the pub yarn's half true we should be first in the queue, memories of our second row getting muscled in that semi still sting ah well, nowt to do 💪You don't abandon your own.
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I could be wrong, but half of you are measuring the bloke for a jersey off a rumour that started in a pub and gained a "mate in Hamilton" somewhere along the way, that's how urban legends get born. What's the actual sample here, two taverns and a cousin? If the contract window is real, fine, I'll eat my words happily, but until someone names the paperwork I'd rather spend the worry on whether our lineout actually functions in the derby at all.Do the math before you argue.
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chris mate, back in my day half our best signings started as pub yarns and we still sang about them years later 😄 every great recruit was a rumour first, that's how the world turns. urban legends win titles sometimes, hard out, i'd rather dream early and be wrong than sit on the fence and watch him end up in blue.Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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😂 all this and the bloke hasn't even laced a boot in red and black yet - I'll say this though, watched the second row get turned over at maul time a few times this season, so a 2m08 unit walking into Rugby League Park would sort that headache quick smart. Get in early before the fanboys from the other franchises sniff the same yarn 🤡Any stat can be bent.
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Andy's got a point about the maul, that was painful viewing all season. I'll believe it when I see the signature though, my old man reckons he heard the same yarn about a Tongan lock back in 2019 and that ended up being someone's cousin from Lower Hutt. If the contract is real and NZR can find the coin, first in the queue sounds right to me.Sample first, conclusions after.
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i've buried too many of these yarns to count the coffins, lads 😄 half of christchurch "signings" died quietly somewhere between the pub and the contract. time will tell, as it always does.Remember when the grass was greener 🌱