Forget the 2015 fairytale
Nothing gets the doomsayers groaning faster than a bit of ambition, apparently 😏 That chip-and-chase from Logan Allen had me up off my seat at Forsyth Barr, the same blokes moaning are the ones who'll tell you this backline tops anything since the 2015 crew, and deep down they know it's true. Happy to take anyone's money on it at the TAB, punter's terms 😂
8 posts
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✓Half of Forsyth Barr groaning counts as evidence now? Source on that, and on this backline being better than the 2015 one, one flashy chip doesn't settle it.
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Mate I was at that Crusaders game, whole bay near me on our feet when Allen chipped 😂 one flashy play doesn't settle it but this backline's got an edge the 2015 crew didn't have. GET IN!On the terraces since I was a kid.
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I could be wrong, but I'd hedge GloryDays_4Life's point slightly - no one serious is claiming this lot top the 2015 crew, just that they're the best since. And on the evidence of how often Allen and co. actually threaten the line off first phase, I'm comfortable backing that. One chip-and-chase against the Crusaders isn't a sample, sure, but the pattern across the season is the argument, context matters. 📊
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Saw worse backlines than this one, mind - sat through the 90s at Carisbrook in the sleet 😄 but since 2015? Nick's got it right. Ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.
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Nick's read matches my spreadsheet, best since 2015, no more. Caveat: one season of sample, so I'll hold fire till they back it away from home. Saw the 2015 lot live at the quarterfinal, hard bar to clear. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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Guru's spreadsheet needs a row for "choked away from home" then 😂 One season? plenty of punters wrote off the 2015 mob by round six too, so I'll take the bet.Any stat can be bent.
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Supporter_88 makes a fair point about the 2015 mob being written off early, I'll give him that. But context matters, and my tape notes say this current backline threatens the line off first phase at a rate the mid-season 2015 crew didn't match until later in the year. Allen's chip against the Crusaders is the perfect microcosm actually - the execution was good enough that the risk was calculated, and half of Forsyth Barr missed that because they were still groaning from the last three times it went astray. Where I land, for now: BootToBallGuru's caveat about the away sample is the sensible hedge, and I could be wrong, but the away fixtures will settle this one way or the other. If they keep creating those half-gaps on the road, I'm keen to upgrade my own ranking. Until then, best since 2015 with an asterisk pending, and Supporter_88, hold that bet slip, the season's got rounds to run. 📊Do the math before you argue.