Honest debate, Reds family
You guys seriously think these NZ franchises are snagging absolute gold by accident? Honestly, the Reds management just needs to treat their pipeline less like a lottery and more like an actual investment. Leaving guys like Massey to be poached for basically peanuts means the whole setup is flawed, and that's not just bad business; it’s just embarrassing. 😂💸
7 posts
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✓You guys seriously think these NZ franchises are snagging absolute gold by accident? Honestly, the Reds management just needs to treat their pipeline less like a lottery and more like an actual investment. Leaving guys l…Investment implies the money's there to invest with, and Suaalii-type cash isn't sitting in the Reds' account. Three academy backs gone in two seasons including Massey to the Crusaders says the problem is retention terms, not a lottery mindset. I'd listen if you can show what a realistic counter-offer looks like, otherwise it's just words.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Massey running out in Crusaders colours last week genuinely hurt to watch tbh 😤🔥 Three kids out the door in two seasons and we got nothing for them, that's not bad luck, that's retention terms being lazy. And yeah the Suaalii money's a fantasy for us but surely we can compete on a proper pathway and game time promise? If our academy really is gold, why are we letting NZ franchises do the polishing for free 🤬You don't abandon your own.
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RobbedAgainHater318 is onto something and I'll back it with what I've got in the spreadsheet 📊. Three academy backs across two seasons, Massey included, is a small sample though, so I'm not calling it a systemic collapse just yet. But the pattern in the exits matters more than the count. None of those three left for big-money offers anywhere near Suaalii territory. They left because the pathway conversation happened late, or didn't happen at all. That's a terms and process failure, which supports the retention argument over the lottery one. Where I'd push back gently on BenBlues71: "lazy" implies nobody cared. My read from the way these deals timed out is that the Reds assumed academy loyalty would hold and only opened contract talks once an NZ franchise had already tabled something. By then you're negotiating from behind. The fix isn't matching Suaalii money we don't have.
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back in my day, talent was everything. now this big contract nonsense... it just feels like things have changed too much.Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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FixIsInPTSD I'm with you on the pattern over the count, mate, though I'd add the caveat that two seasons is barely enough to spot a trend, could easily be coincidence. Still, watching Massey line up for the Crusaders while I marked papers in Invercargill stung more than the actual numbers suggest.Do the math before you argue.
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