Honest question, fam, is this squad actually better without Richie
Watching us grind out wins lately and I keep thinking of a crowd that showed up expecting fireworks and got a smoko break instead 😂 Yes we're winning, and yes Tane Robertson manages a game tidy as anything, but be honest, when was the last time a defence genuinely panicked the moment our 10 called for the ball? With Richie you'd get defenders rushing up and clams dropping all over the shop; now teams just sit in their line and wait us out. Smarter machine? Nah mate, same machine with the spark plugs pulled. The fanboys will pile in pointing at the win column, but punting on us to score 40 every week feels like money down the TAB drain these days 💸 Flatter attack, same trophies talk... wait for the fanboys to tell me winning ugly is a system 🤡
14 posts
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✓Fair question, but wins are the only stat that matters and we've kept stacking them since Richie left. Tane Robertson runs the game differently, sure. More territorial, less flash, and defences do still have to respect the ballrunner threats around him. Sounds good to say the spark's gone; I'd want to see the attack's numbers drop before believing it. If we're winning without the fireworks, maybe the smoko break crowd just needs to adjust their expectations.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Wins keep coming and I'll take that through thick and thin, but tbh nothing since Richie has made me jump off the couch like that sidestep off the base used to 😱 Tane manages the game lovely, nah, but defences just aren't scared of our 10 anymore. Missing the spark for sure, ah well, nowt to do 🔥You don't abandon your own.
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To RobbedAgainHater318, wins are the only stat that matters until you meet a side that doesn't panic, and then those grind-outs start turning into losses. There's a nuance here: territory without a running threat is just delayed pressure, and defences read Tane Robertson's patterns quickly. Keep it short though, small sample since Richie headed to Japan, so I'd hold judgment until we've seen this attack against a proper top-two defence rather than mid-table sides content to kick it back. 📊
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back in the day we watched Grant Fox kick everything to the corners and nobody called those Crusaders sides flat - they just had whoever was needed that night. i'd say the spark comes and goes, old teams used to win comps on management alone, so i'm quietly happy with Tane while we wait for the next genius to wander through 😄Seen it all, lads.
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My old man said the same thing in 1990 😂 spark comes back when the forwards smash holes, that's when our 10 looks a genius, always was 💪🔥Heart with the team, head on pause.
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frontrow's old man had it right i reckon 😄 you young lot never saw fox stand there and stab kicks all afternoon, yet those sides won everything going. same song now, different verse. richie was a joy, no argument from me, i still remember eden park nights when he'd have defences turning in circles. but spark comes from the pack bashing doors down, always has. watch as long as i have and you'll see the pattern: a flat-looking 10 suddenly looks a genius the night the forwards go forward. tane's managing that machine just fine, and come finals i'd back him to find a running game when the holes open up 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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Defences feared Mo'unga's running game - source on Robertson forcing a single defender to rush him all season? Until someone names that, I'd say we're flatter, mate.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Supporter_Zone has a point that the "defences fear him" line needs backing up, though I'd hedge slightly - Robertson's threat is more about the pass and the timing than the carry, so the tape looks flatter even when the decision-making is fine. I could be wrong, but my spreadsheet has us scoring plenty since Richie left for Japan; what's dropped is the number of line breaks that start from first receiver. Context matters: our forwards are winning us the territory battle, so Tane manages it tidy and we grind out results, much like those Fox-era sides the old boys keep mentioning. My caveat: a smart machine wins you the comp in the regular season, but come finals night at home you want one bloke who can turn a compressed defence inside out on his own. That was Richie, and until someone in the squad shows it against a full-strength Chiefs or Blues rush, I'll keep a column in my table labelled "spark" and it'll stay mostly empty 📊
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We won a comp withGrant Fox stabbing it all day, bet the house on that again 😏 spark's nice but silverware pays my TAB multiAny stat can be bent.
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Gary mate, Fox won comps behind an All Black pack doing the bullying 😅 different era entirely. And Supporter_Zone, nobody's claiming tape proves defenders rush Tane, watch the pass out the back door and tell me timing isn't a weapon. Spark's still there, just quieter 🔥You don't abandon your own.
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VeteranAllDay's got it right i reckon. i sat through the whole fox era at lancaster park, flat battery kicks and all, and nobody called us boring when the cup came home. Robertson's timing on that pass out the back door is doing the same quiet damage. mo'unga was special, seen worse than a machine that still wins. ah well, we'll see 😄Seen it all, lads.
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Metric_nerd, you watched Fox, I'll take your word. Question though: Robertson's timing is tidy, but does anyone defend the pass out the back door the way they froze on Mo'unga's carry? Source on that?
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GloryDays_4Life, fair challenge, I could be wrong, but the tape answer is probably in what the defence does *after* the pass, not the pass itself. That's where I'd look next. 📊Do the math before you argue.