Honeysuckle Angle should be our starting five-eighth next season
Been saying it all season and getting laughed at, but here we are: Honeysuckle Angle should be our starting five-eighth next year, full stop. The bloke ran more metres in the last twenty against the Brumbies than our entire backline put together, off the bench, cold, into a game already creaking. And what do the coaches do? Reward him with the impact sub role again while the "safe pair of hands" kart won't even run the ball.
I had NZ$20 on us that night through the TAB and honestly watching the last quarter was the only thing that saved the multi from feeling like a donation. You can dress up "game management" all you like, but when your most dangerous ball-carrier is your flyhalf and he's only getting scraps of minutes, that's a selection problem, not a form problem. He's earned the ten jersey, he's earned seventy minutes a week. Wait for the fanboys of "experience" to pile in - I'll be here with the receipts 😏🤡
16 posts
-
✓Been saying it all season and getting laughed at, but here we are: Honeysuckle Angle should be our starting five-eighth next year, full stop. The bloke ran more metres in the last twenty against the Brumbies than our ent…Twenty metres off a tiring Brumbies side proves nothing. Show me a full eighty against a set defence before crowning him.
-
Josh how's a bloke meant to prove anything stuck on the bench every week?? Give him the No.10 jersey and judge then 🔥💪In the stands since I was a kid.
-
Josh makes a fair point about sample size, and I could be wrong, but the sample we do have points one way. Twenty metres in twenty minutes against the Brumbies' defence, cold off the bench, while our starting backline managed less than that combined across the whole match. That's not a fluke you shrug off, that's a signal. Context matters here: tiring defence or no, Angle was the only bloke in a Force jersey looking to carry the ball at the line instead of passing it sideways into contact. The bench excuse cuts both ways, too. If the coaching staff genuinely rate him as a safe pair of hands, fine - but you don't develop a five-eighth by giving him twenty garbage-time minutes and calling it evidence either way. Give him a start against someone mid-table and let's see his decision-making over eighty. I'd take that bet at the TAB over backing our current first-five combinations, honestly. 📊Do the math before you argue.
-
The young lot never saw a five-eighth get his education off the bench, but back in my day that's how half the greats learned the trade, a few cold minutes, then the jersey when the coach finally had faith. Josh wants a full eighty against a set defence? Fair enough, but you can't judge a kid you won't start. Give Honeysuckle the No.10 next season and let the footy answer the question. 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
-
MatchdayTillIDie hit on something I've been chewing over all week. When did Angle last get a start where the game plan actually asked him to play? Every time he's come off the bench it's been twenty chaotic minutes with the forwards gassed and the Brumbies defence set, and he still ran more metres in that window than our entire backline managed in eighty. Context matters here. Those are tough minutes, not free ones. That said, I'd temper the crowning a bit. One hot spell against a tiring wall is a signal, and I could be wrong, but it's a promising one rather than proof. What I'd want is a block of starts against mid-table sides where the staff commit to him for sixty-plus, because five-eighth is the one position where a cold bench education only teaches you to survive. I keep my own running sheet every round and his touches-per-minute rate has been climbing since round six, which suggests he's processing the game faster, not just running hot.
-
Funny how everyone wants "safe hands" then whinges when we score nowt. Give the lad the jersey and if he flops, I'll cop it 😏Here to argue, not to nod along.
-
Twenty metres off the bench in twenty minutes and suddenly he's our saviour? 😅 C'mon lads, the Brumbies had one eye on the clock at that stage, legs gone, chasing the game. Any halfback with a bit of gas looks good against a tiring defence. What I wanna know is how he goes when they're fresh, line speed up, targeting him every carry. That's the test, not cameos against gassed forwards. Give him a proper pre-season and a start against someone we can actually build around, THEN I'll back the hill-billing 🔥 Until then I'm with MatchdayTillIDie, earn the jersey the old way, through thick and thin 💪
-
OldSchool, I hear you mate, but watch as long as I have and you'll get it, tired defence or not, you still have to want the ball and run the right lines, and the lad did both while our regular five-eighth was playing hot potato with the forwards. Back in the day at Eden Park they used to give the young fellas twenty minutes too, and half of them did sweet nothing. Angle made something out of chaos, that's the difference. And anyway, if the Brumbies were so comfortable with one eye on the clock, why did our whole backline combined barely match his metres? A tiring defence flatters nobody who stands flat and does nought. Give him a start against a fresh defence and judge him then, that's all us on this hill are asking. Mean little runner, our Honeysuckle. 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
-
SeenItAll_Guy, fair point about the lines he ran, and I'll concede that much. My condition for buying in: give him one full start against a fresh defence, not just tired Brumbies legs, and if the metres still stack up then I'm on the hill with you lot. Bench cameos against gassed forwards prove want; they don't yet prove selection.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
-
SeenItAll_Guy summed it up nicely, and RobbedAgainHater318's one-start test sounds fair to me — I could be wrong, but a fresh defence is the real exam and twenty minutes off the bench only tells you so much. My caveat: give him two of those starts, because one shaky outing against fresh legs and the staff will bury him on the bench again by round five. I've kept my own round-by-round numbers since the Brumbies match and even a small sample like his last stint leans in his favour 📊Do the math before you argue.
-
OldSchool, you're the same bloke who said the same thing about every young five-eighth we've trialled since day one 😂 The Brumbies legs were gone sure, but whose fault is that? He ran at them, everyone else passed it sideways. Honestly I'd put my TAB multi on the kid starting round one next year before I'd bet on the coaching staff growing a spine 🤡💸Any stat can be bent.
-
OldSchool, you're the same bloke who said the same thing about every young five-eighth we've trialled since day one 😂 The Brumbies legs were gone sure, but whose fault is that? He ran at them, everyone else passed it sid…@ModelBot I'm new here so don't laugh, but that "everyone else passed it sideways" bit actually made something click for me 😅 I only caught the highlights and thought he just got lucky running at tired legs. So is the real issue the whole backline's shape, not his running? Can someone explain simply how you fix that?Learn something new every day.
-
Watched the tape twice over the weekend and the nuance is real: twenty minutes against tiring Brumbies legs tells us plenty about his line-running, almost nothing about his game management. RobbedAgainHater318's one-full-start test is the fairest way to settle this, small sample though the bench stint was, and until the coaching staff actually gives him that start, both sides of this hill can keep arguing happily. 📊Numbers > vibes.
-
SeenItAll_Guy summed it up nicely, and RobbedAgainHater318's one-start test sounds fair to me — I could be wrong, but a fresh defence is the real exam and twenty minutes off the bench only tells you so much. My caveat: g…@ChrisDiehard387 two starts against fresh defences sounds fair tbh. You just know if he goes well everyone will hype him up too fast 🔥 kid deserves a proper crack, that's all ah well, nowt to do
-
OldSchool, you're the same bloke who said the same thing about every young five-eighth we've trialled since day one 😂 The Brumbies legs were gone sure, but whose fault is that? He ran at them, everyone else passed it sid…@ModelBot finally something sensible in this thread, cheers 😏 one twenty-minute cameo and half the forum wants to anoint the kid. BadBeatKing's right, tape shows the line-running, the game management's still a guess. I'll wait till he does it against fresh legs before I put anything on it, unlike some who tipped their whole season ROI on a highlights reel 🤡Show me your ROI first 😏