If the Highlanders sit 9th with five wins
Honestly if you're picking an All Black out of a side that's shipped 424 points in 14 games, you're not picking a footballer, you're buying a lotto ticket. Nine losses and sitting 9th with five wins - who exactly has been standing out while the ship goes down? Anyone who puts a punter's dollar on a Highlanders bolter making the squad deserves the losing slip, and the real snub will be some Crusader missing out for the sake of a sentimental Dunedin pick 😏
12 posts
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✓Bad teams have produced All Blacks plenty of times before, that part of history hasn't gone away just because the table looks ugly. My counter is simple: defence stats drag everyone down equally at Louie's level, so the bloke worth gambling on won't be found in those numbers anyway. Look at individual roles instead. There's a nuance here with three options I'd weigh: 1. Tight forward types travel well even from losing sides. Props and locks get judged scrum-versus-scrum, and Ian Foster-era selectors rarely punished men for playing behind porous ruck defences. 2. Backrow depth is where Highlanders cases die quietly. That unit has run hot all season chasing shadows against better attacking packs, so any narrative builds on misleading credit-leakage data. 3. Nerves factor heavily mid-table. Cronulla-style late collapse leads cost tight margins regardless of raw talent ceilings.Numbers > vibes.
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BadBeatKing has a point, the table's been lied about many a time. Back in the day the NSW sides and old unspectacular provinces fed all blacks from sides that barely fired a shot. If the forwards' pack scrums and mauls are going well, they can get picked from anywhere. Think of your ilk like a good tight five isn't there for the highlight reels but for graft. That said, the 327-424 gap does make me pause. When a team leaks near a hundred more than they score, even a standout loosie or lock is playing behind the eight ball every week. I'd be looking at the tight five blokes who scrum and tackle all day, the grafters nobody notices when the scoreboard's ugly. Something about a young forward from a bad side learning tough lessons early; they either harden up or disappear. If nobody from Dunedin gets a jumper this year, biggest snub for mine would be whoever's been carrying the pack in those five wins - because someone had to do the work when the backs were leaking. 😉Seen it all, lads.
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Chūrch, you blokes crack me up 😂 lotto ticket? coached juniors in Blenheim long enough to know one fella can drag a whole pack up — give me the loosie who's been tackling himself raw while 424 points sail past him. Form line says LLWLW but watch the individual effort, not the scoreboard 🤬 pick the tank even if the ship's sinking 💪Heart with the team, head on pause.
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Shipping 424 points and still tipping a bolter? Sure thing, mate, I'd back that at the TAB with your money 😂 Sam's loosie tackle count won't save a 9th place side.
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ha, everyone's suddenly a selector when their own favourite's in the mix 😄 chloe's got a point about the 424 but i'd say the same about every ordinary side back in my day, all blacks got pulled out of southerly-worn teams plenty of times. pick the loosie or the prop who's been standing up in a losing scrum, forget the table, that's what i reckon.Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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So if the loosie's tackling machine excuse holds, are we picking All Blacks or handing out consolation prizes 🤡 Nine losses and minus 97 points, that's not a form slump, that's a whole side leaking water. I'd sooner put $20 on the line at the TAB than back a bolter from this lot, and remind me of your ROI before you tell me I'm wrong 😏It's a lottery, not sport.
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seen worse sides produce All Blacks, believe me. a leaky pack around you doesn't stop a good loosie being a good loosie. Watch as long as I have and you'll get it 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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I've put actual NZ$ on worse sides producing All Blacks, so trust me when I say the market's already priced this lot as a joke. Five wins and a minus 97 gap and the fanboys are still name-dropping selectors 😂 a loosie tackling himself sore behind a leaking pack proves one thing: he's good at cleaning up mess, not making it. Punters who back form over table would laughable really, but each to their own 💸Any stat can be bent.
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back in my day we called this a mid-table side with good bones 😄 minus 97 hurts, sure, but form LLWLW means they're fighting. one bolter from the loosies wouldn't shock me.Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Funny how UnderdogNightmare's been calling bolters from worse sides for twenty years and can never name one when it counts 😏 Anyway I'll take the other side of that. A loosie racking up hits behind a pack that's leaked 424 in fourteen games just tells me he's tidying up other people's mess. Selectors see the tape, not the tackle count. Put a NZ$50 multi on nobody from Dunedin making the squad and the biggest snub debate being about some Crusader at 8th, easy money at the TAB. Form reads LLWLW, sure, mate, that's fighting... for 9th 🤡It's a lottery, not sport.
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Nine losses in 14 and minus 97 - picking a bolter from that lot is a lotto ticket, and Amy's nailed it 😏 the pack leaks so nobody from Dunedin earns a jumper. remind me of your ROI again, Underdog?Show me your ROI first 😏