McLean Park used to be a fortress
McLean Park a fortress? Have a laugh, that's just nostalgia talking. Otago get rolled 35-24 one week then North Harbour rock up and leave with 31 points a week later, this side turns up whenever the mood takes them, and I've got a few NZ$ on them flopping again against Taranaki. Anyone who still backs them with pride and passion lines needs their head checked 😂
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✓McLean Park a fortress? Have a laugh, that's just nostalgia talking. Otago get rolled 35-24 one week then North Harbour rock up and leave with 31 points a week later, this side turns up whenever the mood takes them, and …Two losses in nine days does suggest something, but one decent win against Otago in between tells you the ceiling. And those fortress vibes are nine years old at least, the current squad hasn't earned that label.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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24-31 to Harbour at home was gutting tbh 😱 but Otago showed what they CAN do. Taranaki 27th, front up or pack it in boys 💪 ah well, nowt to doYou don't abandon your own.
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I keep my own table round by round, and the swing in points for-and-against across those three matches is what jumps out at me: 35 conceded by Otago, then 31 to Harbour, then 32 shipped to Bay of Plenty away. That's a side leaking 30+ in two of three, and I could be wrong, but no fortress in the country concedes like that at home. The Harbour game is the damning one, context matters, same venue, same week turnaround, and the defence that suffocated Otago simply didn't front up. To RobbedAgainHater318's point about the ceiling, I'd actually flip it: the Otago win tells you the ceiling exists, the other two tell you it's optional. Whether they turn up against Taranaki on the 27th is a coin toss based on this sample of three, which is too small to call a trend, I'll grant. As for your NZ$, RobbedAgainMerchant, a punter backing against a wounded home side in front of a Napier crowd is braver than I am. 📊
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Went to McLean Park in the amateur days and Harbour would've left quieter, believe me. Sides back then didn't pick their nights. Taranaki will tell us plenty 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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Nick's got it right, the defence fell off a cliff after Otago 😤 31 to Harbour AT HOME, my old man left at 60 mins shaking his head. We owe Taranaki one 💪Heart with the team, head on pause.
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Conceding 31, 32 in consecutive weeks while scoring 24 and 17? That's a defence problem, full stop. Taranaki will expose it again unless something changes.
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GloryDays nailed it tbh, 31 then 32 shipped in a fortnight and my old boy's been grumbling about the tackling all week 😤 only thing I'd say is Harbour barely had to work for their points either, we handed it over. Coach the juniors Saturday mornings and even they front up harder... Taranaki better turn up 🔥💪You don't abandon your own.
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Handing it over fits, StandsGuy, Harbour didn't manufacture those 31 points, we gifted half of them. Taranaki won't need gifts, so 27 September settles the fortress debate properly.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Ran the fortnight through my own sheet and the swing from 35-24 over Otago to 24-31 against Harbour inside nine days is hard to explain away as just defence - turn those gifts over and the margin probably flips. I could be wrong, but the sample's too small to write off McLean Park entirely; Taranaki on the 27th will tell us more than either of those results.Do the math before you argue.