North Harbour should stop chasing Auckland's cast-offs and build the
Chasing Auckland's leftovers every season has got us exactly nowhere, so I'd rather lose six games with kids we grew ourselves than scrape one win with someone else's rejects. That Ranfurly Shield night when the Albany academy boys filled the stands. Scarves knitted at the kitchen table, beats any mercenary win for mine. Built from juniors or built to be mediocre, pick one. 😏
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✓Chasing Auckland's leftovers every season has got us exactly nowhere, so I'd rather lose six games with kids we grew ourselves than scrape one win with someone else's rejects. That Ranfurly Shield night when the Albany a…Fine sentiment, but where exactly were those Albany academy boys finishing on the table that season? Relegation fodder tends not to pack anything except the bus home. I'd back the juniors as a plan if someone can show me the numbers on whether a pure academy squad keeps us in the Premiership long enough for the crowd to turn up. Sounds good otherwise.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Sooo we'd rather lose with our own boys and watch them grow every season, that Shield night proved the fans will back them through thick and thin 🔥💪 ah well, nowt to doYou don't abandon your own.
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That Shield night says plenty. Full stadium of kids we produced. Table position? Small sample though; give the academy boys three seasons before judging. Hard out to say otherwise.Numbers > vibes.
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i was at that Shield night, standing in the old terrace with a flat white going cold in my hand, and i'll tell you the noise those Albany boys got off the crowd beat anything the mercenary sides ever dragged out of us. back in my day half the fun was knowing the fullback had gone to the same school as your cousin. You can't knit a scarf for a bloke Auckland spat out last Tuesday 😉 truebeliever's got a point about the table, no argument there, but watch as long as I have and you'll get it: a club is its juniors or it's nothing. seen worse seasons than a losing one with our own lads in it, and i'd take three lean years of that over another decade of borrowed names any day.Been here longer than some have followed.
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BadBeatKing's three-season window is fair enough, though I'd add the caveat that even a generous sample won't help if we keep letting the good ones drift north before they've played twenty senior games. I sat in the East Stand that Shield night with my old man, both of us in Harbour scarves older than some of the boys on the pitch, and the noise when the academy kids ran out was something you can't buy with an Auckland cast-off. Small sample or not, bro, that night was the argument.
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Here's a thought: would any of you lot actually back a rebuild side with your TAB money, or only watch? 😏 Funny how everyone's brave with the academy boys til the line's against us 🤡💸Here to argue, not to nod along.
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Bro we lost WITH the cast-offs anyway 😅 at least with the juniors we lose singing. RobbedAgain's TAB point is cheap mate, heart's through thick and thin here 🙌You don't abandon your own.
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RobbedAgain, I'd have put plenty of my TAB money on those academy boys and slept fine, because back in the day we backed worse sides and loved them more.Seen the mercenary seasons come and go, the cast-offs collect their pay and head north, but the kid who grew up three streets from North Harbour Stadium stays. I'll take losing with our own juniors any year of the week 😉
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FrontRow88 has the right of it. I was on the Embankment for that Ranfurly Shield night and half the crowd around me were wearing scarves the academy boys themselves had helped flog at the gate. You'll never get that sort of bond with a bloke Auckland offloaded for a season. And RobbedAgain, your TAB point proves nothing except that a punter follows the line; loyalty doesn't show up on the odds board.
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Josh is right about the scarf night, I've still got mine somewhere. Only caveat: pure junior squads need patience in the NPC table, two lean seasons minimum. I could be wrong, but worth it.
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NickDiehard's two lean seasons is the honest cost, and I'd pay it. Scarf night proved the bond. Leave it open - could be wrong, but I'm in. 📊Do the math before you argue.