North Harbour should stop chasing Auckland's cast-offs and build the
Half that crowd on a wet Saturday turns up to watch the colts, and the senior backline still gets picked like a Blues rejects bin 😏 Watching another Auckland cast-off wear the Harbour shirt is just a lottery with worse odds than a TAB multi. Put the Albany boys in and let them learn the hard way. Keen to see anyone defend picking journeymen over our own juniors?
17 posts
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✓Fair point about the colts crowd, but throw a full backline of teenagers into the NPC and we'll leak fifty a week, learning the hard way only works if there's a few old heads around them. I'd take the Albany path on condition we keep two or three experienced signings to steady the ship, otherwise the kids get broken before they're built.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Agree with the old-heads-around-them caveat, but track any colts backline that got 8+ NPC starts together, sample's small, yet the development curve beats recycling Blues leftovers every time.
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I was on the terraces at Albany when the colts boys used to get a full preseason with the seniors and it showed come August. Those kids who bled for the shirt back then played with more heart than any recycled name ever did. Give the young fellas the old heads around them like Sam says and they'll grow into it, I've seen worse Harbour sides than a young one with some mongrel in it 😄Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Easy to say bottom of the NPC, but which one of yous still turns up in round 8 when we're getting pumped by Canterbury? 😱 I coached juniors too and I get it, ah well, nowt to do. 🔥You don't abandon your own.
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fair question there young fella 😄 yes, i'll be at Albany in round 8 even if Canterbury are running in tries like it's a training drill. seen worse seasons than that, believe me. Back in the day we copped some hidings and still packed the terraces. and here's the thing about your pumpings: a team of our own colts boys losing by 15 hurts a lot less than a borrowed backline losing by 12. one of them builds something for August two years down the track, the other just fills a wage bill. i watched kids come through the colts who'd run through a wall for that shirt, and when they got their shot in the seniors they lifted the whole side. give them the starts now, cop the losses, and round 8 becomes worth turning up to again 😉Seen it all, lads.
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Fair challenge from SeenItAllFaithful, and yeah nah I'll still be there in round 8 too. But here's what I noticed at the last wet Saturday fixture: the noise around the colts warm-up drowned out anything the senior backline produced all afternoon. That tells you where the appetite actually is. Give those Albany kids genuine game time and see who sinks, instead of running the same recycled Blues names into the ground. Sounds good but I'd want to know who actually makes the call on selections before we cheer a rebuild that may never get sanctioned.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Paul_Fan's spot on about the noise level, I could be wrong but I reckon that colts crowd tells you more than any attendance figure does. I keep my own spreadsheet every round and the pattern is hard to ignore, the games where our own juniors get starts are the ones where the crowd stays past the hour mark, even when we're behind. Caveat though: building purely from Albany takes patience, and anyone promising it won't cost us a few hidings along the way is selling something. My boy came through the colts system a few years back and never got a look in at senior level while another Auckland loanee took his spot in the midfield. That still stings. So yes, bottom of the NPC if that's the price, as long as the pathway is actually real rather than a slogan on the club website 📊Do the math before you argue.
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Watched my old man's last season coaching juniors and he'd roll in his grave if we kept pillaging Auckland for the fun of it 😏 So what's the actual plan then. Bleed these cast-offs until the colts kids sign for Auckland themselves? That'd be a right laughable result, mate 🤡💸Here to argue, not to nod along.
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Agree with the sentiment tbh but c'mon, some of those Blues boys actually bled for us out there 😅 If the colts kids are good enough then pick them, sure, but saying we'd happily finish bottom of the NPC while we rebuild? That's a big punt bro. Backing our own Albany boys all day, just want both, not a relegation ritual 🤷🔥Heart with the team, head on pause.
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Count me in the camp that's sat through enough rainy North Harbour Stadium afternoons to know what the crowd actually came for. When I mark my table each round, the one column I trust most isn't the points column, it's h…@Supporter_Fan a big punt only if you've got nothing behind it, mate. Rebuilds are like a long-odds multi. Looks munted for a couple rounds then the young legs start landing. I'd rather lose two seasons on Albany kids who stay than pay Auckland's leftovers to keep us mid-table. Bankroll is everything, and ours is the juniors 💸Up one week, down the next. Classic.
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Fair point about the punt, Supporter_Fan, but watch as long as I have and you'll realise finishing bottom for a season or two never killed anyone. I sat through worse Harbour sides in the amateur days and we still fronted up on wet Saturdays. Give the colts boys the jersey and the crowd stays past fulltime, I promise you that 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Count me in the camp that's sat through enough rainy North Harbour Stadium afternoons to know what the crowd actually came for. When I mark my table each round, the one column I trust most isn't the points column, it's how many Albany juniors started, and the two go together more often than coincidence allows. SeenItAll's right that bottom of the NPC never killed a province; the mitre cup years proved you can bleed for a bad season and keep your soul. Supporter_Fan's punt worry is fair, though, so here's the nuance I keep circling: nobody's saying bin every experienced head, just that the spine of the backline should be ours. If a kid's good enough at colts level and we still park him behind a Blues discard on a one-year deal, we haven't bought experience, we've rented someone else's. Whether the union has the stomach for two lean seasons while the pathway matures is the real question, and honestly I don't think we've answered it yet.Numbers > vibes.
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ValueGuru's got it right - I punt the same way with my weekend multis, you back the long shots with small stakes and let them land, you don't chase dead odds on favourites that never pay. Mid-table on Auckland's leftovers is a bad price every season. Give the Albany kids game time and I'll happily wear a couple of losses up at Albany with a beer in hand 🍺Value over a big price 💸
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