Right, lads - who do we actually want at second five for next season?
Heard a whisper at the pub the other night. Someone reckons we've had a look at a young second five down from Wellington who can slot goals off both feet, which would be handy with that McLean Park breeze doing its usual tricks. Might just be pub talk, I'll happily take a NZ$20 multi on it being nonsense tbh 😏 Who's your pick then?
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✓Pub whispers carry about as much weight as a TAB multi with eight legs on it. Name the lad, name the source, or I'll file this next to every other "mate of a mate" signing story that never happens. Both feet would be lovely at McLean Park, mind. I'll believe it when the club actually announces someone.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Even if that whisper is half true I'm buzzing 🔥 lad who can slot it off both feet at McLean Park? That wind has given me more heart attacks than any ref ever has 😱 sign him up, put him straight into the midfield, we've needed this for YEARS 💪🙌
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Before anyone gets carried away, look at the logic of it. A young Wellington second five with a double kicking game doesn't just fall out of the tree. Wellington usually locks down their best midfielders early, and if he was genuinely that good off both feet, chances are he's already on a provincial radar above ours. Age works in our favour though: if he's 19 or 20 and stuck behind older bodies in the capital, a move south for game time is exactly the sort of deal that does happen. I could be wrong, but I'd put the pub whisper at maybe a two out of five on the realism scale. What I'd add to RobbedAgain's scepticism: track how often these rumours name a position AND a skill that perfectly matches our most obvious weakness. When a rumour is too tidy, someone's usually described the wishlist rather than the signing. That said, if the lad turns up at McLean Park in pre-season and warms up slotting penalties into the breeze off the left foot, I'll happily eat my spreadsheet. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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I could be wrong, but nobody in Wellington's system with a genuine double kicking game stays under the radar long enough for us to pinch quietly. If he was slotters off both feet at that level, the Lions would've had him contracted and the Hurricanes wider group would've had a look already. FrontRowFan is onto something there. My other gripe: everyone's fixated on goal kicking, but how many times last season did we actually lose at McLean Park by less than a converted try because the wind ate a penalty? I'd take a second five who holds his line in a gale and doesn't throw the dummy-runner pass into the car park over a flash boot every day of the week. Wind-reading is a skill too, picking when to chip, when to run it back into the corner. Give me that lad before the pub legend, thanks.Do the math before you argue.
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Funny thing, those lads forgetting how many good men slipped through Wellington's fingers over the years because nobody upstairs bothered to look. Back in my day the Magpies pinched half the country's forgotten midfielders, and nobody at the Lions signed off on it first 😄 ChrisDiehard, respectfully mate, Wellington has a big junior system and a whole lot of contracts go nowhere. A lad can be a genuine kicker off both feet at club level and still be stuck behind three names in the queue. Happens all the time. If he's real, he's exactly the sort we should be hunting — that McLean Park breeze has wrecked my nerves for decades and I'd love a second five who doesn't panic when the wind changes after halftime. Keep the pub whisper alive I say 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Funny how everyone's suddenly a Wellington scout when a mate of a mate "hears something" 😏 every pub from here to Paraparaumu has one of these whispers and half of them never see a grass pitch. I'd put my TAB winnings on it being someone we've already watched in the pre-season - hardly a state secret 🤡
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Chloe's got a point, half these pub whispers never amount to anything. I'd still back OldSchoolEst's read though: we've nicked enough forgotten midfielders off Wellington over the years to know it happens. Caveat being, that was usually blokes who'd been overlooked, not ones with a marquee skill like double-sided goal kicking. If a lad can genuinely slot them off both feet, someone's had a look at him already. My worry is we're shopping for a kicker when what we actually need is a centre who can defend the wide channel and pass under pressure. The wind sorts itself out if the attack is running the right way. Give me a name and a Bunnings NPC tape before I get excited about anyone.
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Even if the whisper's rubbish, imagine a fella slotting droppies into that nor'wester off both feet 😱 coaching the juniors here, half our kids panic when the ball goes wide. Get him signed, ah well, nowt to do but dream 💪🔥You don't abandon your own.
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I've been going to McLean Park since the days when the wind used to take adroppies into the carpark, and I can tell you how these whispers go. We had one years ago about a Wellington midfielder too — bloke's name was on every second forum post for a month, everyone had him in a Magpies jersey already. Never happened. Turned out he'd signed up north before we'd even made a phone call, or so they say. And before that there was the loose forward from down south, remember? Same song, same pub, same mates of mates. So take it all with a grain of salt until someone upstairs actually puts pen to paper. Wouldn't it be lovely though, a second five who can put boot to ball off both feet in that nor'wester, SeenItAllFaithful's right, the kids panic enough as it is. Time will tell, lads. It always does 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.