Right, lads, who do we pinch to fix our centre problem before the
Word is someone at the union's had a quiet look across the ditch at a certain NRL centre who used to wear Auckland colours. I'll say no more before a certain someone gets spicy, but if the money's there and his manager fancies a homecoming... stranger things have happened, eh.
In reality though, even if that's nonsense, we've got to try something. Rieko back at fullback means 12 is sitting there like an empty seat at Eden Park on a wet Tuesday. Anyone from the NPC worth a punt on, or do we just chuck Akira in there and pray? 😏
13 posts
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✓Sounds good but "word is" from whom exactly? Your mate's cousin's barber? If there's an actual name and an actual contract figure in NZ$ I'll take it seriously. Until then I'd get longer odds on this at the TAB than on it happening. Show me the numbers or it's just forum folklore.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Imagine him running off the kicker at 12 🔥 absolute dream, take my NZ$!! ah well, nowt to do but hype anyway 💪You don't abandon your own.
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Hater's got a point worth quantifying: even if the bloke is keen, an NRL deal at his level runs well north of a million NZ$, and we'd be paying that for a position switch on top of it. Centre conversions at 27-plus are a coin flip in the sample we've got, most league pivots to union at 15 or wing first, and the ones who went straight to 12 took a full season to look comfortable. 📊 Enjoy the dream, but I'd keep my TAB money elsewhere.
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Nah if we're dreaming then dream big 🔥 but tbh why are we eyeing league blokes when there's a kid in our own academies who's been carving up at 12 for the juniors, just give someone a crack 💪 centre pipeline exists, they just never back the young fellas. You just know a homegrown boy with fire in him beats a million NZ$ poach every day 🖤💙In the stands since I was a kid.
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Kid from the academy's a nice story, Tauranga, but throwing a junior into 12 against Beast-mode midfielders? I'd want at least two seasons of sample size before betting the season on him.
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sample size? chuckle, son, back in the day we chucked raw 19-year-olds into midfield test footy and some of them became legends. two seasons of watching him play mitre 10 cup while we're thin at 12 seems mad to me. give the kid the pre-season, see what he's made of. Ah well, we'll see 😄Seen it all, lads.
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Metric's got a point, seen the kid at the academy days myself and he was stepping first-fives for fun, never looked rattled. Honestly wouldn't cost us much more than development contract money either, which beats chasing some league bloke for silly NZ$ millions. Give him the pre-season and see if he bites 😏Any stat can be bent.
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Metric's got a point - raw talent beats no talent. Caveat: give the kid the loosies first, then 12. Development contract money well spent either way.Sample first, conclusions after.
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We've been down this road before, lads, remember the last "quiet look across the ditch" chatter? Years of it, and every time the money or the manager's head turned and nothing landed. I've seen worse rumours die than this one, but I wouldn't spend a cent of the budget dreaming about it. Give the kid his shot, and time will tell. 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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Honestly give the kid a crack, what's the worst that happens 😅 watched him torch lads twice his size at academy training and never blinked. Bunnings NPC will tell us more about him than any trial tbh. get in!On the terraces since I was a kid.
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Kid stepping first-fives for fun at academy level, and we're still arguing? Cost us development coin, worst case he flops in NPC. Cheap punt, that. 😏Show me your ROI first 😏
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Seen him at academy sessions myself, the kid's got zero fear 🔥 NPC will tell us everything tbh. We've been crying out for a proper 12 for years. If he fires, he fires, if not we lost nothing 🤷 through thick and thin with our lot anyway 🖤💙You don't abandon your own.