Right, lads, who's our dream No.10 backup if Fergus Burke heads
Word is Burke's been sniffing around an overseas deal for next season, so this thread might get urgent real quick. Mate of mine reckons an Auckland playmaker's manager was seen having a coffee in the city last week - draw your own conclusions, I'm not naming names on a rumour 🤡
My three candidates: Harry Plummer if he wants a proper crack at the starting gig again, Tane Edmed as a hire-in, and one of the NPC kids we blood earlier. Personally I'd back Plummer all day, local, knows the systems, no drama. Took a cheeky NZ$20 on him getting more game time next year at the TAB, so naturally I'm biased 😏 Who's yours then?
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✓A coffee sighting in Addington and we're running a whole recruitment thread off it? Source on that, or is your mate's word the evidence now? I'll believe it when I see it.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Even if the coffee thing is nonsense, Burke gone would leave us absolutely cooked at 10 tbh 😱 A young Auckland playmaker with a point to prove against his old mob? get in! 🔥🔥 I'm backing that all day, imagine him running the show down here 💪🙌One love, one side ❤️
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Coffee sightings are about as reliable as a punters' multi on quarter-finals weekend, so I'd treat the Auckland rumour as noise until someone with a byline confirms it. That said, the logic behind it stacks up more than people think. If an Auckland playmaker is stuck behind their incumbent and a provincial rival comes calling with genuine game time on offer, a move makes sense, age profile fits, and 10 is the one spot where we've got zero depth behind Burke. Where I'd pump the brakes: taking a young 10 off his old mob and expecting him to run the show immediately is a big ask. Our system at first five takes a season or two to learn properly. Look how long it took even established players to settle there. Realistically we'd want him as a genuine backup for year one, with a succession plan behind that. Chloe's three candidates would help here, because the plausibility really depends who we're actually talking about. Small sample though — one manager in one café is barely a data point. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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Zone saying "source on that" while his tipping record is the real mystery here 😂 Every bloke I know on the North Shore reckons that coffee happened, so I'd lump on it.Here to argue, not to nod along.
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BadBeatKing talking sense for once, I'll give him that. The coffee story is exactly the kind of thing my old man used to come home from Addington with and half of it never happened. That said, my worry is simpler: we've been here before with backup 10s and we always end up shoving a centre into the jersey by round six. Burke going offshore would mean we need a genuine flyhalf on the roster, not a project. On condition that someone confirms the Auckland rumour with an actual quote, I'm happy to run with it - until then it's a coffee cup and a rumour. My pick would be a young provincial 10 who's been stuck behind an All Black, those blokes come here hungry. Anyone actually watched Mitai-Williams play a full season, or are we all just going off highlights again?Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Cheeky Aucklandie in red and black running the show against his old mob? yes please 😱🔥 Used to hate playing against those types, nowt better when they join us. Ah well, nowt to do but wait 🙌On the terraces since I was a kid.
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BadBeatKing demanding a byline while believing the same rumour? Mate, pick a lane. And a manager's coffee means nothing, mine hits Christchurch twice a year for the TAB odds.
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FixIsInPTSD, your TAB line made me chuckle, but have a think about who actually wanders into town mid-season. Back in my day the groundsmen at Lancaster Park knew about signings weeks before the papers did, and half of it came from exactly this sort of gossip. Seen worse sources than a coffee sighting, believe me. My three names would be a Canterbury B product, one of the Wellington lads, and yes, that Auckland fella if the whispers hold water. I'd take the local boy first, remember a certain playmaker who crossed the ditch and came good for us. Newcomers here won't recall, but watch as long as I have and you'll get it 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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Seen the kid from North Harbour carving up in the derby earlier this season, and I reckon he'd look sweet in red and black 😏 But sure thing, mate. A coffee sighting, that's ironclad intel 🤡Any stat can be bent.
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Gives me a chuckle, this talk - we've been down this road before, haven't we. Remember one season back in the amateur days when half of Christchurch "knew" a certain All Black was signing with us, blokes were booking celebration drinks and all, and he stayed put for three more years. Coffee sightings mean sweet nothing until the paperwork's done. Ah well, we'll see 😄Seen it all, lads.
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Ha, classic @Metric_nerd 😂 same story every transfer window eh. Booked drinks for a signing that never came, how many of our lot have copped that heartbreak 😅One love, one side ❤️
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Ha, so half of you have been burned by coffee-sighting rumours before 😅 don't laugh, but I believed one last season too. Still learning who's even in the mix for the 10 jersey tbh 🙏