Right, lads, who's our dream No. 8 to replace the big fella when he
Word is Sotutu's camp and the Blues haven't spoken in weeks, mate of mine reckons the quiet is the tell, not the paperwork. If he does bolt for Japan we'd be short a proper ball-carrying 8, and I'd rather throw NZ$800k at a NPC standout from down south than another converted Lock filling the jersey. Who's even on the radar, or are we all just pretending it'll sort itself out? 😏
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✓"Mate of mine reckons" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that post. Weeks of silence from Sotutu's camp, and your source is gossip two steps removed? I'd want to see something concrete before we start budgeting NZ$800k of the club's money on a hunch. That said, IF he does go, you're right that a genuine ball-carrying 8 beats another Lock shoehorned in there. On condition that someone can actually name the NPC standout worth that coin, who down south has carried the way we'd need at Super level? Until anyone puts a name and some numbers up, I'll file this one next to every other quiet-contract rumour that evaporates by June. Show me the numbers and I'll happily eat my words.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Nah who cares if the source is two steps removed, every big signing starts as pub talk 😤 If the big fella does head to Japan we NEED someone who bends the line, not another Lock pretending 😱 NZ$800k for a NPC standout down south is a bargain tbh, backs to the wall for the boys but that's what rebuilds a forward pack 💪🔥
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Hoskins is 27 and in his prime, so Japan money would make sense for him. Could be wrong, but NZ$800k mightn't land a proven NPC No. 8 these days. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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Chris has a point - NZ$800k barely covers a starting Super prop these days, let alone a proven No. 8. Source on the NPC standout pricing, or is that also pub talk?
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I coached against a few of those southern NPC No. 8s, they bend the line for fun tbh. NZ$800k gets you the right one if we move quick 🔥 ah well, nowt to doYou don't abandon your own.
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@SeenItAllFaithful, NZ$800k gets you the right one? Source on that, or is it a gut feeling with a price tag? Nick's already made the point about NPC line-bending not surviving a Super edge rush, and I'd add: paying top dollar for unproven is how clubs end up over the cap. Sounds good but I'll believe the value when I see it.Sample first, conclusions after.
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SeenItAllFaithful, respectfully, "bends the line for fun" against Mitre 10 Cup defs is a different job to doing it off a Super Rugby edge with the rush coming. I keep my own carry numbers and the jump from NPC to Super hit-ups is where most of these blokes fall over - I could be wrong, but NZ$800k buys potential here, not a finished article. Depends how you count the sample, though.
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nick, i hear you, but you're overthinking it. back in my day everyone said the same thing about young fellas stepping up from the npc, and half the greats did exactly that - huge jump, sure, but the good ones grow into it fast. gave the young lot a hard road and they came through. eight hundred k won't buy a finished article, no argument there. but if the choice is paying through the nose for a converted Lock who's never worn eight in his life, or backing a southern ball-carrier who bends lines for fun and learns the rest on the job - i know which punt i'd take. seen it done before, it can be done again 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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we've had contract silences like this before and half of them turned out to be nothing but an agent playing games. i remember a couple of big names a few years back where the quiet went on for months and everyone had him on the plane to japan already. time will tell, as the old saying goes. i'd still get the chequebook warm, mind 😉Been here longer than some have followed.