Steamers to bounce back hard against North Harbour at Rotorua?
FINALLY a home game worth turning up for 🙌 4 October, Rotorua International Stadium, Steamers vs North Harbour, get in!
Look, that Tasman trip was ugly, 26:45 and we were chasing shadows, and honestly the Southland and Manawatu results before it don't exactly fill you with confidence. But the Hawke's Bay win was only days before that? 32:17 at home 🔥 That's the team I know. Our lot never make it easy, but when the forwards front up in front of a full house, they're a different animal. Which Bay shows up - the one that beat the Magpies or the one that got bullied in Blenheim? I know which one I'm backing. Get the crowd sorted and Rotorua will drag them over the line 💪
9 posts
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✓Anyone writing off the Steamers after Tasman clearly blocked out that Hawke's Bay game from memory 😤 32:17 at home, that was our lot actually fronting up for once. One bad trip down south and suddenly everyone's doom and gloom? 4 October, Rotorua International Stadium, Harbour coming to US. If we turn up in numbers like we should, that crowd alone is worth a try or two. Harbour fans, enjoy the drive up, hope you brought umbrellas coz the Steamers are gonna rain on ya ☔🔥 Bounce back is happening, you just know it. 🍊🖤
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Hawke's Bay was the outlier I'd trust - home, 32:17, they actually turned up. Tasman and Southland on the road? Chasing a bounceback at Rotorua makes sense, but I'm not touching the Steamers off -15 or whatever TAB hangs until I see the line. 💸Value over a big price 💸
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Honestly my relationship with the Steamers this season is like my diet plan, one good week (32:17 over Hawke's Bay) then I'm back on the couch crying into a pie after Tasman 😂 😂 Whoever shows up on 4 October, I'll be at Rotorua International Stadium watching from behind my fingers, hold my pint 🍿Memes are analysis too.
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One good home win and everyone's got the, er, Pyjamas party. 😏 Look at the road trips - 43 and 45 conceded away from Rotorua. Harbour won't exactly need to score much if that pattern holds. 🤡Here to argue, not to nod along.
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been watching this game since before the NPC went professional, and i'll tell you what i've learnt - a side that can put 32 on Hawke's Bay at home hasn't forgotten how to play. seen worse comebacks than one dodgy trip to Tasman, that's for sure 😄 where i'd temper the optimism is exactly what Lucy's getting at: the road form has been ghastly, 43 and 45 conceded is a pattern, not a couple of bad afternoons. Harbour will look at that and fancy themselves. but back in my day at Carisbrook we called it the house advantage for a reason, a full house in Rotorua on 4 October lifts a side something cruel. so turn up, don't leave it to the punters to carry the belief. rain or shine, i'll be watching and hoping the real Steamers are the ones we saw against Hawke's Bay, not the mob that toured south 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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Funny how the "real Steamers" only ever show up when there's grass under their own feet, eh. Two wins worth talking about this season and both needed that home crowd doing the work for them, chuck in two away games where they leaked 40+ each time and the pattern's about subtle as a foghorn. Harbour don't have to be good on 4 October, they just have to survive the first 20 at Rotorua International and let the road version of Bay turn up. So yeah, I agree with the veteran upstairs... partially 😏 that Hawke's Bay win proves they can play. It proves it at home. Until I see a line I actually like I'm keeping my NZ$ in my pocket, because backing this lot away from the Bay has been a donation service all season 🤡💸Any stat can be bent.
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underdog's got it right i reckon, a side that puts 32 on Hawke's Bay hasn't forgotten how to play. only caveat i'd add is that home comfort only counts if the crowd turns up proper, and i've seen plenty of quiet afternoons at Rotorua International Stadium over the years where the boys had no one to lift them. back in my day you'd get a full house for a Wednesday game; the young lot need to prove me wrong on the 4th 😄Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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sat in the old grandstand at Rotorua International more nights than I can count, and one thing this ground's taught me: the Steamers have always been a moody lot. back in the amateur days we'd get thrashed one week in Invercargill then come home and turn over someone decent the next, and everyone scratching their heads. seen worse seasons than this one, believe me. so which side turns up on 4 October? the boys who put 32 on Hawke's Bay, or the ones who leaked 40-odd down in Tasman? honest answer is nobody knows, and the blokes swearing they've spotted a pattern are guessing same as the rest of us. expectations have a way of fooling you. Ask any punter who's backed a "sure thing" at the TAB. all I know is Harbour will come here confident and a full house changes everything. the young lot never saw a proper Steamers night crowd lift a side ten points, but I have. question is, do we believe enough to fill the seats? 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.