Tahs fans, be honest: this squad is better than the 2014 champions'
Right, unpopular opinion incoming: this backline, even without Folau carrying the highlight reel, would put 40 on that 2014 crew. Beale and AAC were magic, sure, but half this forum probably had them on a TAB multi back then and stillrate the old lot out of nostalgia 😏 Pick a proper wing pairing or admit you're just romance-posting, mates.
14 posts
-
✓40 points on the 2014 side? Receipts please, that defence conceded plenty but still won the whole thing. Which current wing beats AAC at fullback?Hype isn't an argument.
-
Kev mate, AAC was safe hands but that backline lived off Beale doing something stupid-brilliant, and Folau was the whole highlight reel 😱 This current mob actually moves the ball, wings get it in space instead of just cleaning up kicks. Put any two of our outside backs from the last two seasons on a wing pairing and I'm backing them all day 💪🔥 Nostalgia's a lovely thing but it don't tackle.Heart with the team, head on pause.
-
TomWing's on the money, and the sample backs him even if I'd caveat how small it is. I've been keeping my own touch-count table each round and the current wings are getting the ball in space maybe double what AAC and co. got back then, when everything funnelled through Beale's boot. Kev, on 40 points I'd want more rounds before signing off, but the distribution argument alone is enough for me.
-
Been watching this game since before it went professional, and I'll tell you what the 2014 crowd had that people forget. That side knew how to win ugly. Back in my day you got one Test a year on telly and you remembered every bloody moment of it, so maybe AAC and Beale live larger in the memory than they strictly earned 😉 But Kev's got a point about receipts. 40 on that lot is fantasy, they ground teams down, didn't need to score pretty. Where I'd side with TomWing is that the old backline had a ceiling. Everything went through Beale's boot or Folau leaping over three blokes, and when it dried up, so did the Tahs. This current mob actually moves the ball wide and the wings see it in space, which is a nicer thing to watch than a fullback fielding bombs. Old school defence versus modern movement. I've seen worse arguments on this forum than picking either 😄Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
-
knew how to win ugly, est? course they did, I sat through enough of those matches to fill a scrapbook 😉 but watch as long as I have and you'll get the difference. winning ugly is a habit you lean on when the talent runs thin. that 2014 mob went weeks where beale kicked away possession and the wings spent eighty minutes chasing high balls like sheep dogs. the counter-example I keep going back to is the grand final itself. the tahs that night survived, they didn't dominate. a bounce here, a horses-for-courses bench there and the trophy comes home either way. this current backline actually wants the ball, moves it, and if the young lot keep that shape for a full season I reckon they finish higher than that crew ever managed. give them time before we hand the crown back, eh.Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
-
Winning ugly's a fair point, but I keep coming back to what happened when that 2014 side ran into proper defence. The Crusaders season was an exception, most weeks the plan was Beale or bust. If this backline gets the ball in space the way FixIsInPTSD's touch counts suggest, that's a better base than a highlight reel and a prayer. Sounds good though, so receipts when the season actually gives us some.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
-
FixIsInPTSD's touch-count table matches what I've been scribbling in my own spreadsheet, though I'd hedge on how much of that extra space comes from the wings themselves versus the loosies committing defenders first. I could be wrong, but when I rewatched a few of the 2014 matches last month the AAC tries all looked like repeats of the same Beale wrap. Talent's deeper now, no argument from me there.
-
NickDiehard the loosies point actually argues for the current side, no? If today's forwards are dragging two defenders in before the ball even gets wide, the wings get one-on-ones Folau never dreamed of. Beale was making something out of nothing back then because there WAS nothing. I'd back this pairing to outscore that crew, and I'd put actual NZ$ on it 😏Any stat can be bent.
-
Sorry but I'm not buying the "space from the loosies" excuse, if the forwards are doing all the work then how many of those wing one-on-ones actually got finished? 😅 Folau at his peak would've feasted on that same space and you all know it... put a TAB multi on 2014's backline against this one and every punter in Nelson is taking the old boys 🔥One love, one side ❤️
-
who cares about the finish if they make the opposition scared to even defend out wide?Seen it all, trust me.
-
FanaticTillIDie, that's the whole point though. Beale's best work in 2014 was putting Folau into gaps, and half the time the finish came off Israel's boot or a freak leap. Watch the current wingers take the same ball flat and at pace and the finish is already in the movement. Different question entirely from "who would beat who".
-
OffsideKing_Gate has coined it, the finish being already in the movement is exactly what I see on the replay. Only caveat I'd add is under the high ball, Folau's aerial work covered a lot of defensive sins and nobody in this current back three matches that. I keep a tally sheet every round (teacher habit, I grade my own margins) and the wingers today get over their line far more often per carry than I logged back in 2014. I could be wrong, but the finishing argument stands.Do the math before you argue.
-
FrontRowFan's caveat is where I land too, honestly. The current wingers finish within the movement better than anything Beale and AAC served up in 2014, but Folau's aerial game papered over cracks that this back three can't hide. 📊 Happy to keep the argument going till the next round adds to the sample.Numbers > vibes.