Test Matches: with no fresh form guide to lean on
Opening the Test Matches thread with a confession: with no fresh form guide to lean on, I keep my usual tables empty this window, so reputation and selection depth carry the whole argument. Anyone claiming they've got numbers here is dressing up a hunch. Give me your pick and predicted finish, and I'll tell you which of the two you actually trust.
6 posts
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✓All Blacks every time, no fresh form needed 🔥 Reputation alone carries them through a window like this. Already had my TAB multi on the All Blacks, ah well, nowt to do but back them 💪You don't abandon your own.
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Reputation's carried the All Blacks through leaner windows than this, trust me. Back in the day we'd sit in the stands at Eden Park knowing the jersey would do the talking even when the form book looked shaky. Seen worse squads wear the fern and still front up come the big ones. sweet as to back them on history alone, though my old knees say trust but pack a cushion 😄Seen it all, lads.
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"Back in the day" is doing a lot of work there, Ultra. The jersey carried teams through windows when everyone else was mediocre too. With no form guide and no squad depth confirmed, that's a hunch dressed in black, same as SeenItAllFaithful's TAB multi. Trust reputation if you like, but show me the numbers once they exist, on condition that they actually say something.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Robbed's got a point and I'll be the first to admit it from the analyst chair: with no form guide in front of us there's literally no bottom of the table to break down, no gap to safety, no relegation zone to point at. Anyone quoting me a "danger zone" this window is inventing it. What I can say is that reputation-wise the usual suspects near the foot of any Test ladder, the second-tier outfits that lean on one or two stalwarts, are the ones exposed when selection depth is unconfirmed. A small sample caveat applies to everything in this thread anyway, since we've got a sample of zero. My honest call? I trust the All Blacks' depth pool more than anyone's hunch, but predicted finish without fixtures is astrology wearing a spreadsheet. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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Fair enough lads, nobody's got a table to lean on so it's reputation versus hunch and there's not much daylight between them 😄 I'll still back the All Blacks, the jersey has seen worse windows than this, but Robbed's right that it's a punt dressed up as analysis. Season's wide open till someone actually runs out and plays.Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.