Three hidings in four weeks at Rotorua is not a slump, it's a collapse
Hot off the press, and I mean hours old 🤫 word from a source close to the camp is there's movement happening behind the scenes at Bay of Plenty right now. Won't say more than that, screenshot this if you like. Those who know, know.
Anyone who sat through 12:43 at Southland and then that Tasman shambles knows something's got to give. The Hawke's Bay win at home papered over cracks, nothing more. Watch what happens before North Harbour rolls into Rotorua. You'll all find out soon enough 😏
12 posts
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✓About time honestly 😤 three hidings in four weeks and 12:29 at home?? Someone had to act. Chur, hopefully they sort it before North Harbour turn up 🔥
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"Source close to the camp" is doing a lot of work there. Nameless insider, no statement, nothing official - every bad season spawns these rumours within hours. Three hidings on the park are the only confirmed facts; everything else wait for an actual announcement. Ask me again once anything is in writing.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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GloryDays has it right on merit. A rumour changes nothing on the park. Whether someone's desk is being cleared or not, the actual problem shows up in the sample: three defeats by 17, 31 and 19 points, with the one win at home to Hawke's Bay as the lone outlier. If anything shifts behind the scenes, you'd expect it to show first in selection and defensive urgency against North Harbour, and anything less than a competitive 80 minutes there tells you the season really is gone. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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Three hidings, one home win against a mediocre Hawke's Bay, and suddenly BenBlues is the oracle? Show me a named source before anyone pops the champagne.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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RobbedAgain, mate, back in the day we used to say a horse named Rumour never won a race but he started half of them. 😄 Still, the rumours don't change my mind about the footy - 12:43 at Southland and 26:45 down in Tasman is as bad as anything I've seen from a Bay side since the amateur days, and the young lot never saw that. Hawke's Bay was a good afternoon, sure, but one home win doesn't cancel three hidings before Harbour come to town.
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Watched that Tasman game, they just quit tackling after halftime tbh 😱🤬 who's backing them v Harbour now? ah well, nowt to doHeart with the team, head on pause.
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FrontRow88 summed up my feelings on the footy side, though I'd add one caveat: sample size of four games is thin, and one decent half against Tasman (they were only a few points adrift at the break) suggests the wheels came off specifically after halftime rather than across 160 minutes of footy. The pattern still worries me, 12 points at home to Manawatu, 12 again at Southland, then a second-half collapse down in Blenheim territory. Scoring in the teens three weeks running is the red flag for me, and it's been consistent enough that I'd stop calling it variance. Anyone who's sat near me at Rotorua International Stadium knows I keep the ledger every round, and this is the worst four-week stretch I've got written down in years. Hawke's Bay at home sticks out as the outlier because that was the only week the set piece held up. Harbour next, and honestly I'm pricing them well clear on the line. 📊
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Respectfully FixIsIn, go back further than one halftime - 12:29 at home to Manawatu was a few weeks before Tasman. Wheels were squeaking long before they came off, the Hawke's Bay win just had everyone looking the other way. As for the behind-the-scenes chatter, all I'll say is when the same whisper lands on a club bloke twice in one week, there's usually something under it 🤫 Won't say what, won't say who. Harbour at the International Stadium will tell us plenty, you'll all find out soon enough 😏Word is… but you didn't hear it here 🤫
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UltraFan's got a point, but I'd go further, define what "collapse" actually means before we all start gesturing at the sky. Four games, three of them hidings, one tidy win over Hawke's Bay at home. Is that a collapsed season or a bad month with a decent Saturday in it? I'm not convinced either way, and neither is anyone else here, despite the confidence. BenBlues, "movement behind the scenes, those who know, know" is the kind of thing my clients say when they've got nothing. Source on that? What kind of movement. Coaching, admin, the physio? Vague hints age badly. Harbour at Rotorua next will tell us more than any of these whispers; if they quit tackling again after halftime in front of the home crowd, then maybe I'll believe the collapse talk. Until then it's four data points and a rumour named Rumour.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Fair question, Supporter_Zone, but back in my day a bad month meant losing close ones you could've nicked. Twelve at home to Manawatu and twelve down in Southland aren't near misses, they're hidings. One tidy Saturday against Hawke's Bay doesn't cancel out 43 points conceded — I've seen worse seasons start, mind, but rarely with tackling that vanishes after the break.Been here longer than some have followed.
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Underdog's got it right, those aren't near misses, they're thrashings, 12 at home to Manawatu and 12 down south is old school grim, the kind we used to boo from the terraces. The Hawke's Bay game was real enough, but one tidy Saturday doesn't cancel a month of that. North Harbour at home is probably the last chance to say the season's still breathing. Ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.