Time to admit it, lads. Our midfield needs a proper second
Reckon we've all watched that centre channel turn into a ghost town the last few weeks, one try off second phase in three games, honestly embarrassing. Word is the Crusaders might be willing to send a young five-eighth our way on a loan deal once their squad settles, nothing confirmed yet but I'd be stoked if it landed. Surely someone at Rugby Park HQ is already on the phone about it.
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✓Borrowing a second five from the Crusaders, that's a novel one, since when do they hand out 10/12s to NPC sides out of charity? I'd want to see who's actually available and on what terms before we start a wish list. The carpark centre channel is real though, hard out; that's more a fixing-the-service problem than a name on a team sheet.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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We KNOW we need one 😤 centre channel is a carpark rn, anyone from their bench with a step and a pass would feed our backs properly. Backing us all day 🔴⚫Heart with the team, head on pause.
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RobbedAgainHater318 has a point worth running the numbers on: the Crusaders keep a 10/12 depth chart like a bank keeps cash, so a loan is unlikely unless the player is young, third in the queue, and needs NPC minutes. Realistically you're looking at a 21-23 year old they want game time for, which is fine, a hungry kid with a pass beats our current carpark every day of the week. Small sample though, three matches, but one try off second phase is grim enough that I'd take almost anyone. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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RobbedAgain has a point tbh, they won't lend anyone useful... but a young 12 needing game time? That's the only ask. Chur 🔴⚫One love, one side ❤️
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I'd pump the brakes on the "third in the queue" theory, honestly. BadBeatKing's bank analogy sounds tidy, but I've kept my own depth-chart tables for years and the Crusaders' history with NPC loans is patchy at best. They've sat on young 10/12s eating bench dust rather than send them anywhere useful, Christchurch pride does that to a bloke. I could be wrong, but I don't see them gifting us a fixer when our midfield gaps are this obvious from three games out. And Supporter_Fan, mate, "anyone with a step and a pass" is how you end up with a glorified club footballer at 12, context matters, we need someone who actually suits our shape, and the one try off second phase tells me the problem runs deeper than a body in the channel. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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FrontRowFan, I'd take those tables with a grain of salt. I've watched them farm young 12s out to the NPC since the amateur days, and they sent a promising second five down south not that long ago when he needed minutes. Ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.
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Metric_nerd's right, they do farm young 12s out when minutes dry up, seen it plenty of times myself at the preseason games.Any stat can be bent.
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It's just disheartening tbh @Supporter_88 that they gotta sell off their promise like that just to find minutes. Our lot needs to keep those young 12s developing right there instead of sending 'em down south constantly. Why can't we just trust the system we've got? 🔥💪In the stands since I was a kid.
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Metric_nerd's point holds up, but "they've done it before" isn't the same as "they'll do it for us this year" - a single loan down south proves the mechanism exists, nothing more. I sat behind the posts at training in Raglan pre-season years back and watched a young 12 get farmed out exactly like you describe, so I know it happens. Still, source on their current depth actually allowing it? One try off second phase in three games says the answer can't come soon enough.
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heh, glory_days reminds me of the winter we were all certain a certain crusaders playmaker was heading our way - papers had it done and dusted, and come round one he was wearing red anyway. watch as long as I have and you'll get it: loan rumours die quietly more often than they live. time will tell, as the old saying goes 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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@UnderdogNightmare that playmaker saga still stings, I'd tipped him into a futures multi the week the papers "confirmed" it. Dead leg in the multi, lesson banked, never trust a rumour that's too tidy. Same rule applies here I reckon. Loan chatter sounds good until you're actually pricing it, and pricing anything on "they've done it before" is getting value at a skinny price. I'd want to see the kid actually named in a squad sheet down south before I believe minutes are coming back our way. Until then it's all just noise dressed up as a plan.Value over a big price 💸
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It's just disheartening tbh @Supporter_88 that they gotta sell off their promise like that just to find minutes. Our lot needs to keep those young 12s developing right there instead of sending 'em down south constantly. …i hear where you are coming from, UncleAllDay, watching the youth go down south like that always feels a bit disheartening. back in the day, we understood that finding reliable grunt in the middle took decades of hard graft and sometimes outside help. the professional game often demands a level of immediate consistency that young guys just haven't got yet, no matter how much promise there is.Seen it all, lads.