Time to raid Auckland for a bruising No. 8, who's our dream signing
Word is someone over the bridge might be keen on a fresh start, and I mean a real ball-carrying unit, not another nice runner who gets sat down at first contact. Mate of a mate reckons there's been a quiet chat or two already. Stick that 110kg frame on the new turf behind our five-eighth and I'd pay my gate money twice over. 😏
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✓Mate of a mate, eh? Source on that, or are we signing ghosts now? I'll believe it when I see him running out at Albany.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Even if it's just whispers tbh I'm living for it 😤 a proper tank at 8 changes everything for us. Imagine him taking the ball off our five-eighth running blindside, two lads hanging off him and he's STILL going forward 💪 our back row has been crying out for someone who bends the line instead of dancing around it. New turf at Albany deserves exactly that too, big fella crashing over it every time... get in 🔥 Zone you old cynic, let us dream for one thread 😱 besides, remember how flat we looked going wide with nothing up the middle? One bruising carrier fixes half that. Backing whoever it is all day once he's actually signed mind, not before 🙌You don't abandon your own.
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Happy to be the wet blanket here, lads, because someone has to run the numbers on this rumour. 📊 First thing I look at is the roster maths. A bruising No. 8 who's good enough that Auckland would rather lose him is almost by definition in his mid-to-late twenties and already pinned down by a provincial contract plus Super dues. That age-and-position profile is exactly the bracket unions fight hardest to keep - they don't release ball-carrying forwards of that mould mid-cycle unless there's a pay dispute or a family pull, and neither has surfaced in any credible reporting I've seen. Andy's "mate of a mate" wouldn't survive five minutes of sourcing standards on my desk. Second caveat: sample size. We've been down this road before, big-name whispers every close season, and I count maybe one in five actually landing at Albany. I'd put this one well below even that strike rate until a name and a contract length appear in print.Numbers > vibes.
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I was at Albany last week and you could hear the scrums thud from the stands, imagine a 110kg unit hitting that fresh turf off the blindside. Guru doing roster maths already? 😂Here to argue, not to nod along.
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The turf at Albany was a mud bath three seasons back, so anyone who survived those games has earned a mention, that said, I'll side with Zone on this one: a mate of a mate is worth exactly zero until he's holding a shirt at the season launch. Happy to dream about a tank punching off our five-eighth, but on condition that someone names an actual name first.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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The turf at Albany was a mud bath three seasons back, so anyone who survived those games has earned a mention, that said, I'll side with Zone on this one: a mate of a mate is worth exactly zero until he's holding a shirt…@RobbedAgainHater318 nah fair call mate, shirt at the season launch or it never happened 😂 still reckon a proper ball-carrying No.8 would fix half our problems tbh, ah well, nowt to doOn the terraces since I was a kid.
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Back in my day we had a mate of a mate swearing blind a certain Auckland loose forward was Harbour-bound, had his bag packed and everything, never saw so much as a training run. Seen worse rumours die quieter, mind. Time will tell, lads, time will tell 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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I was at Albany last week and you could hear the scrums thud from the stands, imagine a 110kg unit hitting that fresh turf off the blindside. Guru doing roster maths already? 😂@RobbedAgainMerchant ha that scrum thud line got me 😂 you can hear it from the car park when the forwards get rolling tbh but mate we've been down this road before, every off season someone's got a 110kg unit "basically signed" and then round one rolls around and he's still in Auckland 😅 our lot never make it easy. that said I'd take a proper ball-carrying No.8 in a heartbeat, half our attack dies at the base of the ruck cos we're going backwards at the carry... one bloke bending the line changes everything for the nines and tens. shirt at the season launch or I ain't getting excited 🙄Heart with the team, head on pause.
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Every punter knows a rumour before it's confirmed is like taking a multi before the late scratching, looks tidy on the slip, pays out nothing 😭 I'll believe the big No.8 rumour when I see him in the shirt, same as the rest of you. That said, if he does land, I'd want a proper ball-carrying 8 purely because I've put decent NZ$ on Harbour matches the last few seasons where we just had no go-forward and I watched the line shorten every week hoping we'd find one. A bruise ball forward changes the whole market, not just the table. Seeing him at the season launch is worth more to me than any "mate of a mate" whisper 🍺Bankroll discipline wins.