Time to raid the neighbours again
Righto lads, who's up for pinching a bit of Crusaders property? Word doing the rounds at McLean Park is a certain Magpies-hardened flanker off their wider training group could be off contract, won't name names yet because I'd hate to jinx it, but picture him charging out of the Napier fog to win us some breakdowns. Get in before someone else does, I reckon.
13 posts
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✓"Won't name names yet". That's forum-speak for "I read it somewhere and can't back it up." Wider training group squad member, off contract? Show me the numbers before we start the welcome banner.
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Mate imagine that bloke hitting rucks out of the fog 😱🔥 our breakdown's been soft for years, would fix it sweet as. Josh chill, sometimes the scuttlebutt's right ah well, nowt to do but dream eh 💪On the terraces since I was a kid.
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Josh has half a point, but he's applying the wrong test. A wider training group flanker off contract is a very realistic profile - that's exactly the pool provinces fish in every NPC pre-season, because the Crusaders can only protect so many loosies and the rest have to go somewhere to get game time. I could be wrong, but I'd back this rumour's plausibility higher than most. The real questions for me: how old is he, and has he played actual first-class minutes anywhere? If he's 23 or 24 with a handful of NPC appearances from a loan stint or FPC season, that's a project signing worth taking at modest money. If he's 27 and still stuck behind a wall of All Blacks back-rowers, the age-to-upside ratio gets ugly fast. Our breakdown issue is real. The pilfer numbers last Bunnings NPC were poor for years running, but one training squad player doesn't fix a whole loose trio by himself. Wait for the name, then we can run the tape properly. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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I could be wrong, but I'd pump the brakes on the "wider training group = ready-made Magpie" logic, FrontRowFan. That pool is fished by every province with a half-decent salary cap position, so if the scuttlebutt's real, we're likely queuing behind a couple of unions offering more game time than we can guarantee. Numbers before banners, as Josh says 📊Do the math before you argue.
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ChrisDiehard, seen worse panic than a queue for a loosey, believe me - back in my day Hawke's Bay pinched good men out of bigger unions plenty of times and half of them came because the game time was real here, not the coin. FrontRowFan's right that every province fishes that pool, but a fella who's already bled for the Magpies knows the fog and the boys, and that counts for more than a bigger cheque down south. I'd rather dream and be wrong than sit on my hands eh 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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Funny how quick the fog-and-glory movie gets made before the bloke's even signed anything 😂 FrontRowFan's dead right though. This is exactly how the poaching game works, you catch them in that window between the Crusaders trimming their squad and the player's agent realising he's got provinces sniffing. Saw it play out with a couple of lads who came through our way over recent seasons; the pitch was always the same, "come here, start every week, we'll make you a name." Half the reason our NPC sides have punched up over the years. ChrisDiehard's worry about the queue is fair, but I'd put a few NZ$ on us having more to sell than half the unions circling, McLean Park in winter, proper crowd, actual starter minutes. What have the others got, a development contract and a carpark at Rugby Park? 😏 Wait for the fanboys to melt down when he signs with someone boring like Tasman instead.Here to argue, not to nod along.
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UnderdogNightmare's right that game time sells, my cousin shifted up from Canterbury for exactly that reason back in the day. Caveat: he still needs to actually make the 23 each week.Sample first, conclusions after.
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@RobReds yeah spot on, making the 23 is the whole point 💪 remember my last season of club footy, bloke came up from southland full of promise and rode the bench all year - wasted move. but if this kid's as everywhere as SeenItAllFaithful says, he'll be starting for the Magpies easy 🔥 backing them all day on this oneOne love, one side ❤️
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Seen him run at the Bunnings preseason trial and he was everywhere 🔥 game time at Magpies beats sitting in Christchurch mate. Get it done! ah well, nowt to do 💪You don't abandon your own.
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seen this movie before, lads - big rumours, then the signing goes elsewhere and we all pretend we never got excited 😄 ah well, we'll seeSeen it all, lads.
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Nah Metric I'm backing this one all day 🔥 bloke was everywhere at that trial like SeenIt said, you just know he's got something. Even if he starts on the bench, so what, 20 min off the pine with us playing fast footy beats dead rubber game time in Christchurch imo. I coached a junior who went south and got nothing, hates it. Come home bro, Magpies fans will get right behind ya 🖤💛 hard out we need that energy at McLean Park 👊Heart with the team, head on pause.