Time to raid the Shute Shield
That Brumbies game was rough. The second McReight went off, our breakdown turned into a lottery, someone was getting torched that night 💸 Word is we've had a quiet look at a couple of Shute Shield backrowers flying around at training sessions, haven't heard a name confirmed though. Anyone else heard anything? And in reality, who'd want to sit behind Frase all season 🤡😏
12 posts
-
✓"Flying around at training sessions". Who told you that, your cousin's barber? Sounds good but I'd want a name and a source before I get excited. We've heard "quiet look" rumours every off-season and precisely zero Shute Shield players have shown up in a Reds jersey for it. Receipts please.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
-
Nah I'm with Robbed, plenty of untapped talent in the Shute Shield. Remember watching a Eastwood backrower tear our juniors apart 🔥 one good scrim and we'd have our backup. backing them all day 💪One love, one side ❤️
-
I'd pump the brakes a bit on this one, lads. A Shute Shield flanker has to clear two hurdles at once. Super Rugby physical conditioning and fitting the squad list, and clubs rarely spend a development spot on cover for a 24-year-old incumbent. I could be wrong, but the more realistic route is converting an existing backrower from our own roster as the backup. The Eastwood lad might be worth a look in a year or two, though. 📊Do the math before you argue.
-
chris, seen worse bets than a bloke from club footy making the step up, and the old days proved it, half the blokes who starred for us in the amateur era came straight out of club rugby with no Conditioning Visa stamped on their forehead 😄 a good shute shield fetch at the breakdown learns faster than a raw rookie, and mcReight needs someone who knows the dark arts, ah well, we'll seeSeen it all, lads.
-
Funny how everyone wants a name till you give one, then they want three sources 😂 My two cents from watching club footy lately: the breakdown animals in Shute Shield are a dime a dozen, what's rare is a bloke who can actually pass off the deck at speed. Paul, chill. The club scouts do get around, they just don't announce it for your entertainment, mate 🤡
-
Robbed, source on that "quiet look at a couple of backrowers" claim, or is it just forum smoke? I'll side with Chris here, a development spot on a Shute Shield cover player for a 24-year-old incumbent would be odd squad management, and I watched enough club footy back in Hamilton to know the step up in conditioning isn't cosmetic. If the club genuinely has someone trialling, name the process, not the vibes.
-
Metric's got it right imo, club footy blokes have always made the jump 💪 half our legends came up that way! Reckon the NPC is chocka with opensides doing the hard yards too tbh, why not Shute Shield as well. Sure sign a proper development kid and back McReight to the hilt 🔥🙌One love, one side ❤️
-
Ben, half our legends came up when club rugby was the whole competition, that pathway argument collapses the moment you check the sample size, we're talking maybe a handful of opensides per decade. And Metric, a fetch who looks tidy against Shute Shield breakdowns still has to survive Super Rugby pace, which is a different sport entirely by the tape. If McReight goes down for six weeks, does anyone here actually want to find out mid-season?
-
@FixIsInPTSD sample size argument's fair, but one good fetch coming through is all you need to justify the look, eh. Longshots land sometimes, I've had a NZ$20 multi pay for the whole month before. If the kid's tidy at Shute Shield level, cost of a look is bugger all against McReight going down injured with no cover.Value over a big price 💸
-
Funny thing, I watched a young Michael Hooper playing club footy in Sydney well before anyone thought he'd captain the Waratahs, handful per decade maybe, but the handful always turn up somewhere. Back in my day every Super side had one bloke straight off club paddocks and half of them did fine. Give the kid a run in the pre-season, seen worse investments 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
-
Seen a dozen of these "quiet look" whispers over the years, most went nowhere. Time will tell, eh 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱