Northland 2025
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@taniwharugby getting high performance out of a squad is our challenge. We have a bigger crop of young players than ever before (vs journeymen) - and more SR experience. You have to think that a capable and settled coaching setup is what we need now to move us up the ranks.
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Looks like northland may be forced to use some of thier development players.
Renton and Evans are 50-50
Reihana and Pasitoa likely outSo our starting backline could be something like:
Howling, J Stewart, B Rush, R Stewart, Alaimalo, Balakana (cos we know he won't be dropped) TrainorMurphy and Salmon on bench
Unsure on Nichols injury status, if ok, he slots into centre and pushAlaimalo to eing and Balekana to bench, cos see above.
Havent heard more on LHE and Mullan HIA, so assume they ok.
Our pack is going pretty well under Ross Wright, so they will hopefully continue to give our backs the ball, let's hope they start to better utilise it.
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@mohikamo we put ourselves in position to score plenty of times too, but we couldn't seal the deal. Only 2 4 try BP was costly, comms mentioned yesterday we got past 24 points in a game the least out of everyone.
Plenty to like about our season, but also same old frailties evident when push came to shove.
As I said in another thread, if youd offered me 5 wins, including over Auckland and Wellington and a draw with Canterbury at the start of the season if have jumped at that...as that would usually be enough to get into the top 8.
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Very unfortunate
Yeah
A 50/50 record in a 14 team comp with 8 play-off spots would normally be enough.Being still in it up to the last game of the regular reason is a pass mark for me.
The last two games were virtually play-off games anyway.
And they went ok, just didn't quite crack it.The squad should be reasonably satisfied.
Good if they could keep most of them together for another shot at it next year. -
@mohikamo think the bulk of the squad are back, plus hearing Heremaia Murray is likely to return along with a Northlander currwntly playing npc also likely to head back too.
Also hearing that Peita is likely to get a super contract and Renton a wtg one, so that bodes well too.
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Disappointing.
Can’t help but wonder when the Tani’s will play to their potential consistently. We have too many good players to be missing out on the playoffs.
It’s been mentioned elsewhere, but we’ve got to start backing some of our young guys more often. Why do we sign guys then never play them?
Stewart (the 10) had a great game on debut, but probably wouldn’t have even been on the bench if not for injury. Why hasn’t he been developed with minutes off the bench during the season? Maybe because the coach has some weird obsession with the unneeded import Balakana and having two wingers on the bench?
That’s my rant for the evening.
Plenty to like about the season, but soo bloody frustrating and disappointing not to be in the playoffs.
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@cgrant said in Northland 2025:
Jordan Trainor is in the form of his life. Is he available for a NZ franchise for the 2026 SR ?
I think that ship may have sailed.
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@Gunner said in Northland 2025:
Disappointing.
Can’t help but wonder when the Tani’s will play to their potential consistently. We have too many good players to be missing out on the playoffs.
It’s been mentioned elsewhere, but we’ve got to start backing some of our young guys more often. Why do we sign guys then never play them?
Stewart (the 10) had a great game on debut, but probably wouldn’t have even been on the bench if not for injury. Why hasn’t he been developed with minutes off the bench during the season? Maybe because the coach has some weird obsession with the unneeded import Balakana and having two wingers on the bench?
That’s my rant for the evening.
Plenty to like about the season, but soo bloody frustrating and disappointing not to be in the playoffs.
Hurt us at the end of the year not having spread the load during the season. That said lots of close games that we won. Forwards outperformed for me. Scrums were a real strength.
The backline is the work on. Got a bit better as the season went on but not giving Salmon more game time was disappointing. Be nice to have a player with express pace as well.
Hope the young guys (e.g. Zac Shanks) got something out of the season and are hungry to make the squad next year.
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@mohikamo Nice breakdown in terms games played
Personally I thought we overplayed some of the lads and it came back to bite us at the back end of the season
Reihana could have started off the bench and Hooper whom I believe will go on to represent the Wallabies should have been given more game time so that the loose trio who played most of the minutes could have been rested
I also believe if your gonna pick young guys , play them a couple fellas away simply because we persisted in a winger from the MLR
Only proved the difference in levels
Solid enough season but I couldn’t rate it any more that 5.5-6 out of 10
Only 30 tries scored , 1 ahead of Southland and Auckland -
@Steven-Harris yep, that was our best frustrating season in decades!
We showed plenty of fight, something we haven't always managed.
But our inability to turn opportunities into points was a big issue.
Lack of tries, line breaks, defenders beaten were all in the bottom 3 of the comp stats.
There were times when we had lapses and looked like things would get away from us, but they didn't.
I think the only games we were soundly beaten was Taranaki and Otago, the losses to Ta$man and Waikato we were in them and had our chances.
As you say, playing Reihana every minute so that the must win game at seasons end, you have to throw the reins to a debutant...not ideal, even if he did a good job.
I dis find our subs puzzling alot of the time, Peita was consistently one of our best but was always subbed around 60, regardless of how the others were going, and while Moulds still has alot to offer he did seem to fade about 50 mins and was not often subbed until around 65 - 70 after which his game was struggling.
It is concerning NRU are allowing our coach to head back to MLR and return a few weeks before the season kicks off...hope the rest of the coaching staff are here and get out and watch club rugby.
The less said about Balekana and Mau'u the better, both those signings pissed me off.
I think the bulk of the side are back next year, we just need some more strike power and we should be contesting the top 8.
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@taniwharugby In a perfect world I would still love to see a big ball carrying lock (Joe Tamani has been superb for Otago in this facet )
We have 3 hard working locks but I’m not sure if any of them give you fast gain-line
Also a genuine 7 who is a nuisance at the breakdown ,Heenan was accurate but you can see he’s coming to the end of his time
We also need X factor out wide ,you could see the attack structures working perfectly at times opening holes in areas where there didn’t appear to be gaps but unfortunately just not having that bit extra pace was key
Thought Brady Rush had a fantastic season to be fair
We are currently chatting with Tupaea Cook Savage who wants to return home but would also like to see a bit more work done around ,Nathan Salmon,Kiwi Duncan,Hoani Reid and Petro Ratumaituvuki who we know can do something out of nothing -
Yeah, a pass mark only (even tho they didn't make POs)
I haven't given them many pass marks lately.They were on the cusp virtually the whole way, so looks like they resisted the temptation to mix it up with the players.
Get their attack game going a bit better next year, and they'll be an even bigger problem for the others. -
@mohikamo yeah they seem reluctant to give the youngsters a chance.
Other teams seem more than willing to give their.young fellas a run while we dont, and not just this year.
I mean Reuben Stewart is a prime example, he is 19 or just gone 20, got limited minutes but showed he was upto it, yet when our midfield struggled, particularly when Alaimalo struggled there, why not give him a good shot at it, instead he got what 2 10 min runs?
Salmon also, granted he had handling issues.this year, but really needs to be out there playing, not on the bench and not bought on until the last 10 or 15.
Several other players could have been given chances, but for, well...
Brady Rush is an interesting one, I was not keen on him starting, had never done anything before to warrant being signed again, even at club he wasn't a real standout...but gee, he took his chances this year and deserved his starts.
Him, Trainor and Evans were our best backs.
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Our forwards were awesome this year - scrum time, lineout when Moulds was throwing, winning the contact. Ran out of gas
️ in the last game with injuries etc. I loved what Heenan did for the team. Accurate, a leader, a real professional - we only have a few guys fit that fit that category - Moulds, Cory Evans leads the backs….but signs this year that players are learning to stay in games.
