All Blacks 2026
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@Yeetyaah said in All Blacks 2026:
Aight cool good replies
don't listen to them, they are in the annual "Highlanders will be good this year" phase like every single january. Reality is still 7-8 weeks away
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he's turning up a heap on my socials recently. seems to be leaning in to his profile.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks 2026:
@Yeetyaah said in All Blacks 2026:
Aight cool good replies
don't listen to them, they are in the annual "Highlanders will be good this year" phase like every single january. Reality is still 7-8 weeks away
My prediction following the Pledger injury was that we'd finish about 10th. Hardly a 'good this year' prediction.
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So, what do we know for certain?
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There clearly was a lot of division in the All Blacks camp last year. We could work that out from the on-field performances and the body language off it. Laurie Mains came out and said that in an interview and he'd clearly spoken to some of the current players.
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Ardie Savea and Dalton Papalii are clearly deeply pissed off. So are about four or five other players. The NZ Herald clearly has multiple sources on that.
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Parts of the review are going to be scathing.
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Multiple ABs have heard something about a change in the coaching set up. But no one's gone on the record to say for certain that Hansen and Robertson have gone.
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There is a bit of a "circling the wagons" to defend the reputations of Hansen and Robertson, but from people close to the Crusaders, not NZR. If they are staying on, I'd expect them to receive public backing soon.
So, yeah, I suspect they've probably gone, but not definitive proof yet.
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I think that the last two years have demonstrated that the NZ rugby media typically (but not uniformly) ranged from compliant to cheerleading in attitude. Several alarming selections, appointments, performances, and tactics passed largely unquestioned. Sotutu, MacDonald, Ellison, Cane, Papalii, and the 2024 Argentina test should all have been investigated thoroughly and publicly questioned.
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There's a very good summary of the NZ sports media on Dylan Cleaver's The Bounce substack, but it's paywalled...
TL;DR is:
- NZR has really leaned into its role as the holder of all information and access. It's managed to get parts of the media to become too compliant (as you say, Tim) by dripfeeding them info under a soft embargo. The quiet-part-not-said-out-loud is that if a journo breaks the soft embargo, they become persona non grata.
There's also a weird thing when someone does legitimately break a story, a rival org's sports department (or the reporter with that round) will say "oh, there's nothing in that". They'd rather dampen down a rival story than acknowledge the scoop and look to top it with further info.
Thirdly, stating the obvious, the resources are thinner than ever in journalism. We may in fact be under 1000 full-time journos in NZ now across all platforms (if it is more, maybe 1500 max). Certain subjects get the clicks - there's a reason why Liam Lawson gets so many more stories written about him than NPC - so a lot of the sports journos have to feed this machine rather than have time to spend on longer-term investigative pieces.
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@No-Quarter said in All Blacks 2026:
And then they went crawling back to him on the EOYT and expected him to bail them out when injuries struck? Christ on a bike what the fuck is wrong with these guys, please move the whole coaching team on.
Without taking any sides on this, you have to wonder if there is something almost neuro-diverse in the attitudes being shown here.
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After the Foster debacle with NZR undermining the head coach, I'd have thought NZR would have learned their lesson and treated the coaching staff & players with a bit of respect. Specifically, make sure the review was conducted privately and professionally - and those involved reminded of the need for confidentiality and be warned of the consequences of leaking stuff.
Instead we seem to have a film sequel - Foster 2 : Who Will Get The Chop?
No wonder NZ Rugby is in such a mess when senior dudes can't even do the basics like treating their employees with respect. What a shit-show
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@Donsteppa said in All Blacks 2026:
Together We Walk might also have new meaning tomorrow.
That Together We Walk shit was cringe-worthy. Thank fuck someone saw sense and ditched it pronto
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@sparky said in All Blacks 2026:
Parts of the review are going to be scathing.
If it's as bad as it sounds like it's guna be.
They are lame ducks if they hang around.
An accident waiting to happen.
The slightest bit of BS going forward, will cause the noise to get real loud, real quick. -
Believe what you want from a lurker, but big Ray is goneskies, very decent chance Hansen follows. Both with decent enough severance packages. Players, board, and team management all very much providing feedback.
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Are you referring to only the 25 non Crusaders players?
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
No wonder NZ Rugby is in such a mess when senior dudes can't even do the basics like treating their employees with respect. What a shit-show
The 21st century work place is so f'n huggy, you'd wanna be careful even using "firm" words to a co-employee.
NZR HQ will be no different, the office politics will be the same as everywhere.
Leaking something anonymously to the public in what is a very high-profile (NZ) business is probably about the only nasty course of action on the table.Anthony may have even enjoyed putting his scathing (supposedly) report together, as he walked out the door.
He may have wanted to do something like that for a long time; but couldn't of couse; cant be upsetting anyone!The player employees get treated with kid gloves imo.
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@Old-Alleynians said in All Blacks 2026:
Are you referring to only the 25 non Crusaders players?
The 34 player who played for the ABs who were not Crusaders during the season
Compared to the 12 Crusaders
Not all but a good few. -
Is there an actual presser/news release due from NZR tomorrow?
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
Is there an actual presser/news release due from NZR tomorrow?
Yes it came out on Monday, quoting the end of year review will be released on Thursday .
Unless it has all changed since Monday.
