All Blacks 2026
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@ARHS said in All Blacks 2026:
I am impressed at how the NZRU Board and especially David Kirk have handled this. It is an amazing turnaround to some of the oversights and odd decisions that lead things to this point.
I was staggered at a lot of the stuff reaching media and social media. The way Ian Foster was treated, rankled with me. The regular demands to bring back offshore players undermined those committed to the cause. Then LF fast tracked back in when others like Dmac correctly had to wait through a process.
The most notable thing from this era is the 'stealth influencing'. The AB culture must be bad when there are constant insider leaks about everything. And whenever a controversial move or statement is about to come, the same journalists and social media people amazingly post articles seemingly designed to influence support.
The article featuring two stuff journos last week really irked me, as if it was trying to justify things that had not yet happened. Does make me wonder just how influentially calculated a lot of the information we read is nowadays.I have read a few comments on social media and am appalled at how venomous and uninformed so many people are. Can't believe the venom against Ardie in particular, and the Barretts.
Razor tried to inject some positive change into his role and gave it everything he had. But it was simply not what the team need for the international arena. It was not a mutiny by selfish players. End of story.You can’t believe the venom against Ardie and the Barretts? Their heads should be next to Robertsons
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@jimmyb said in All Blacks 2026:
@hikastags said in All Blacks 2026:
A rumour i've heard from a current NPC Wellington player:
At some point this season Ardie & Rieko started being left out of the leadership meetings. Can't imagine that went down well if true.
That’s a good thing isn’t it?
A good thing to leave the bloke you made captain in SBs absence out of the leadership meetings? What? That sounds like an absolute fucking shit show
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@tubbyj are you sure it's the same group of "crying bitches", given at least 20 players gave feedback and reports indicate 14 of them were scathing? As well as support staff saying the same thing?
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@No-Quarter said in All Blacks 2026:
@tubbyj are you sure it's the same group of "crying bitches", given at least 20 players gave feedback and reports indicate 14 of them were scathing? As well as support staff saying the same thing?
And do we know what their criticisms were? Whatever faults Fozzie were technical because he clearly treated his players with enough respect that they felt compelled to support him.
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@jimmyb said in All Blacks 2026:
You can’t believe the venom against Ardie and the Barretts? Their heads should be next to Robertsons
As Kirk made clear, 20 players gave their feedback on the team culture - not just Ardie and the Barretts and the Board made their decision and not the players
If a players like Ardie and Papili want to have nothing to do with the team as the culture is so bad, that's their decision, but it doesn't reflect well on the head coach.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
@jimmyb said in All Blacks 2026:
You can’t believe the venom against Ardie and the Barretts? Their heads should be next to Robertsons
As Kirk made clear, 20 players gave their feedback on the team culture - not just Ardie and the Barretts and the Board made their decision and not the players
If a players like Ardie and Papili want to have nothing to do with the team as the culture is so bad, that's their decision, but it doesn't reflect well on the head coach.
And if a guy like BB was scathing despite being picked to start every game it's not ego, he's concerned for the sake of the team
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Mealamu “gets it”.
Delighted he was involved.
This is the bloke who sent Dan Carter and Richie McCaw back to their rooms to get proper clobber after turning up to the hotel breakfast buffet slovenly attired.
Now get rid of the multi coloured boots, social media and boy band haircuts.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
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@tubbyj Completely different scenario. The players had faith in Foster to get the best out of them, he respected them and earned their loyalty.
If 25% of what we hear is true, Robertson was the opposite and thought dealing with stuff about player concerns was above him.
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@tubbyj said in All Blacks 2026:
Why wasn't he concerned in 2022 when Foster was dragging the team down to this level?
He was. Difference is Foster listened to his players and engaged with them. BB has spoken openly about it.
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@tubbyj said in All Blacks 2026:
Which is why you don't listen to the players on who should be coach. Fair enough fire Robertson on the results but not Ardie Saveas feels
Which, as Kirk has made clear, what happened.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks 2026:
@tubbyj said in All Blacks 2026:
Why wasn't he concerned in 2022 when Foster was dragging the team down to this level?
He was. Difference is Foster listened to his players and engaged with them. BB has spoken openly about it.
Once again what difference did that make? We got thrashed at Twickenham by the Boks, lost to Argentina at home, lost our first RWC pool game and I don't see the WC in our trophy cabinet.
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@tubbyj said in All Blacks 2026:
Which is why you don't listen to the players on who should be coach. Fair enough fire Robertson on the results but not Ardie Saveas feels
When asked in the presser what he thought as a fan Kirk touched on things like inconsistency, slumps in the 3rd quarters of games and discipline.
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@tubbyj said in All Blacks 2026:
Which is why you don't listen to the players on who should be coach. Fair enough fire Robertson on the results but not Ardie Saveas feels
It's not feels, it's honest feedback.
Saying that, I hope Ardie is relegated to an impact player.
