Kiwis ANZAC Squad?

[Mixmasterreece]

Hopefully now the selectors get off the acid and start selecting fair dinkum teams. There is no way known to mankind that Fuifui Moimoi and Sam McKendry could possibly have been in the propping rotation. They've been mud all year. To think that perhaps the Kiwis best in Sharky wasn't even in the 17 and yet Eastwood who's barely played this year was? We're not at that stage anymore where we need to make such ridiculous selections. We have a considerable number of good players who should have been in their place. Pritchard finally seems to be in form, so we drop him?

I don't know if we had the spark to beat the Australians in that test, but, the fact is that essentially Australia won off the back of soft soft turnovers, and the majority of those came from blokes who should thank the man above for getting a shot in the first place.

I thought most of the Warriors played good games. Mannering had his best game this year and seemed to be punching through the middle of the ruck well at times, Brown another good game, Matulino played big minutes and I thought he was quite effective. Lance... a couple of soft errors. Rapira unfortunately didn't get much of a chance. Foran has that rare touch of class, the rest though had bog standard matches.

What would your 17 have been?

 

[ozbash]

For all last nights errors and general confusion, if (huge word with regard to Aussie having the nads to play us in a meaningful series) we were to play them in game 2 next weekend,, we would beat them, easily.

 

[Iafeta]

What would your 17 have been?

Not sure naming a retrospective 17 is fair on the coach/selectors, but, I would definitely have had Pritchard and Matai at a minimum in the team. Brown would certainly have been in the named 17. Moimoi and McKendry would have been nowhere near the 17. Neither deserved it. Both are in poor form. Matai and Pritchard have made a career out of being picked despite not showing form, yet they show form in 2011 and get the punt? That's a bit inconsisent if you ask me.

 

[devoid]

Brown, Matulino, Mannering, and Foran were our best imo. Thought Matai was unlucky not to get picked. Just didn't think we had too many guys with any form going in to this game.

 

[Iafeta]

One thing I picked up from the game as that if we are (and we should be) looking to replace Luck when his next contract is up, Mannering would make a very good lock forward. For a large period he was playing it seemed as a lock and was driving well through the ruck. I wonder whether at times Mannering has fallen into the Lance Hohaia mould, jack of all trades, master of none. I personally wonder whether he's better playing in tight rather than on the fringes.

 

[RHCP]

Fuifui Moimoi was the only forward causing any trouble to the Australian line. It's a shame his errors undid that good work.

Not enough Junior Sau. At least he can run straight.

 

[Iafeta]

There you go, another one who seems to be in decent form yet he couldn't get a gig either, despite getting gigs in the past when out of form. The selections were just weird. Some of the best in form Kiwis like Sau, Matai, Pritchard and Inu couldn't find their way into the test squad of 19, Brown the Kiwis MOM wasn't in the initial 17, yet blokes like Moimoi, Eastwood (Barely played all year), Harrison (way out of form... although I still rate him highly) all got picked no troubles at all. I'm not sure what the Kiwi selectors were thinking.

 

[Cheops]

One thing I picked up from the game as that if we are (and we should be) looking to replace Luck when his next contract is up, Mannering would make a very good lock forward. For a large period he was playing it seemed as a lock and was driving well through the ruck. I wonder whether at times Mannering has fallen into the Lance Hohaia mould, jack of all trades, master of none. I personally wonder whether he's better playing in tight rather than on the fringes.

I've thought Mannering should be our lock for a long time now. He provides the same workrate and cover defence that Luck does (see tackle on Idris and also one on Smith) but adds a lot more punch and metres with the ball. He doesn't really have the size or explosiveness to cause much threat on the edges though

 

[Penrose Warrior]

One thing I picked up from the game as that if we are (and we should be) looking to replace Luck when his next contract is up, Mannering would make a very good lock forward. For a large period he was playing it seemed as a lock and was driving well through the ruck. I wonder whether at times Mannering has fallen into the Lance Hohaia mould, jack of all trades, master of none. I personally wonder whether he's better playing in tight rather than on the fringes.

Great post. I just hope Ivan can see this as well - to be honest I think the way he's been a lot more ruthless this year, he may well do.

Back-rowers in 2011: 11- Mateo 12- Taylor 13- Mannering then Ta'ai off bench. Which means Brown plays centre with Ropati.

 

[mean_maori_mean]

There you go, another one who seems to be in decent form yet he couldn't get a gig either, despite getting gigs in the past when out of form. The selections were just weird. Some of the best in form Kiwis like Sau, Matai, Pritchard and Inu couldn't find their way into the test squad of 19, Brown the Kiwis MOM wasn't in the initial 17, yet blokes like Moimoi, Eastwood (Barely played all year), Harrison (way out of form... although I still rate him highly) all got picked no troubles at all. I'm not sure what the Kiwi selectors were thinking.

Well kearney has developed a method behind winning against the aussies.
Its about grinding, tackling your ass off and make as little mistake as possible.
Then spin the ball a little. . .

Unfortunately not quite enough punch up the middle and went wide a little too early.
and the biggest one they made heaps of mistakes.

Guys like Sau, Matai, Inu and to a lesser extent Pritchard are flaky at time on both defense and attack.

And also not really like those guys would provide much more on attack.
Sau is too slow of the line aussies would monster him early.
Pritchard only likes running in the opposition 20.
Inu - played a few good games after 2 years of crap.
Cant reward him with a kiwi jersey yet imo. Will make end of year squad.
Matai - in theory would be more dominant with the ball and even defense than mannering.
But mannering was playing 2nd row lock most of the game anyway.

In saying that I would have picked pritchard.

 

[mean_maori_mean]

One thing I picked up from the game as that if we are (and we should be) looking to replace Luck when his next contract is up, Mannering would make a very good lock forward. For a large period he was playing it seemed as a lock and was driving well through the ruck. I wonder whether at times Mannering has fallen into the Lance Hohaia mould, jack of all trades, master of none. I personally wonder whether he's better playing in tight rather than on the fringes.

mate with out a doubt.

I know that warriors are looking at Taylor as a replacement (after early earmarking steve rapira).
However mannering has always been a lock.
There is no doubt about.

somebody make a banner saying mannering to lock.
Luck to ESL.

 

[doogiehowser_md]

Well kearney has developed a method behind winning against the aussies.
Its about grinding, tackling your ass off and make as little mistake as possible..

This I agree with big time! And I think some of us dont know what its like to be winners. When your the world champions and current 4 nations champions loyalty to the incumbents who are familiar to your gameplan and did the job last time should be shown to some degree. Hence some maybe a bit confused by some of the selections.

I think we were right in it till the costly mistakes by Moi Moi. Also Foran didnt get involved as much as he does in club games until midway through the game. It may have been a different result if these two things went the other way. Which may highlight the unfamiliarity to Kearneys gameplan and combinations. Like Ozbash said had their been a game 2 we would win easily.

I dont think Matai should be selected for NZ in the near future. The risk of having in him in the side far outweighs the rewards he could possibly be bring to the team in one-offs. Big fan of him but will always remember his send off for the high on Gaz. I think against the Aussies Mannering should be first selected in the centres, he knows how to defend against them.

If Inu continues the form he has shown so far he should make the end of year squad. Beale showed some nice touches on Saturday night would like to see either him or Hoffman developed as Hohaias replacement at the end of the year.