Penrose Warrior
First Grade
- Messages
- 9,451
You don't think 'putting the Ki in the Wi' counts?!?!?!Maybe they just need a shit catchphrase to catch the general public’s interest
2017 definitely stands as a turning point. I mean, I'm a couple of years older than you, and definitely life circumstance comes into it in the fact I just don't watch as much sport as I used to. But yeah, I remember being invested in the 2017 campaign, the exodus plus losing to Tonga, then Fiji in the quarter, we'd drawn with Scotland the previous year, only being able to attract David effing Kidwell as a coach, Adam Blair chewing gum and not caring in the Fiji presser etc.I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what changed between say 2010ish and now, and honestly the most compelling thing I can come up with is the 2017 Tongan exodus and embarrassing Kiwi World Cup failure. I just think most people are inclined to pin that on Kidwell and Blair and understate how significant the disruption caused by the Tongan exodus was.
The other thing is maybe having no international footy from 2019-2022 due to COVID had a big impact.
2017 was also the last time there was a mid-year Test v Australia. I think that's relevant.