July 21, 2026 • 12 mins
The All Blacks have started their bumper 2026 year strongly having gone 3 for 3 in the opening home test matches in the Nations Championship, topped by a dominant 40-21 win over Ireland at Eden Park on Saturday night.
How are we rating this All Blacks side with the squad naming for the monster tour of South Africa less then a week away?
NZ Herald Rugby writer Gregor Paul joined D'Arcy to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildegrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The All Blacks. Do you remember the All Blacks at
a cracking game of the weekend? Then we're all lost
in World Cup finals and golf and everything else. The
All Blacks have had a mega start to their bumper
twenty twenty six year, three from three in the opening
test matches the nation's championship, a dominant forty twenty one
(00:33):
victory over Eden Park, keeping the streak alive on Saturday night.
So how you're raiding this All Black site with the
squad naming for the monster of South Africa less than
a week away. I know a bloker can talk about
stuff like this with quite a lot of weight. His
name is Gregor Paul Zellen, Herald's lead rugby scribe. He
(00:54):
joins us now to discuss.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Good evening, Gregor, good evening, dark set.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Great to be talking at rugby with you again. I
think we've gone through, Ryan Fox, have gone through the
Football World Cup. We have gone through. We've gone through
so much. But we're gonna get front and seem to
again after what's been a pretty impressive three weeks in
the Dave reny Era has it not.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Yeah, look, I think so he They've gone about the
All Blacks, the new the new All Blacks coaching crew,
management team, rebuilding. I think the mentality of the All Blecks,
the identity of the All Blacks to a certain extent,
They've they've revamped the personnel, bringing in some new players,
shuffling some all players into some new positions, finding out
(01:41):
a little bit about each other across July. But the
new coaching group three wins not to be sniffed at.
I think we get a little complacent sometimes and forget
the value of a Test victory, and particularly the final
one because Ireland. You know, I think Alan came here
with genuine ambition to win that Test at Eaton Park,
(02:03):
and we know that they can win Test matches in
New Zealand because they've done it before.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And while the French team wasn't.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Necessarily you know, they're better team because the guys who
had played in the French Club final weren't available for it,
it's still a very good French team because they've got
incredible depth. So again that you know, that was a
good opening win against what was actually a very good
French team. So a lot of boxers ticked and a
sort of a minus, possibly even an A for the
(02:33):
All Blacks in the July series high praise.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Talk to us about how difficult it is to re
imprint the staff, and we're talking about the players themselves
and all the assistances because only Jason Ryan survived in
a space of only a few weeks playing anyway, he's
done a really, really good job in saying this is
what we're going to do. Now. That's quite a steep,
isn't it? For the whole squad?
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yeah, they got things, but I think the players were
crying out for a leader to take control.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
I think it's a good playing group.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I mean, I think we would all agree that it's
been stronger, more impressive All Black squad in the last
fifteen twenty years if you just put the names on
paper and compare with this crew. But there are some
really good players in it. There's a fair bit of experience,
and there was a desire I think after the last
two years. And I'm not going to go on air
and denigrate the previous coaching regime, but I think the
(03:23):
players were just desperate for some guidance, some culture to
be instilled in that team a way of doing things
both on and off the field.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
They needed to be reconnected to each other because.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I think there was a little bit of division in
there previously for whatever reason, and guys weren't on the
same page. They weren't jailing, they weren't all happy. So
he's gone in and kind of wheedled all. That big
thing that he did was bringing back Gilbert Andnoka, the
mental skills coach. People are going to have different views
about Gilbert, but he brought twenty plus years of institutional
(03:57):
knowledge with him. He's very strong on the legacy of
the old Legs and how to tell that story to
the current playing group and get them to buy into
who they represent, who they're playing for, why it matters,
what the history of that team is, and really put
them on a pathway to writing their own chapter as
part of a wider all Black narrative. Is what he's
(04:18):
there to do, and I think he's reconnected them with
each other, with the people with the jersey, with everything
that it means to be an all Black They've got
that back because I.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Think they lost that.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And these are really significant things because you need that identity,
You need to know who you are and how you
want to play, and that's probably the biggest thing that
Dave has managed to do in the three weeks that
he's had the team.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I don't want to one clock back and be critically
either of the previous coaching There's no point. It's all
about the looking for but you get the scenes, grig
and please tell me if I'm wrong, and you normally
do so. I'm good with This team was crying out
not for a football style man manager or manager. They
actually wanted a coach, and I think they've got that
(04:59):
in Dave Rennie, a hands on coach. You know what
he wants to do in exes and o's.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
They wanted all sorts of things, but what they wanted
was a game plan, a strategy.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Of how they were going to play the game, and
a really.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Simple, clearly instructed every day Here's what we will be doing.
Here's what I want you to do for is I
want you to provide to run straight and hard. I
want you, Cody Taylor, to throw the ball in straight
at the line out and smash some people in the rack.
You know, he's broken it down into really simple segments
for every playing position. You know, He's given each player
(05:35):
back two or three things to focus on, very clear,
very direct. He's been absolutely clear that he wants his
players to be on their feet. I mean that might
sound obvious, but I think you know sometimes players after
they make a tackle, you know, they can roll.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Around for a little bit. They can be slow to
get up.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
They can see that they've got to get to the
next rack, but they're not moving as.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Quickly as they need to.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
All that kind of slowness, if you like, of mentality,
of a little bit of maybe hiding and not putting
everything into the game.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Well he's got rid of that.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
And basically said I need you on your feet as
quickly ag can after you've made a tackle, and if
it's your job to get to a rock, then you
get there. And if you can't get to the ruck,
then you make yourself available to carry the ball. But
we're on our feet and we play quickly. That's what
That's what playing at high Temple means. So they fully
understand that, they fully understand the value of the set piece.
They understand that, you know, a breakdown they are there
(06:25):
to you know, they use their footwork coming into the tackle.
It's another big thing that they're looking for space when
they attack the line rather than looking to hit into bodies.
They're looking to try and get get their arms through
and either offload so they can keep some continuity going
through the defensive line, or that they present the ball
with two cleaners there immediately so that it's you know,
it's on a plate for cameray guard at halfback, which
(06:47):
they did amazingly well in their opening game. Speed of
recycled rock ball was something incredible and it allows so
many opportunities and how you want to play, So all
of that has been instilled and Mike Blair, they attack
coach has got them running in good lines, they hold
good patterns, they understand the structure that they're trying to
play with. The skills need a little bit of sharpening up.
(07:10):
But I think that's probably the story that every coach
would say about their players.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
But the thing is they seem to know what they
are doing.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
And to your question, that was maybe something amazingly that
they didn't really know for the last two years on Earth.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
The coach wanted them to do.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Looking at the player situation, who's been selected and some
of the tweaks that he's made, was I think tweaks
probably a bit matching Luke Jacobson. It's been a real
change of attitude around that. But out of the key
changes he's made in the playing arrangement, what stood out
to you the most in what Dave's actually done.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Well, Probably that one would be one of the more
significant ones, because I didn't see that coming.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I'll be honest.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
I think Jacobson has been a really good super rugby
player for a long time, being a good captain of
the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
He's never looked super comfortable at all black level.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
He's never had a major contribution playing at six, playing
at eight, wherever he's played, but those two positions, I think,
and coming off the bench, I've never thought this is
the guy, if only he got more game time. That's
been a surprise that A He's seen Jacobson in his
starting team, and be particular surprise that he's seen him
as a number seven, because I think you and I
(08:19):
probably hold kind of similar views about what we expect
from a seven. You know how they should play, what
they should do, and he doesn't fit that mold.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
But he's been good.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Dave said, I'm pigging him because he's tough and he is,
and he's been backed, and he's repaid the faith to
some extent because he's made some big tackles, really jarring tackles.
He's won the few turnovers that New Zealand have one,
I think he's won most of them, and he's been
you know, and he's been a bit more mobile and
skillful than I've given him credit for. He's looked okay
when he's been out in the open spaces, so he's
(08:49):
been a bit of a revelation and I think he'll
go well on the next few weeks because hard grounds,
hard players will be playing against, I think he'll be
in his element. The other thing for me is that,
you know, for the last two years there's been a
sense that Born Barrett has been the old X number ten,
not because he's in an outstanding form, but because they
(09:11):
tried the other guy, who was Damian McKinsey, and he
never really quite worked out, and you know, Bund's a
bit better than him, never really felt that there was
a lot of excitement.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Or necessarily that was a position.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
That they felt they had the right guy, and I
think they do not. I think they find a really
young kid in Rubin Love who's had a great Super
Rugby campaign. He's confident, he's mature, he wants that job,
he's been given it. He looks like he should be
out there. He's barely made a mistake. He made a
mistake in the first minute actually of his tenure, in
(09:44):
the number ten shot when he got yellow carded. But
other than that he should have a bit of resilience to
jump back and not you know, not let that put
him off. He's been mentally a strategically, he's been pretty good.
He's quick, like the way he runs on that loop
round the back and he's you know, he's exceptional when
he's out in the backfield because he's played a quite
a bit of fullback. He looks like he's the guy
now that can take New Zealand to the World Cup.
(10:04):
As chief playmaker, he's combining brilliantly with Georgie Barrett, who's
in the form of his life and the two of them,
so there's a double playmaker situation that they've got going
on there because a lot of what they're doing is
coming off Geordi as well. You know, he's making a
lot of decisions about where the ball goes, where they
attack and the running off him. Those two factors I
think have been critical in reshaping this team.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And finally, Gregor pauland always a pleasure talking to you
about code. He's got a squad to be named or
next Monday, I think it is. Where do you think
he's going to go with that? As far as the
new recruits, if you will to come on into this
crazy South African tour.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well, I think there'll be a combination of guys who've
played Test rugby before, and I think with that Riko Youani,
who has called in his cover the other day, I
think he'll take a place. I think there'll be other
guys who've played Test rugby like du plus Ce Carrify,
maybe Olin Norris, the prop he's had a few tests,
and then I think he'll take the opportunity to maybe
(11:04):
Phil I don't know, three, four or five places, depending
on guys like Fabian Holland. By the way, if he's fit,
which he should be, he'll come back in as well.
I think he's got an opportunity here to say, right,
I want three or four guys who've never played at
this level before who I think could be contenders to
go to the World Cup with us next year, and
I want to find out about them, whether they're good enough,
(11:25):
whether they're tough enough, what they can do, you know,
and if they're not.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Going to if they don't make it to the World Cup.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
They're long term investments anyway, Younger guys that he's got
an eye on for twenty twenty eight if they don't
make twenty twenty seven. So I think he's got to
take that opportunity to blood some guys that we haven't
seen at this level.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I think there's a.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Young lad down at the Highlanders of flanker Lucas Casey,
who's got a skill set and showed up quite well
in a team that was not doing that well this
year at the Highlanders. He might be the kind of
guy Malchi Rampling at the Bluesers impressed me.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I like him.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
He's a good athlete and he looks like he's got
a bit of venom, which I enjoy. But he, you know,
maybe a bit early for him, I don't know, but
he's the sort of guy that potentially Dave might Ever's
eye on, maybe an outside.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Back Chiefy Hackey. I quite like him.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
I think he's a modern footballer, back three footballer, he's
comfortable under the high ball, he's quick, his defense is
a work on I get that, but having a kick
catcher in your back three in South Africa not a
bad plan.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And then there'll be a couple of specialists that will
definitely have to be brought in.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Noah Hawtham at halfback and I think George Bellert hooker, but.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I think i'd stressed that.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
I like the idea of taking at least three or
four players that are on the way up and a
voyage of discovery for them.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I'm a massive fan of now Hoping, but I suppose
Dylan Pledge is sniffing around as well, but that's another
story for another day. Always a pleasure, mister Paul. Thank
you so much for that, and we look forward to
doing it more as we roll through what's going to
be a phenomenal season.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Thanks to our See for more from Sports Talk, listen
live to News Talks It'd be from seven pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildegrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The All Blacks. Do you remember the All Blacks at
a cracking game of the weekend? Then we're all lost
in World Cup finals and golf and everything else. The
All Blacks have had a mega start to their bumper
twenty twenty six year, three from three in the opening
test matches the nation's championship, a dominant forty twenty one
(00:33):
victory over Eden Park, keeping the streak alive on Saturday night.
So how you're raiding this All Black site with the
squad naming for the monster of South Africa less than
a week away. I know a bloker can talk about
stuff like this with quite a lot of weight. His
name is Gregor Paul Zellen, Herald's lead rugby scribe. He
(00:54):
joins us now to discuss.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Good evening, Gregor, good evening, dark set.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Great to be talking at rugby with you again. I
think we've gone through, Ryan Fox, have gone through the
Football World Cup. We have gone through. We've gone through
so much. But we're gonna get front and seem to
again after what's been a pretty impressive three weeks in
the Dave reny Era has it not.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Yeah, look, I think so he They've gone about the
All Blacks, the new the new All Blacks coaching crew,
management team, rebuilding. I think the mentality of the All Blecks,
the identity of the All Blacks to a certain extent,
They've they've revamped the personnel, bringing in some new players,
shuffling some all players into some new positions, finding out
(01:41):
a little bit about each other across July. But the
new coaching group three wins not to be sniffed at.
I think we get a little complacent sometimes and forget
the value of a Test victory, and particularly the final
one because Ireland. You know, I think Alan came here
with genuine ambition to win that Test at Eaton Park,
(02:03):
and we know that they can win Test matches in
New Zealand because they've done it before.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And while the French team wasn't.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Necessarily you know, they're better team because the guys who
had played in the French Club final weren't available for it,
it's still a very good French team because they've got
incredible depth. So again that you know, that was a
good opening win against what was actually a very good
French team. So a lot of boxers ticked and a
sort of a minus, possibly even an A for the
(02:33):
All Blacks in the July series high praise.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Talk to us about how difficult it is to re
imprint the staff, and we're talking about the players themselves
and all the assistances because only Jason Ryan survived in
a space of only a few weeks playing anyway, he's
done a really, really good job in saying this is
what we're going to do. Now. That's quite a steep,
isn't it? For the whole squad?
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yeah, they got things, but I think the players were
crying out for a leader to take control.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
I think it's a good playing group.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I mean, I think we would all agree that it's
been stronger, more impressive All Black squad in the last
fifteen twenty years if you just put the names on
paper and compare with this crew. But there are some
really good players in it. There's a fair bit of experience,
and there was a desire I think after the last
two years. And I'm not going to go on air
and denigrate the previous coaching regime, but I think the
(03:23):
players were just desperate for some guidance, some culture to
be instilled in that team a way of doing things
both on and off the field.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
They needed to be reconnected to each other because.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I think there was a little bit of division in
there previously for whatever reason, and guys weren't on the
same page. They weren't jailing, they weren't all happy. So
he's gone in and kind of wheedled all. That big
thing that he did was bringing back Gilbert Andnoka, the
mental skills coach. People are going to have different views
about Gilbert, but he brought twenty plus years of institutional
(03:57):
knowledge with him. He's very strong on the legacy of
the old Legs and how to tell that story to
the current playing group and get them to buy into
who they represent, who they're playing for, why it matters,
what the history of that team is, and really put
them on a pathway to writing their own chapter as
part of a wider all Black narrative. Is what he's
(04:18):
there to do, and I think he's reconnected them with
each other, with the people with the jersey, with everything
that it means to be an all Black They've got
that back because I.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Think they lost that.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And these are really significant things because you need that identity,
You need to know who you are and how you
want to play, and that's probably the biggest thing that
Dave has managed to do in the three weeks that
he's had the team.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I don't want to one clock back and be critically
either of the previous coaching There's no point. It's all
about the looking for but you get the scenes, grig
and please tell me if I'm wrong, and you normally
do so. I'm good with This team was crying out
not for a football style man manager or manager. They
actually wanted a coach, and I think they've got that
(04:59):
in Dave Rennie, a hands on coach. You know what
he wants to do in exes and o's.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
They wanted all sorts of things, but what they wanted
was a game plan, a strategy.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Of how they were going to play the game, and
a really.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Simple, clearly instructed every day Here's what we will be doing.
Here's what I want you to do for is I
want you to provide to run straight and hard. I
want you, Cody Taylor, to throw the ball in straight
at the line out and smash some people in the rack.
You know, he's broken it down into really simple segments
for every playing position. You know, He's given each player
(05:35):
back two or three things to focus on, very clear,
very direct. He's been absolutely clear that he wants his
players to be on their feet. I mean that might
sound obvious, but I think you know sometimes players after
they make a tackle, you know, they can roll.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Around for a little bit. They can be slow to
get up.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
They can see that they've got to get to the
next rack, but they're not moving as.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Quickly as they need to.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
All that kind of slowness, if you like, of mentality,
of a little bit of maybe hiding and not putting
everything into the game.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Well he's got rid of that.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
And basically said I need you on your feet as
quickly ag can after you've made a tackle, and if
it's your job to get to a rock, then you
get there. And if you can't get to the ruck,
then you make yourself available to carry the ball. But
we're on our feet and we play quickly. That's what
That's what playing at high Temple means. So they fully
understand that, they fully understand the value of the set piece.
They understand that, you know, a breakdown they are there
(06:25):
to you know, they use their footwork coming into the tackle.
It's another big thing that they're looking for space when
they attack the line rather than looking to hit into bodies.
They're looking to try and get get their arms through
and either offload so they can keep some continuity going
through the defensive line, or that they present the ball
with two cleaners there immediately so that it's you know,
it's on a plate for cameray guard at halfback, which
(06:47):
they did amazingly well in their opening game. Speed of
recycled rock ball was something incredible and it allows so
many opportunities and how you want to play, So all
of that has been instilled and Mike Blair, they attack
coach has got them running in good lines, they hold
good patterns, they understand the structure that they're trying to
play with. The skills need a little bit of sharpening up.
(07:10):
But I think that's probably the story that every coach
would say about their players.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
But the thing is they seem to know what they
are doing.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
And to your question, that was maybe something amazingly that
they didn't really know for the last two years on Earth.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
The coach wanted them to do.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Looking at the player situation, who's been selected and some
of the tweaks that he's made, was I think tweaks
probably a bit matching Luke Jacobson. It's been a real
change of attitude around that. But out of the key
changes he's made in the playing arrangement, what stood out
to you the most in what Dave's actually done.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Well, Probably that one would be one of the more
significant ones, because I didn't see that coming.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I'll be honest.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
I think Jacobson has been a really good super rugby
player for a long time, being a good captain of
the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
He's never looked super comfortable at all black level.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
He's never had a major contribution playing at six, playing
at eight, wherever he's played, but those two positions, I think,
and coming off the bench, I've never thought this is
the guy, if only he got more game time. That's
been a surprise that A He's seen Jacobson in his
starting team, and be particular surprise that he's seen him
as a number seven, because I think you and I
(08:19):
probably hold kind of similar views about what we expect
from a seven. You know how they should play, what
they should do, and he doesn't fit that mold.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
But he's been good.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Dave said, I'm pigging him because he's tough and he is,
and he's been backed, and he's repaid the faith to
some extent because he's made some big tackles, really jarring tackles.
He's won the few turnovers that New Zealand have one,
I think he's won most of them, and he's been
you know, and he's been a bit more mobile and
skillful than I've given him credit for. He's looked okay
when he's been out in the open spaces, so he's
(08:49):
been a bit of a revelation and I think he'll
go well on the next few weeks because hard grounds,
hard players will be playing against, I think he'll be
in his element. The other thing for me is that,
you know, for the last two years there's been a
sense that Born Barrett has been the old X number ten,
not because he's in an outstanding form, but because they
(09:11):
tried the other guy, who was Damian McKinsey, and he
never really quite worked out, and you know, Bund's a
bit better than him, never really felt that there was
a lot of excitement.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Or necessarily that was a position.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
That they felt they had the right guy, and I
think they do not. I think they find a really
young kid in Rubin Love who's had a great Super
Rugby campaign. He's confident, he's mature, he wants that job,
he's been given it. He looks like he should be
out there. He's barely made a mistake. He made a
mistake in the first minute actually of his tenure, in
(09:44):
the number ten shot when he got yellow carded. But
other than that he should have a bit of resilience to
jump back and not you know, not let that put
him off. He's been mentally a strategically, he's been pretty good.
He's quick, like the way he runs on that loop
round the back and he's you know, he's exceptional when
he's out in the backfield because he's played a quite
a bit of fullback. He looks like he's the guy
now that can take New Zealand to the World Cup.
(10:04):
As chief playmaker, he's combining brilliantly with Georgie Barrett, who's
in the form of his life and the two of them,
so there's a double playmaker situation that they've got going
on there because a lot of what they're doing is
coming off Geordi as well. You know, he's making a
lot of decisions about where the ball goes, where they
attack and the running off him. Those two factors I
think have been critical in reshaping this team.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And finally, Gregor pauland always a pleasure talking to you
about code. He's got a squad to be named or
next Monday, I think it is. Where do you think
he's going to go with that? As far as the
new recruits, if you will to come on into this
crazy South African tour.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well, I think there'll be a combination of guys who've
played Test rugby before, and I think with that Riko Youani,
who has called in his cover the other day, I
think he'll take a place. I think there'll be other
guys who've played Test rugby like du plus Ce Carrify,
maybe Olin Norris, the prop he's had a few tests,
and then I think he'll take the opportunity to maybe
(11:04):
Phil I don't know, three, four or five places, depending
on guys like Fabian Holland. By the way, if he's fit,
which he should be, he'll come back in as well.
I think he's got an opportunity here to say, right,
I want three or four guys who've never played at
this level before who I think could be contenders to
go to the World Cup with us next year, and
I want to find out about them, whether they're good enough,
(11:25):
whether they're tough enough, what they can do, you know,
and if they're not.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Going to if they don't make it to the World Cup.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
They're long term investments anyway, Younger guys that he's got
an eye on for twenty twenty eight if they don't
make twenty twenty seven. So I think he's got to
take that opportunity to blood some guys that we haven't
seen at this level.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I think there's a.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Young lad down at the Highlanders of flanker Lucas Casey,
who's got a skill set and showed up quite well
in a team that was not doing that well this
year at the Highlanders. He might be the kind of
guy Malchi Rampling at the Bluesers impressed me.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I like him.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
He's a good athlete and he looks like he's got
a bit of venom, which I enjoy. But he, you know,
maybe a bit early for him, I don't know, but
he's the sort of guy that potentially Dave might Ever's
eye on, maybe an outside.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Back Chiefy Hackey. I quite like him.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
I think he's a modern footballer, back three footballer, he's
comfortable under the high ball, he's quick, his defense is
a work on I get that, but having a kick
catcher in your back three in South Africa not a
bad plan.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And then there'll be a couple of specialists that will
definitely have to be brought in.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Noah Hawtham at halfback and I think George Bellert hooker, but.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I think i'd stressed that.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
I like the idea of taking at least three or
four players that are on the way up and a
voyage of discovery for them.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I'm a massive fan of now Hoping, but I suppose
Dylan Pledge is sniffing around as well, but that's another
story for another day. Always a pleasure, mister Paul. Thank
you so much for that, and we look forward to
doing it more as we roll through what's going to
be a phenomenal season.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Thanks to our See for more from Sports Talk, listen
live to News Talks It'd be from seven pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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