August 20, 2025 • 9 mins
Nathan Burdon looks at the delicate balance of Southland Stags players being picked from outside of the province at the expense of fringe local players.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Our residents Sporting Gary Nathan Burton joins us once again.
Good afternoon, Nathan. I believe you've just tipped over a
milestone at work.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yeah, ten years at Active South on which yeah, very
humbling to They put on a nice morning tea for
myself and Susie Harrington Old Cobber who sees he's done
fifteen years reception at Active South and if anyone's had
anything to do with sport or the business, don't know. Susie. Wow,
(00:37):
she's the person you go to if you've got any
sort of question or anything like that. She's the person
who can get it done or she can find find
that stuff out. She's pretty much the oracle when it
comes to when it comes to sport in this in
this part of the world. So yeah, it was it
was really nice to have that recognized.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Right the matter at hand. James Wilson was quoted earlier
on in the week with Sam and So and Tribune
basically saying Southland's got no playing depth and just really
annoying a lot of people. Right, So what's happened here
is he's came out and said what I've seen from
the weekends. So they came back from being up in
Funkaday went straight to by Tauto to watch the game
(01:16):
and said, there weren't too many players who have been
able to say in the fight there the physicality wasn't there,
not what we wanted. Now, the feedback on social media
regaining us from players in the game has been pretty immense.
One guy in particular, teeing Off, and in my opinion,
he's got a lot here that I think he's right
on the butt. And so it just makes the bigger
(01:37):
issue around the South and Stags as much. The feeling
that I heard was not even a quarter of the
team a south and born and read these days, some
people are saying they need to drop the Southlam from
the name because his frustration all these players that are
on the fringe haven't got a look at And this
basically says as well that James Wilson has just told
everybody what needs to happen with the South and Ragbey
(01:59):
calendar next year emerged of one of premiere because if
you're on the Friends, you're not going to get a looking.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, I'll have to be I have to be careful
and also probably put my conflict of interest out in
terms of my old clubmate Tinton, and I think he
was probably it was a difficult situation, and I do
understand it's a It's a pretty emotional issue too, isn't it.
We all, well, a lot of us are very passionate
(02:26):
when it comes to Southern rugby club Rugby, the Stags,
all of that sort of stuff, and and this whole
issue around players being imported into the province is big enough,
let alone players being imported into the province midway through
the through the competition. I think it was probably a
(02:47):
difficult situation. Your ye're in a bit of a damned
if you do and damned if you don't if you
don't talk about the fact that they did go out
and watch that representative game to try and get a
gauge on whether there was some depth in the in
the positions that they were talking about, particularly in that
in that loose forward situation, rightly, wrongly they've walked away
from that game and decided that they needed to go
(03:09):
and look for something else and hay presto, George Rees
pops up off the beach for the Stags, and that
in that win last week. I guess if there's a
silver lining at all, George Reeves played pretty well when
he came to the beach and helped the Stags, had
a bit of impact there and obviously helped in that
second half comeback for the Stags. If he had been
(03:29):
a flop in that game, then he would have been
even more fuel on the fire, wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
They It does make him buckery. This high performance unit
whatever the how they call it, that are on the
fringe and they practice and everything just to get teble.
Actually guys now your surface the requirement. So I mean
it was like that wy even get them involved with
the team.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, And I couldn't hand on heart, I say, I
couldn't tell you that the four or five names of
guys who are on the fringe who are the next
cabs off the rank in terms of that. But you know,
there may there may be players out their head. And
I guess that's the whole communication thing between Rugby South
and in the high performance pathways and letting players know where
(04:09):
they actually sit in the picking order. And I guess
that there's a tricky balance that you need to walk
between giving being honest with people in terms of where
they sit and and you know what their potential is
going forward and I guess there is a part of
me that goes, you're not going to for all the
for all the passion we have about wanting to see
(04:31):
local players get ahead, you also don't want to throw
a guy up against Simon Parker, you know, up in
fom Ray, who's a meeter ninety seven and one hundred
and twenty kilograms and is about to make his All
Black Test debut, who could absolutely tear some young young
guy to bits. So there is a player welfare aspect
to all of this as well, But there.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Are guys on that side who have played NPC rugby
as well, and recently from the from the country's perspective.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It's a huge scratcher, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Absolutely it is.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, yep.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And the recently I was going to pen out a lot.
They've got Bay a plenty tonight on the back of
this issue and this isn't going away. I think this
is taking the scab of something unfortunately. But anyway to
the present, by a plenty tonight, by a plenty one
of the form teams they've lost their All Blacks, so
they're still looking pretty formidable.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, they're a very good team. I watched them in
the first round. Absolutely take Tasman, who are you one
of the competition favorites, and they took Kasman to bits
in that game. They will be disappointed that they didn't
really farre a shot last week against Canterbury, So unfortunately
we've got them a little bit, a little bit on
the rebound and I was just having a look at
(05:41):
a headline before. They're pretty excited to be back in
total for tonight's game, back in the hangy pit as
they call it, so they will be a team on
the rebound looking to prove a point. On the other side,
you've got a stage team who where it was just
a tackle and high performance against Manoa Tu and hopefully
they'll be more mister Hyde than Doctor Jeglob, although in
(06:03):
a rugby context maybe you do want to be doctor Jeckel.
I'm not too sure they want to be more of
the second half than they do the first half because
their first half was diabolical, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well, they're in race Roua tonight with in goals arguably
as big as the twenty two.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, it's a funny.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
It's a crazy dimensions the.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Old International Stadium in the year.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah, Southern Boys High school once again going to the
top four. They've been doing great things, but.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Absolutely clutch, aren't. They haven't lost a game at least
George since twenty fifteen, so there's generations of players that
have gone through that team that don't know what it's
like to lose at home. And their playoff record is amazing.
Second time back to the top four in the past
three years. Albeit, I think there's something There's only like
(06:48):
four returning players from that team that won the competition
two years ago, so I don't think they'll be quite
the underdogs that they were from twenty twenty three. They
they'll have some sort of target on their back. I
think they get the Chiefs the Chiefs Qualifier first up.
Those other three teams are yet to be confirmed. Those
(07:10):
playoffs are all this weekend, I believe, so whatever it is,
it will be quality rugby and we sort of best
wishes to the team as they hit up there.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, one hundred. Now the A and Z Premiership, this
is a real concern all these players going over to Australia.
Arguably a better competition, better pay, better everything, better lifestyle,
you name it. I don't know, but this competition is
in dire Straits.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yeah, I think we're up to what are up to
about five silver Ferns plus some other players have really
talented players years. So you take that out of a competition,
and if we look at that A and Z competition
this year, obviously the depth was already an issue. You
had players who were voluntarily retired who were being called
(07:53):
back into service for some of those teams. Doesn't seem
to be much of a level below that at the moment,
but Jeet's it is, it is. It must be a
massive concern to NEEDBLL New Zealanders as they're looking to
try and get some sort of sustainable financial model going
with that competition going forward. Just what that product is
(08:15):
going to be like when you when you take the
likes of your Kelly Jacksons and your Karen Berger's and
your topires Selby Ricketts and your Maddy Gordon's and all
of these sorts of players out of the mix, you
know in that Australian netball competition is really sort of
turning into it it's basically going to know, it's turning
into like an NBA of netball pretty much. So, yeah,
(08:35):
I just wonder what that product is going to look
like next year. If I guess if you talked about
the Super Rugby competition that had twenty past or prison
all blacks taken out of it, you know what would
that look like to us?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Interesting how it pans out. Nate's always appreciate your time
on the muster.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Lovely thanks mate.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Residents Sporting Gary Nathan Burden on a Thursday afternoon before
you wrap up. Elean McCleary at a shoe on New
Zealand
Our residents Sporting Gary Nathan Burton joins us once again.
Good afternoon, Nathan. I believe you've just tipped over a
milestone at work.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yeah, ten years at Active South on which yeah, very
humbling to They put on a nice morning tea for
myself and Susie Harrington Old Cobber who sees he's done
fifteen years reception at Active South and if anyone's had
anything to do with sport or the business, don't know. Susie. Wow,
(00:37):
she's the person you go to if you've got any
sort of question or anything like that. She's the person
who can get it done or she can find find
that stuff out. She's pretty much the oracle when it
comes to when it comes to sport in this in
this part of the world. So yeah, it was it
was really nice to have that recognized.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Right the matter at hand. James Wilson was quoted earlier
on in the week with Sam and So and Tribune
basically saying Southland's got no playing depth and just really
annoying a lot of people. Right, So what's happened here
is he's came out and said what I've seen from
the weekends. So they came back from being up in
Funkaday went straight to by Tauto to watch the game
(01:16):
and said, there weren't too many players who have been
able to say in the fight there the physicality wasn't there,
not what we wanted. Now, the feedback on social media
regaining us from players in the game has been pretty immense.
One guy in particular, teeing Off, and in my opinion,
he's got a lot here that I think he's right
on the butt. And so it just makes the bigger
(01:37):
issue around the South and Stags as much. The feeling
that I heard was not even a quarter of the
team a south and born and read these days, some
people are saying they need to drop the Southlam from
the name because his frustration all these players that are
on the fringe haven't got a look at And this
basically says as well that James Wilson has just told
everybody what needs to happen with the South and Ragbey
(01:59):
calendar next year emerged of one of premiere because if
you're on the Friends, you're not going to get a looking.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, I'll have to be I have to be careful
and also probably put my conflict of interest out in
terms of my old clubmate Tinton, and I think he
was probably it was a difficult situation, and I do
understand it's a It's a pretty emotional issue too, isn't it.
We all, well, a lot of us are very passionate
(02:26):
when it comes to Southern rugby club Rugby, the Stags,
all of that sort of stuff, and and this whole
issue around players being imported into the province is big enough,
let alone players being imported into the province midway through
the through the competition. I think it was probably a
(02:47):
difficult situation. Your ye're in a bit of a damned
if you do and damned if you don't if you
don't talk about the fact that they did go out
and watch that representative game to try and get a
gauge on whether there was some depth in the in
the positions that they were talking about, particularly in that
in that loose forward situation, rightly, wrongly they've walked away
from that game and decided that they needed to go
(03:09):
and look for something else and hay presto, George Rees
pops up off the beach for the Stags, and that
in that win last week. I guess if there's a
silver lining at all, George Reeves played pretty well when
he came to the beach and helped the Stags, had
a bit of impact there and obviously helped in that
second half comeback for the Stags. If he had been
(03:29):
a flop in that game, then he would have been
even more fuel on the fire, wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
They It does make him buckery. This high performance unit
whatever the how they call it, that are on the
fringe and they practice and everything just to get teble.
Actually guys now your surface the requirement. So I mean
it was like that wy even get them involved with
the team.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, And I couldn't hand on heart, I say, I
couldn't tell you that the four or five names of
guys who are on the fringe who are the next
cabs off the rank in terms of that. But you know,
there may there may be players out their head. And
I guess that's the whole communication thing between Rugby South
and in the high performance pathways and letting players know where
(04:09):
they actually sit in the picking order. And I guess
that there's a tricky balance that you need to walk
between giving being honest with people in terms of where
they sit and and you know what their potential is
going forward and I guess there is a part of
me that goes, you're not going to for all the
for all the passion we have about wanting to see
(04:31):
local players get ahead, you also don't want to throw
a guy up against Simon Parker, you know, up in
fom Ray, who's a meeter ninety seven and one hundred
and twenty kilograms and is about to make his All
Black Test debut, who could absolutely tear some young young
guy to bits. So there is a player welfare aspect
to all of this as well, But there.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Are guys on that side who have played NPC rugby
as well, and recently from the from the country's perspective.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It's a huge scratcher, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Absolutely it is.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, yep.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And the recently I was going to pen out a lot.
They've got Bay a plenty tonight on the back of
this issue and this isn't going away. I think this
is taking the scab of something unfortunately. But anyway to
the present, by a plenty tonight, by a plenty one
of the form teams they've lost their All Blacks, so
they're still looking pretty formidable.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, they're a very good team. I watched them in
the first round. Absolutely take Tasman, who are you one
of the competition favorites, and they took Kasman to bits
in that game. They will be disappointed that they didn't
really farre a shot last week against Canterbury, So unfortunately
we've got them a little bit, a little bit on
the rebound and I was just having a look at
(05:41):
a headline before. They're pretty excited to be back in
total for tonight's game, back in the hangy pit as
they call it, so they will be a team on
the rebound looking to prove a point. On the other side,
you've got a stage team who where it was just
a tackle and high performance against Manoa Tu and hopefully
they'll be more mister Hyde than Doctor Jeglob, although in
(06:03):
a rugby context maybe you do want to be doctor Jeckel.
I'm not too sure they want to be more of
the second half than they do the first half because
their first half was diabolical, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well, they're in race Roua tonight with in goals arguably
as big as the twenty two.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, it's a funny.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
It's a crazy dimensions the.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Old International Stadium in the year.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah, Southern Boys High school once again going to the
top four. They've been doing great things, but.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Absolutely clutch, aren't. They haven't lost a game at least
George since twenty fifteen, so there's generations of players that
have gone through that team that don't know what it's
like to lose at home. And their playoff record is amazing.
Second time back to the top four in the past
three years. Albeit, I think there's something There's only like
(06:48):
four returning players from that team that won the competition
two years ago, so I don't think they'll be quite
the underdogs that they were from twenty twenty three. They
they'll have some sort of target on their back. I
think they get the Chiefs the Chiefs Qualifier first up.
Those other three teams are yet to be confirmed. Those
(07:10):
playoffs are all this weekend, I believe, so whatever it is,
it will be quality rugby and we sort of best
wishes to the team as they hit up there.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, one hundred. Now the A and Z Premiership, this
is a real concern all these players going over to Australia.
Arguably a better competition, better pay, better everything, better lifestyle,
you name it. I don't know, but this competition is
in dire Straits.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yeah, I think we're up to what are up to
about five silver Ferns plus some other players have really
talented players years. So you take that out of a competition,
and if we look at that A and Z competition
this year, obviously the depth was already an issue. You
had players who were voluntarily retired who were being called
(07:53):
back into service for some of those teams. Doesn't seem
to be much of a level below that at the moment,
but Jeet's it is, it is. It must be a
massive concern to NEEDBLL New Zealanders as they're looking to
try and get some sort of sustainable financial model going
with that competition going forward. Just what that product is
(08:15):
going to be like when you when you take the
likes of your Kelly Jacksons and your Karen Berger's and
your topires Selby Ricketts and your Maddy Gordon's and all
of these sorts of players out of the mix, you
know in that Australian netball competition is really sort of
turning into it it's basically going to know, it's turning
into like an NBA of netball pretty much. So, yeah,
(08:35):
I just wonder what that product is going to look
like next year. If I guess if you talked about
the Super Rugby competition that had twenty past or prison
all blacks taken out of it, you know what would
that look like to us?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Interesting how it pans out. Nate's always appreciate your time
on the muster.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Lovely thanks mate.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Residents Sporting Gary Nathan Burden on a Thursday afternoon before
you wrap up. Elean McCleary at a shoe on New
Zealand
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.