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Yes

I'm not comparing them as if they are like for like - rather just answering the question

Can you blame us? It's sports gooch season until the November Tests restart and we need something to talk about All work and no rugby makes jack a dull boy

Nah - McCalman gone sure - but my bet is Fardy is coming off the bench, if picked at all (in case someone more explosive is chosen). Valetini is a also a lineout option and also gets through minutes. They aren't the same player - because Valetini offers more

Yes I know... And sure - they are different players, but the premise was who of the current squad would replace that list of players from the '10s and Fardy while great I believe wouldn't get picked over Valetini - because of what Valetini offered us. That RWC we had Fardy, Hooper and Poey...

yeah no agree, it's not probably. No disrespect to Fardy but he's not good enough to kiss the boots of Valetini - respectfully.

Probably Valetini over Fardy, and any of Skelton, Frost or LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) over Rob Simmons

He's also not an idiot and played rugby for years as a recent high schooler - this is arguably the least risky league transfer we've had in terms of difficulty to adapt.

He's also not an idiot and played rugby for years as a recent high schooler - this is arguably the least risky league transfer we've had in terms of difficulty to adapt.

Because like a lot of abuse victims, one of my mental injuries I've sustained over the years is a flicker of hope that my abuser can turn it around.

Yes but in the case of international players - the value clubs are trying to extract has it's origins in that original 'workplace' being their international teams. International rugby makes JRL1 and Top 14 better and more marketable, so there has to be give and take.

I'd say it's the opposite. The diehards will attend regardless but the more casual fan who is aware of global players and excited to see them in the flesh would save their money. And with rugby's popularity scores going backwards I'd hypothesis as time goes on we have more and more who'd fall...

Absolutely they are marketing tools for selling tickets, and DCTarget's comment is a perfect example of this - fans will want to see those match ups.

Well that's the thing - If the tours are organised well in advance of the teams being named or tickets going on sale - even with the French announcing their intention to leave behind anyone involved in Top14 finals nearly a year out from the NZ tour - by that point contracts are signed and...

You'd have to hope there would be some consequence for sending down B-sides to Australia and next year to NZ on their recent tours. Although on the other hand, I'm unsure how that would impact us - especially with the emergence of NZ and RSA tours from 2026, a full strength French tour to Aus...

Has anyone looked at their recent win percentage with an opposition red card vs without one (I haven't, pure speculation)

This happens (Reds partner with the Jubilee Hotel) - but the teams wouldn't necessarily have the pull to do this at a large enough scale for it to have the massive reach they need. A lot of the time the venues are owned by a conglomerate who have a larger deal with a broadcaster. A perfect...

Finally - some common sense in this forum

It would come down to game plan right? If your defence was built around trying to isolate a ball carrier from their support - then having wide defenders (presumably backs) who could jackal suddenly becomes pretty desirable

For better or worse - rugby will remain on PayTV forever. The business model for popularity needs to evolve into new content areas to make fans want to pay for these subscriptions and go to games. As a side - We can probably expect to see more NRL and AFL go behind a paywall too with the...