Thorn played for the All Blacks but he also played for Qld State of Origin and the Kangaroos. I don’t know how many see him as a Kiwi and, in any case, I don’t think Qlders really care. Border, Chappel, Inglis, Lam, Latham, Graham Lowe. All born elsewhere. All ironed on Qlders in the eyes of many.
We like winners though.
The critical point here, which I assume we all agree on, is that Thorn has had his grace period. He got given free licence to tip the place on its head (something which many have said was required) and build from the base up. There was no way to do that without a fair bit of pain. He’s been given latitude on the basis that he was implementing significant reform with long term pay off. And, regardless of the outcome of this year, it appears to me he has driven some very worthwhile change.
But many, including me, want to see us back at the top of the standings. I can accept not being the very top as Canterbury & Auckland are standard setters. The Brumbies are pretty damn good too - but we showed last year we are capable of beating them. But a mid field finish is below par now.
We’ll enter the season without Tupou and he is irreplaceable but we don’t need our props to be rock stars. We do need them to be productive though and we need our tight 5 to raise a level.
Everywhere else we have plenty of talent and we now also have the senior rugby experience to expect more. Our team remains young, but they aren’t babies.
I don’t think Thorn’s NZ links really have any relevance here. His coaching mentor is Bennett, not Deans. I don’t think a group of random similarities are really talking points - although fair play to your research skills to identify them.
