All Whites vs Ivory Coast | Sun 8th June | 11:00am (NZT) | BMO Field (Toronto, Canada)

I think the issue is solely his position. His simply does not have the pace to be a full back. We went through this a few years ago playing him in a vital game and regretted it. You wouldn’t play Finn, Nando or Smith as a full back and you shouldn’t play Bill there. 

As a centre back he is likely just as good as Nando and plenty good enough for the A league. With Smith and Hall in the last year of their contracts I would expect him to be playing for AFC the season after next and doing well. 

Appreciate the fleshed out response  MetalLegNZ, especially as I did go too far with the genuine morons call. I agree with parts of what you say but I think you are neglecting to mention he was caught out a long way upfield several times and also got dribbled through remarkably easy more than a few times, and as a result it required almost superhuman intervention by the CBs to save the day on a number of occasions. 

He is a monster defensively and offensively at set pieces and is pretty good in possession but I think he simply cannot defend very well in open play at all. Both Portland and Charlotte recognise this, and this is why he has spent only a handful of months (if that) as a regular starter in his entire MLS career (and that was as part of a back 3 at Portland). And that isn't even taking into account his indisputable current lack of athleticism. 

I would be terrified if the Nix wanted him as a CB in a back 4 system. The upsides in his game simply could not make up for the goals we would concede. 

Really whats nonsense about Kiwis supporting another Kiwi. As for the suggestion the Polynesian lads dont have an interest in golf you know that for sure do you.
Some of the stuff you post at times is bloody offensive

Depends if you view golf as a white boy sport for rich pricks or not 

Hardly offensive unless you are a white boy rich prick

AucklandPhoenix

Depends if you view golf as a white boy sport for rich pricks or not 

Hardly offensive unless you are a white boy rich prick

I find golf very boring but can we not with this culture war crap?

All I saw was a bunch of our All Whites lads getting behind another Kiwi playing sport that happened to be on in the same city - great timing and cool they showed up. The comments about race on this thread are just out of whack - and that includes the ones about Tuiloma.

My WKUK golf post was supposed to be tongue in cheek. I don't really think the All Whites going to the golf was nonsense, just light heartedly poking fun at golf for being a white person thing. Personally not a big fan of the game but admire what Fox is doing.  

Will be calibrating my tone on here as I genuinely don't mean to be upsetting people, I'm just giving my honest opinions about stuff, but I'm probably being a bit too unpleasant in doing so. 

I love the off season...

imanixsupporter

My WKUK golf post was supposed to be tongue in cheek. I don't really think the All Whites going to the golf was nonsense, just light heartedly poking fun at golf for being a white person thing. Personally not a big fan of the game but admire what Fox is doing.  

Will be calibrating my tone on here as I genuinely don't mean to be upsetting people, I'm just giving my honest opinions about stuff, but I'm probably being a bit too unpleasant in doing so. 

I don't really like golf either. A sport full of ridiculous, even wanky rules.

But you get out into regional/rural NZ, where the green fees are cheaper and you see plenty of Maori golfers. A more egalitarian feel, than Royal Wellington. Michael Campbell and  Phil Tataurangi weren't bad at whacking a little white ball around either. 

Back to the football.

The Warriors were always down at Chamberlain and the pro there was Maori. And then there’s the Maori golf foundation which has had its share of good ‘ins- Campbell and Tautarangi the glory days. 

That’s why I’ve always been so much in two minds about Chamberlain and other public courses and the push to make them apartments. New Zealand has had the space for golf to be a bit more democratic than knobend country club. Sure there’s Remuera etc or in posher countryside places where it’s very much the place with the whitest top selling real estate agent of the area playing off against the owner of a bunch of vet clinics for the club championship…

But the culture is as much a bunch of the Warriors having a bet on longest drive or closest to the on in regulation on their day off.

I always liked that story where Michael Jackson played two rounds of golf before going to play a game of basketball…just one of those guys like a Great White- couldn’t be still…

Ryan Fox son of  Grant, All Black, of Auckland Grammar, is a white boy sports dream though! 

Kind of funny here in Japan- golf is definitely the sport for wealthy young ladies. So dog in the handbag, Taylor Made in the golf bag…a different culture again, but definitely an exclusive one here, though there’s plenty of ranges to hit practice balls. Sometimes you see old guys with a golf net on the roof in the cities. During the 80s bubble golf memberships were traded like shares. 
And the more democratic and accessible side comes from the proliferation of screen golf- but that seems the opposite of getting out into the fresh air…

So football…

coochiee

Do Canadian hotels have outdoor pools for summer guests?

If so we need some local to put up a drone and grab some poolside shots of poor Bill to answer the "is he out of shape?" debate!

I think John Herdman is available.

imanixsupporter

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none of the polynesian boys wanted anything to do with this nonsense 

 The photo with Ryan Fox included could be used for the regular  "winning team in traiing today" Insta post.

AucklandPhoenix

Depends if you view golf as a white boy sport for rich pricks or not 

Hardly offensive unless you are a white boy rich prick

The greatest golfer of all time is African-American.

Sorry - wrong. As Roy Keane says “your eyes don’t lie to you”.
Bill is overweight, he wasn’t when he was younger. In the elite environment you want players at their best, imagine how much better he would be at a much lighter weight.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe

I think people should lay off making assumptions about players' fitness because their apparent body shape doesn't meet with supposed stereotypes. Fitness will be being tested properly by the staff, and not by looking at pictures of them on tv.

Came for the footy analysis, but got a face full of SMP enlightenment

Excuse me while I head off somewhere more rural and affordable

HattyCW

Serbia were 15th, we were 78th when we beat them.

10th actually I think.

Lots of Billy T comments here. He took his top off at the stadium off camera. He might be a little over weight but he’s sure strong. I think his PT is building his physique up for rugby/league. He’s certainly no beer bellied bloke like 99% of us here.

Another player with a simiar build was Adebayo Akinfenwa(The Beast). He looked fat as hell (see pic) but was (and is) in fact very very muscular. I’ve run into him a few times in High Wycombe. Top bloke who’s still fitter then 99% of people I know.

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Typical gym head take - disproportionate focus on strength & muscle of questionable utility and undervaluing cardio. 

Good for Bill that he is big and strong, but lets hope we don't see him again at RB for us while he is in the shape & form he is in. 

imanixsupporter

Typical gym head take - disproportionate focus on strength & muscle of questionable utility and undervaluing cardio. 

Good for Bill that he is big and strong, but lets hope we don't see him again at RB for us while he is in the shape & form he is in. 

I think time in NZ or Australia would help sort him out a bit. I’d be happy if he came home.

DP.

imanixsupporter

Typical gym head take - disproportionate focus on strength & muscle of questionable utility and undervaluing cardio. 

Good for Bill that he is big and strong, but lets hope we don't see him again at RB for us while he is in the shape & form he is in. 

I don't think a focus on bodyfat percentage is a "typical gym head take". It's a pretty standard measure in almost all sports. The general basis is that if you carry excess fat than you will be heavier than you need to be which means you will likely be slower. There will always be a happy medium with a football player for muscle x bodyweight x height. No one here is saying he needs to be more muscular rather that by eye he should likely be leaner.

No one has undervalued cardio either, I'm sure everyone here understands the fitness required for the 10-12km a pro footballer will travel in a match on average.

I think most people that have been reasonably competitive at sports understand this.