I went to a VUC verus Nix game at Docklands in about 2012. The VUC fans (admittedly not the most humble types) were making fun of us having Lia & Manny. In their eyes they were nobodies no better than the NPL.
The ALM has moved on, I'm not sure that Lia especially would be good enough today for the league. You could agrue that grafting guys like those two, would just be blocking the pathway for the best Weenix grads. If you roll out that same style of team from the early days, there is no starting spots for young Kiwis (it's why Rojas & Barba moved on quickly). The days of Terry robbing the IRD are over. The current owners are hopefully tax compliant, so selling young Kiwis is one way of plugging the cashflow hole.
Yipe there is still room for experienced, older club stalwarts/hard men, but you can't play 11 at once. And if the likes of Lewis & Sail, want to move elsewhere for a payrise and to presumably be with their partners not sure Nix can do much about it. Anyway Chiefy is reportedly going to trial some domestic league players. Someone like Francis de Vries could end up at the Nix until it's over.
The ALM has moved on, I'm not sure that Lia especially would be good enough today for the league. You could agrue that grafting guys like those two, would just be blocking the pathway for the best Weenix grads. If you roll out that same style of team from the early days, there is no starting spots for young Kiwis (it's why Rojas & Barba moved on quickly). The days of Terry robbing the IRD are over. The current owners are hopefully tax compliant, so selling young Kiwis is one way of plugging the cashflow hole.
Yipe there is still room for experienced, older club stalwarts/hard men, but you can't play 11 at once. And if the likes of Lewis & Sail, want to move elsewhere for a payrise and to presumably be with their partners not sure Nix can do much about it. Anyway Chiefy is reportedly going to trial some domestic league players. Someone like Francis de Vries could end up at the Nix until it's over.
every club takes the mick out of another club's players. we were weaker than the victory, with a smaller budget. of course we would have worse players. manny and vince did a certain job very well and also had limitations. remember the victory had broxham, who is very similar in many ways to our battlers.
the league is different now. slower and less physical. a hard tackler like lia may actually be quite effective at breaking up system play. when he was around he was up against similar players who also probably had a bit more technique, like grant brebner. comparing periods is never easy.