Bye bye Chiefs, thanks for coming

Meh they were one pass away from beating the best of the Australian teams on their home ground. Brumbies scored a couple of fluke tries but to their credit they took their chances most times they were in the red zone and performed very well in the 2nd half.

Critics and haters were dissing the Chiefs for the past few years for peaking too early in the season, but now that they’ve lost two games this year, they’re hating them for losing? Some of you rugby writers and fans sure are weird.

Is the only logical conclusion you can draw from that is that most people are biased against the Chiefs? Is it because they’re the small town boys that beat the big city teams on a regular basis? Or because they won two titles in a row back when you were younger and you’re still butt hurt about it?

If you want to prove that you’re not biased, let’s see some articles about the current season so far, including: how terrible the Crusaders’ discipline is; the Hurricanes having an easy start to the season against lacklustre teams; the Highlanders poor performances in the last few weeks; or the Blues choking against the Chiefs and Brumbies.

Are knock downs allowed now. The Chiefs looked certain to score early however the Brumbies fullback clearly knocked down a certain try and nothing was done except a knock on.

The Chiefs have a surfeit of talent in some areas - second and back rows, for instance - but are a bit lacking in the front row, for instance, where the Crusaders really served it up to them last year. Also, if QT or DMac suffer injuries, they would struggle. By comparison, the Canes seem to have real depth and options across the park, and are not going to be bagged by a poor scrum come winter.

I think the Chiefs have been over rated for a few years now, sure they were probably better than the Saders for a lot of it but they have typified the All Blacks problem of looking one dimensional without Dmac on the park.

I think the author has his own hype to blame for his outlook at the moment. In reality they still dominated that game and are on par to be in the Final again, of course the Hurricanes are a team running to predictions and will no doubt take this one out.

Chiefs are gone burger much like the 3 day SRPacific One Stadium Round 11 tickets…

Anywho… my pick to win the 2026 SRPacific trophy…”Hurricanes”…

57-0, Ben!

Never forget!

It’s still too early, Ben Smith always tries to make big claims but everyone just laughs at him.

However, I do think the Chiefs are no where near their level as what they were last year. When they destroyed MP their attack looked sensational and it has not this year. Granted McKenzie has only been back for a few games so we’ll see how much it improves.

So Josh Lord can gallop down the field and carry the ball in one hand, but can he dominate up front and crush ball carriers behind the gain line 10 times a game? Because ultimately that’s what the All Blacks need him to do.

Well no not really, if you have Ardie Savea and Wallace Sititi or Peter Lakai doing those things. Lord is clearly talented in the wider channels, utilising the skillset of your players is important instead of asking them to do things that aren’t neccesarily their strengths.

I think it will be tough for the Chiefs to win it this year, getting to a final 4 times in a row is incredibly difficult and it’s largely the same players who have experienced the emotions of failure at the final hurdle.

What a melodramatic article. Not even half the season has been, and they’re still in the top 6.

They have a new coach, there will be growing pains as he embeds new systems. McMillan had five years, Gibbes hasn't even had half of one. Players have been in and out, meaning coherence isn’t all there yet. Too early to judge anything until around round ten, when the finalists become clear.

Kyren has underdelivered, and you pick on form. Players like Carter, Return, Narawa etc are all simply better than him. He’s not at Moana anymore, he wants to make the All Blacks. He is now learning how much harder it is to earn your spot in a top team, and the importance of delivering to keep it.