Why representing the Blues has never been the goal for All Black Jack Goodhue
When New Zealand’s Super 12 franchises were created back in 1996, the idea was to create five teams that would give everyone in the country – no matter where they reside – a team to root for.
That didn’t quite work out in practice, however.
The five clubs were each handed a number of regions across the country from which they were allowed to recruit players. This gave the squads a little bit of variety but the vast majority of players still came from the five major centres of the country – Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.
Factor in that those five regions were attached to the five club names and you can understand why there may have been a little bit of disconnect between the provinces with fewer Super 12 players and the franchises that were supposed to represent them.
The chopping and changing of what franchise represented what region also didn’t help creating identities for the clubs. The Auckland Blues started out with Auckland and Counties Manukau under their umbrella but after a few years swapped the latter region for Northland and North Harbour. It was a move that made geographical sense – but it didn’t help create especially strong ties behind Northland and the Blues, at least in the early days.
In recent years, particularly since Tana Umaga came on board as head and now assistant coach, Northland and North Harbour have had larger presences in the Blues set-up, but the Blues team of the early 2000s was hardly representative of the wider region.
For Jack Goodhue, who is native to the Blues region but plays for the Crusaders, that disconnect didn’t foster any major desire in the 25-year-old to represent his local Super Rugby side from an early age.
“I think, growing up, you had the likes of Rene Ranger, Gus Collins and Rupeni Caucaunibuca, as I remember,” Goodhue told RugbyPass regarding his early memories of the Blues team.
“I’m sure there was a couple of others, but me being a kid I didn’t really know too much – that seemed like the max of the representation. So it didn’t seem like a pathway (for Northland natives), as such.”
Goodhue didn’t aspire to play for the Crusaders either, however. In fact, the All Black midfielder only had one prize in mind – representing his Northland region in the New Zealand provincial competition.
“I felt really connected to Northland,” Goodhue said. “That was the team that my family and I would watch live, so it was always a dream of mine to play for them.
“As a kid, passions get ignited and I guess that’s where dreams come from and what you want to do with your life. I just didn’t have that same attachment to the Blues – for no reason other than I just wasn’t from that area as such.”
“The dream was always to play for Northland, and that was where my heart lied.”
The widespread layout of the region makes it tough even now for the fans in the top parts of the nation to really get behind the Blues, despite the best efforts of the franchise to bring together three fairly separate (yet still technically identical) reasons.
“The Blues region is so massive,” said Goodhue. “It’s a three- to three-and-a-half-hour drive to get from where I live to central Auckland.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBG9bcWg_u6/
While Goodhue and his twin brother Josh both went to school in central Auckland, Jack was lured to Lincoln University on a rugby scholarship and started to play his rugby for Canterbury. Despite technically hailing from the Blues region, there was no turning back for the Northlander.
“I think the Blues did an awesome job of talking to my brother and I,” Goodhue said. “They wanted us to stay and tried to make that happen. But by then, I was already down in Christchurch and studying there and I just liked Christchurch as a city.”
Goodhue is in the final year of his current contract with the Crusaders and will likely be based in Christchurch for the long-term future, but he has left a slither of hope to other franchises that he may be willing to make a move at some point – for one reason.
“I love it down in Christchurch but of course the big incentive is playing with my twin brother,” said Goodhue of Josh, who is contracted with the Blues.
“That would be the motivation for if there was ever going to be a change but I’m really settled with the Crusaders and love being here and love what the team’s about and really feel a part of it.”
Jack and Josh played together for Northland during Jack’s debut season with the Taniwha in 2017 but Jack has had limited opportunities to don the province’s Cambridge blue jersey since then due to his All Blacks commitments.
“It was really cool because I’ve got so many cousins and family in Whangarei, so they were all able to come watch me play live – something that some of them have never been able to do before,” Goodhue said regarding his Northland debut.
“Also just to play with my twin brother… and it just really is that every player in the Northland team I really like. They’re all just good guys. I guess we’re all from similar upbringings, the lot of us. They are just a really good team.
Like the Blues, Northland has its own challenges due to the sheer size of the region – which traverses all the way from Cape Reinga at the tip of the North Island down to Wellsford (roughly a five-hour car journey).
"I was always having words to Jack… I was saying to him, 'Are you ready to move to 12 for me?' And then it eventually turned to, 'Please move to 12 for me.'"
Braydon Ennor spoke to @TomVinicombe about life with @CrusadersRugby. #SuperRugbyAotearoa https://t.co/IE9Z7qRX2V
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 26, 2020
“Yeah, it’s really spread out and that makes the development quite difficult when it comes to having the academy,” Goodhue said. “They have two or three different academies and managing that can be very difficult.
“But what’s awesome about Northland is that a large majority follow the rugby. It’s kind of Northland’s main sports team. You walk down the street and people know what’s going on. There’s a high percentage of Northlanders that watch the rugby, more than perhaps the city provinces.”
Of course, one of the proposed rugby events for 2020 is a North Island v South Island match – and Goodhue has a finger in both pies. Given his strong ties to Northland, however, would he choose to represent the North Island, if the choice was up to him?
“I don’t even know if I want to make that decision,” Goodhue said. “Man, I think about the opportunity to play with some guys in the North Island that I haven’t played with before, but then to go back and play with the Crusader boys and Highlander boys… I mean, I think it’s going to be two very good teams. It’s all good either way.
Before that exhibition match can take place, however, Goodhue and his Crusaders teammates have the first-ever Super Rugby Aotearoa competition to play for, which kicks off in mid-June.
While pundits will be quick to talk up the fact that the Crusaders will likely be fielding two midfielders who were born and raised in the Blues region when the two sides face off in the fifth and final rounds of the competition– Goodhue and Braydon Ennor – it’s safe to say their won’t be any split allegiances.
Goodhue is a Crusader through-and-through despite his Northland upbringings and will be doing his part to get his side over the line come matchday.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments