The assist is a recorded statistic in several sports - football, ice hockey, baseball and basketball. The assist is a way of showing that a player may not score a lot of the time, but always do their best to try and help their team win.

I think it should come in to rugby.

I mean, think about it. There are so many times when a player will stitch up the defence, then offload or pass to that final guy who gets the try. While he'll be happy just to get some points on the board, the guy who made the try doesn't actually get any recognition barring a drink at the pub later in the evening, if he's lucky.

Yet there are players who excel at finding the open man in broken play, or slicing through the line to set up others. Conrad Smith barely ever gets tries, but think how many times he's set up Ma'a Nonu, Cory Jane, Hosea Gear, David Smith and Tamati Ellison. How often does Dan Carter scythe through the opposition to hand the ball off to a rampaging forward?

In many instances in broken play, all the player has had to do is catch the ball and fall over, while the player who set up the try may have eluded or broken multiple tackles and for this he gets no recognition.

Introducing the assist wouldn't be hard, though I think that the basketball model should be adjusted to rugby - the football version wouldn't work because it's so easy to win a penalty in rugby and often it has nothing to do with the work of the ball carrier, and the NHL model would be impossible to explain to audiences.

Thoughts?

Check out what's on http://www.superrugby.co.nz at the moment. They've got the right culprit, but I think the jail term might be wrong... They are of course referring to Lauaki's suspension for a dangerous tackle, but the wording of this is incredibly unfortunate.

Also, I'm gonna blow my own trumpet.

Rugby Review is a new series debuting for The Dropkicks. Put simply, it's a way of following a team through the fans eyes. Are Crusaders fans really one-eyed? Have Highlanders fans lost all hope? You'll follow the team through 5 fans. I'm looking for someone to do the

Blues each week, so please leave a comment if you want to do this!

The Chiefs: By long-time friend of The Dropkicks, Richard Irvine

John Mitchell talks you through the Chiefs vs Western Force.

G'day. I'm John Mitchell. You may remember me from 'sitting next to Clive Woodward like a sack of wet sand' and 'I can't believe the All Black coach hasn't been sacked yet!'. That one came out in 2003. So the Chiefs played the Force on Saturday night; I have fond memories of Waikato and the Chiefs - I had hair then - so I want to see them do well. On the other hand, the Force are a pack of whinging little bitches, and I want to see their hearts ripped out, piled on the 22, then set on fire.

Just joking!

Luckily, the Chiefs came to the party and bitchslapped them. Good one. If those Aussies hadn't gone all Lord Of The Flies on me, they'd be the fucking Crusaders by now. I think the lesson in this match is "This is what happens when you fuck Mitch in the arse". For the Chiefs, who are three from three, I think the lesson is "Watch your back" - life plays some fucked up hands, and just when your career is going great, there are ALWAYS people out there wanting to stick a knife in your back. Always. Take it from Mitch, I know.

The Crusaders by Ti'i Paulo's 'special nutritionist' As predicted, it was a good week for the Crusaders. They played the Sharks, at home, on Friday night and I was much more pleased by their performance. The Crusaders had not been defeated by a South African Super Rugby team at home since 1996, and I was glad to see this remain.

The game was light-years better than last week’s game, against the Reds. There wasn’t anything overly spectacular about the game. It was just a good game of rugby. It was such a massive improvement, it was like watching a completely different team!

As I have left this review to the last minute, I’m just going to sum up the Crusaders' ROUND THREE

Richie, AKA God, is back.

Outstanding scrums.

Up at half time: Ten – Six.

Never would've known we lost so badly last week.

Dan Carter overtook Matt Burke on the all-time Super rugby scorer’s list. (Now 3rd)

Thirty five – Six: Final Score.

Hottie, Zac Guildford: Multiple tries. One intercept try.

Runaway ending. Two tries in 10minutes.

Epically annihilating tackles.

Exceptional crowd attendance.

I'm looking forward to much of the same in Round Four.

Hurricanes, by me

King Carlos came to town and he brought the Clever kid. 'Los didn't do a hell of a lot - and got a lot of sledging thrown his way from those in the crowd - and I'm not sure what people expected him to do anyway. Lining up outside it looked like there'd be an amazing crowd - it took us 20m to get in in the first place. But it wasn't. It was an ok crowd, but surely not much more than 16,000.

If you could look up the Hurricanes on unencyclopedia, this would be the match that accompanied it, with this blurb.

The Hurricanes are a team based in Wellington, New Zealand. They play their home games at the Biscuit Tin. The Hurricanes have historically been a team with a lot of promising talent, but often that talent has been squandered in favour of white line fever. This sports team simply refuses to learn the basics, opting instead for flashy, 50/50 ball play [which is more often than not 20/80].

The February 27, 2010 match against the Lions was the personification of this. The Lions were not fancied to win this game, as they have been shown to have a weak defence. The Hurricanes decided to exploit this by trying to set up 60m solo tries, instead of getting the team to work together to get 4 quick tries - securing a bonus point - and then resort to flashy football.

We're off to South Africa for three weeks, minus Conrad and Tamati this week, and the Pig for a season.

Oh, and can I say the Seal Slayer's try against the Lions was amazing and hilarious. Best bit of rugby satire I've ever seen.

The Highlanders, by Jimmy. 

This game is the first one this year that's highlighted what for me is the major deficiency of "Super" rugby. Waking up at 4am on a Sunday is hard. You might wonder why I was waking up at 4am? Well, try as I might I just couldn't find a replay of the game being shown at a reasonable hour on Sunday. There were replays of the Crusaders' game, which you may recall was played at NZ time, and replays of the Blues' game which finished well before midnight. So someone at Sky clearly doesn't think anyone wants to watch the Highlanders play at a normal time of the day.*

The scheduling of the kickoff in the afternoon can't have helped either, it would have made more sense to have a night game in Africa, which I think could have been 6:30am here in New Zealand. These crazy time zone differences are why I got really excited by the idea of changing Super rugby to being more of a Champions League type competition, which would help to limit the amount of time players have to spend miles away from home. That, or just ditching the Africans from the competition and playing with Pacific and Asian teams; though I suppose that would probably kill the presumably big earner of the Tri-Nations.

Anyway, all of that is by the by, because I haven't been asked to deliver a state of the Union, but rather a fan's perspective of Highlanders games, so I should probably crack into it. The Highlanders won!!! I don't think they won pretty, and maybe they were robbed of a bonus point, but bagging 4 points in Africa is a big achievement at any stage; even if the win is agains the Cheetahs who apparantely haven't won back to back since they returned to the comp.

I couldn't believe the investment the Highlanders were making in Hobbs when they have Robbie Robinson in the squad, but the guy has sure proven me wrong. He's put in solid performances in the first 3 rounds, and scored 4 tries to boot. I think the balance of the team with Shoemark at 12 (surely he's more natural there than at centre, what with his good kicking game?) and Lynn at 13 was great. As awesome as Jayden Hayward can be, I think he's a little too inconsistent at this level yet, and having a relative veteran like Shoemark outside Hobbs must surely be a calming influence on him.

However, I also liked the tactic of bringing Berquist on at the end to calm the tempo and keep the Cheetahs pushed back in their own half - that backline trio might be a good starting trio against some of the teams that can control their game better than the Cheetahs. Then you can bring Lynn on for Berquist and push Hobbs in one to up the tempo in the last 30 minutes.

Having praised the win, I did have some questions about the tactics the backs employed a lot of the night. It doesn't seem to me that the new rules make kicking possession away constantly a good idea. While Ben Smith had a great Air NZ Cup campaign last year, that hasn't yet translated into Super 14 form, so putting bombs up constantly basically means only Dagg is going to be able to get up in the air & compete for the ball. Dagg by the way, had a reasonably good game, especially with the added responsibility of having the goal kicking duties.

My only other comment on the backs, is that Jimmy Cowan had, by his standards, an average game. A couple of kicks went awry and he just wasn't his usual sharp and decisive self. Jimmy is awesome, and not just because he shares my name. I think its great how he shook off all of that (admittedly fairly self-inflicted) crap, and has really stood up and made the most of the opportunities he's had. Here's hoping he's back to his best next week, because the Highlanders need him at top form.

The forwards had solid games for the most part - I don't think they were being out-scrummed, but rather that the referee was allowing some fairly iffy tactics from the Cheetahs front row. The loose forwards were solid, and though Thompson looked a bit out of place at times at No 8, I like the additional pace that the trio had. Up against Smith & Broussow I think the really held their own. Its interesting how the effectiveness of Broussow has been nullified by the new rules - last year he might have earnt his team 10 penalties from his efforts at the breakdown, but now with the law being interpreted correctly (ok, differently) he had a quiet game.

Apart that is, from scoring the first of 3 tries to be sent to the TMO, and the one that I thought was the most obviously not a try. The ball hit the ground, but to my eyes at least he had clearly lost control of it prior to that. Smith's try I would have given the benefit of the doubt to, even though you couldn't actually see it hitting the ground - but the 'daylight' between ball and line for Thompson's disallowed try wasn't visible on my telly.

So, robbed of a bonus point, but 4 points in the bag in their first fixture in Africa. The Stormers should be a tougher prospect, but a winnable game - and if the improvements continue week to week the Bulls might be a competitive game. But coming up against a team that's had a nice break with the Bye week, I think im being overly optimistic there! Anyway, this is one pretty chuffed 'almost' fan!

* I'm willing to admit that i'm either blind or stupid and there may have been a replay that I just couldn't find when searching the Sky website. But to be fair, when I entered 'Highlanders' into their search box, only one result showed, and that was for a replay of a game in the future anyway. So, instead of a handy search feature I had to scroll manually through their fugly TV Guide thing, which is slow so I gave up after getting to Tuesday.

In today's article, The Dropkicks' friend casual acquaintance guy we met once hated enemy Chris Rattue waxes on about rumours Sonny Bill Williams may head to Counties Manukau to play in the Air New Zealand Cup.

Chris has taken the ball here, turned around and ran away from the opposition team - the Logic First XV of Common Sense to score in his own tryline. He wouldn't be out of place spouting off his article amongst these people.

You've got a team which struggles to get a crowd, struggles to make money, and struggles to create good players - and the players it does get, like Lelia Masaga and Tim Nanai-Williams - it struggles to keep. What does it have working in its favour? Possibly how close it is to Mt Smart Stadium, home of the Warriors.

You get Sonny Bill to Counties, you have the first game on a Friday night when the Warriors aren't playing, you'll sell out Growers Stadium, or Mt Smart. Maybe even Eden Park.

On top of that, how on earth is it a bad idea to get a standout league player, who has been playing at a high level in France [and let's not mention the Sonny Bill v Wallabies testimonial last year where he didn't make any mistakes that I remember] to your bottom-dwelling team?

People continually spout the line 'one player does not make a team'. To which I say: look at the differences between a Carter or McCaw-less All Blacks or Crusaders, or Manawatu without Aaron Cruden, or Counties with Lomu and Vidiri. While one player can't turn around a team, they can bring up the skill level of those around them - not to mention the confidence.

SBW will always be judged by how he left Australia, but until that point he'd honoured all his contracts, hadn't he? And his Toulon one? So why would Counties be worried he'd nick off? Nah, I reckon The Rat is just jealous, 'cause he knows if he pulled a dick-stunt like SBW did the country would be glad he'd gone, not staking out airports in Paris for sightings of him.

This could have been up well before the weekend, but I made an editorial decision to wait for the announcement of the new Hurricanes coach and ended up cutting that section from the podcast.

The first 10m or so are really loud, before it goes quiet for some reason, sorry. The dictaphone didn't even move!

Rugby Review is a new series debuting for The Dropkicks. Put simply, it's a way of following a team through the fans eyes. Are Crusaders fans really one-eyed? Have Highlanders fans lost all hope? You'll follow the team through 5 fans.

The Chiefs: By long-time friend of The Dropkicks, Richard Irvine

Nobody's saying this is the future of Rugby. 137 points with 18 tries might save you the bother of fast forwarding the boring bits, and leave defensive purists reaching for their well worn 2000 Super 12 final VHS, but feck it, I don't care - I LIKE that every so often two teams in the right mood can produce a freak game. It's fun. This is only the second round, and if you can't mix it up and throw the ball around now, when are you going to?

My Chiefs, who lost their first two games last year and still made the final, have got their South African leg out of the way early, and won both matches. Richard Kahui is back, and Stephen Donald looks comfortable at the level that suits him best - many teams would love his experience and execution in their side. They won't be defending like this in May, I think they'll be better for this attacking hit out, and better because Sione Lauaki probably won't be wearing the captain's armband again. Of course, the main thing is games like this annoy Stephen Jones more than a long train trip in a carriage full of clowns. All of New Zealand can enjoy that.

The Crusaders: reviewed by Dan Carter's 'Special Masseuse'.

It was the one game of the year that really would’ve been better suited to the Comedy Channel. Yes, the Reds v Crusaders game played on Friday night. It was up there with the worst rugby games I have ever watched. 80, excruciating, minutes of non-stop shit rugby by the Crusaders. It was actually laughable.

As an avid Crusaders fan, I understand that every year they always start off slowly. But this game was something else. They were barely even worthy of being a Super Rugby Team. Yeah, I just said that.

With such an amazing record attached to the Crusaders I, along with the rest of the rugby world, expected more of the supreme team. 7-time Super Rugby Champions and they get beaten by the Reds. A team barely anyone remembers. It was shocking. You know it must have been really bad for me to admit that it. I was, for a moment, embarrassed to be supporting the team. However, even on a bad day I will remain a devoted supporter. They are marvellous.

We all know they are the greatest team of the competition but they way they played on Friday night was not even as good as a Second Division team. Too many basic errors, school boy errors. I can’t pin-point one word that sums up their performance but many words come to mind: horrendous, appalling, disastrous, error-strewn, unbearable. Basically it was the most hideous display of Crusaders’ rugby for a long time.

They played so well the week before that I gloated to people supporting other teams, mentioning that the Crusaders would continue on that momentous roll. It was the first game of the season and heeeeeello bonus point. It became apparent during round two that I had spoken too soon.

I’ll give credit where it is due: the Reds deserved to win. Simply put, they were the better team on the night. They absolutely pummelled the Crusaders, and I think it is what we needed. The Crusaders needed to be shown that even though they are the best they can’t get cocky and think they are unbeatable. They are a better side than the one that played on Friday, and we will get to see that they are this week. I have no doubt that we will see the Crusaders at their best this Friday. They are back home and will have wonderful supporters like myself there cheering them on. And...

Richie is back!!! He’s on the beach. He’s been away because of a clause in his NZRU contract, or something-or-other. Anyway, most important thing is that he is back! Along with being gorgeously good looking for the female viewers, he actually adds so much to the team. I know a team isn’t one man but as soon as he pops back in the mix everything changes. I think it is a little obvious I think Richie is God.

I believe psychics would be saying that round three will be a good one for the Crusaders.

Bring on Friday.

The Hurricanes: by yours truly

Honestly I don't think I can say anything about this game I won't say in the podcast. It was a game the 'Canes obviously came into treating as a practice run. Tamati's league-style play to set up Cory and David was outstanding, other than that it was a confidence-building game for the team against a schoolboy XV.

The Highlanders, by 'fan' Jimmy.

I should probably admit straight away that I'm not really a Highlanders fan. I mean, I do really like that they have a guy running round from time to time wielding a fricking claymore but, I live in Wellington and thus my primary allegiance is to the Hurricanes. The Highlanders are my second favourite team though, and in all games where they aren't playing the Hurricanes I'm rooting for the boys from the deep south. This essentially means that I'm constantly rooting for the underdog, because admit it- who really expects the Highlanders to win on a regular basis?

Knowing this helps to know why it is that I like the Highlanders. My second favourite NPC / - AirNZ Cup team has pretty much always been Southland. Perrenial strugglers that have come good and are now dominating their bigger Super rugby franchise player. Winning the log of wood was awesome and, I think anyway, just reward for an area that's been putting on the hard yards, doing the basics before attempting the flash. I want to see a team thats suffered finally turn the corner, I want to have the good time that Chiefs fans last year had - albeit with a happier ending.

The other reason I'm such a Highlanders fan is the Magpies. Hawke's Bay rugby supporters have a complex. Some describe it as a sense of entitlement, but it's really more one of desperation. Hawke's Bay fans really didn't cope with being in the 2nd Division. But what was really hard was getting so close to promotion and never actually making it. It doesn't take too many years before you start seeing rule changes as being deliberately designed to keep you out. And every player having success in another team would have been the key to being promoted.

These were dark and horrible times, and I should know - I grew up in the Hawke's Bay. Other than the All Blacks, when I was a kid, you wanted to be in the Magpies. Guys from my high-school played for them, hell my old Head Boy Michael Johnston is still running around the paddock. So, with the use of so many Hawke's Bay players and our coach, its only natural that I want to see the Highlanders do well. Because if there's anything a fan of Hawke's Bay rugby needs, its validation that we actually are ok, and really do deserve to be in the top flight.

What a game the Crusaders v Highlanders match was. Weirdly, whenever the Highlanders play the Crusaders I get a sense of confidence about the victory out of all proportion to reality. I actually expect them to win every time. And had a couple of calls gone the way of the Highlanders we might have seen a different result - particularly when viewed with the hindsight of knowing what the one-eyes were going to bring the next week against the Reds.

I have to apologise though, as despite being the pseudo-fan that I am, I didn't actually manage to catch much of the game vs the Blues. Instead I was drinking Tsingtao and having a great dinner at Longxiang. So I can't help but feel a little bit personally responsible for their loss to the Blues, especially because its the Blues who haven't been a great team in some time.

If only the Highlanders could bring the passion they have when they play the Crusaders to every game, things might be different for their fans. Even a sort of, but not really fan like myself.

I'm still looking for someone to do the Blues. Leave your nomination in the comments section if you're keen.

Yep, there's finally a new podcast to add to your iPod. In this one, my mate Lee and The Brat from The Cheap Seats review and preview the Super 14 and I turn out to be wrong a lot - and get sidetracked, but this time I don't forget my original points.

You'll notice at the end, I promised games and debate. Yeah. I forgot to record these. For the record, Lee was applying for the position of Grant Nisbett's massage therapist and failed, The Brat got Ali William's physio and declined the position on the grounds that she would just take advantage of him, and I was told to be Jesse Ryder's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor.

The debate was a rip snorter, with Lee and The Brat asked to debate who would be a better 1st five in a hypothetical team - Stephen Brett or Stephen Donald. Lee won that one. The second was a fictional fight between Dunedin's international sporting exports, Brendon McCullum and Jimmy Cowan. Cowan had the powerup of the demon booze, while McCullum had the benefit of the bat. The Brat won me over debating staunchly for Macca, despite my personal opinion that Cowan would win. Lee pulled off an amazing call about Captain Planet that I can't remember, but he wanted to have noted.

Enjoy.

If it's true that behind every good man there is a good woman, then behind every good sports team, there must be a good fan base.

Last year, you could have said 'No way, what about the Crusaders! They're a good team and get shit all fans' and I would have agreed with you. In fact, they probably still don't get as many fans as they should. But the Canterbury Rugby Union and Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder have identified this problem and are taking steps to resolve it. Lowering season ticket prices was the first step, and allowing fans onto the field was the second.

But other unions appear to be reluctant to adopt the 'bold' move. In this Stuff article, Westpac Stadium chief executive David Gray had this to say about pitch invasions;

"Once you start a culture of people going on to the pitch, you start to lose control of when that happens," he said.

"I just wonder if they've thought it through properly. You don't have to go far to see incidents of spectators attacking players. It happened in an ODI during the Australia-Pakistan series.

I say bullshit on both parts. First off, you have a PA system and security guards. If you broadcast over the PA 'xxx request you do not take to the field following this match' and combine that with the thuggish Red Badge staff, you'll be able to control it fine. Secondly, spectators already attack players. Except in New Zealand, it seems. Remember these two?

So I'd put forward that an act of violence against players can occur in any circumstance. Besides, does Cricket Australia allow fans to storm the pitch? If not, how is this even relevant to the current argument?

And then Gray suggested that protecting the turf was another reason working against us. Fair enough. Here's the quote as it was represented in that same article.

"Most other [stadiums] do probably 20 events. You only have to look at the three consecutive weekends of double-headers and another two coming up. We have to protect our grass.

"Most other stadiums after the rugby season don't have anything through to January, whereas we carry on right through, so if you lose a bit of grass the recovery is quite difficult."

Ok. Sure. Then explain how you let motorbikes romp around on the infield 2 weeks before the first Hurricanes match of the 2009 season? Or a giant stage and a tonne of people on the pitch a week before the Sevens... Where you let a whole bunch of dancers also on the pitch. Not to mention the Neil Diamond concert held in the middle of the Super 14 season, which placed punters on the field in seats and had a stage which took up the southern third of the stadium, and left the grass brown afterwards? Luckily you had two weeks to replace it with the reserve sod lumped out the back.

All we are asking for is a little bit of a concession to allow us to feel more emotionally invested in the team. The Caketin has already led to the severing of relationships with fans in Palmerston North and Napier, and with crowd numbers slowly but surely starting a trend of decline, surely anything helps. You'll allow 60,000 people [admittedly it is unclear how many of these were on the infield] to attend two concerts in a three day period, with a week turnaround before the Sevens, but you won't let at the very most a hundred people on the field after a game? Did you not see the awesome crowd at the end of the Lions v Otago Air NZ Cup match in 2008? Because unless we win the ruddy thing, that's probably the size you will expect.

If you feel as strongly about the issue as I do, I recommend you keep up with the Gen Ys and join the Facebook group.

BREAKING NEWS - Daniel Carter is out of the Super 14 for the 2010 season. Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder made the announcement at 4.30pm today.

Unfortunately in last night's game Dan got his hair ruffled by a few Highlanders players. We've had specialists take a look at the damage, and they've managed to fix about 65% of it. We're currently flying in some product that Dan used during his time in France, but for all intents and purposes, it looks like Dan will need to rest up for a few months to get over this ordeal. We hope to see him come out the other side and back in a black jersey.

I've spoken to Highlanders captain - and Carter's All Black team-mate - Jimmy Cowan, who revealed that Carter's hair was deliberately targeted in last night's match.

Yeah mate, we identified that on tape before the season started, and we figured it was a tactic we should employ. Tom [Donnelly] and I confirmed it on the tour last year when we stole Dan's gel before the Welsh test, and boy did he have a shocker in that one. It's a strategy we're hoping to use against the Brumbies and Chiefs, having identified the strength of play coming from the likes of Matt Giteau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Lelia Masaga and Richard Kahui.

All Black coach Graham Henry has declined to comment on what this could mean for the team in next year's world cup. Blackadder has criticised the 'negative tactics' of the Highlanders, and has said he will lodge an appeal with the IRB.

You may delay, but time will not - Benjamin Franklin.

You may wonder how this applies to this post. It's pretty simple really: I began drafting this piece on the 5th of January. I'm now rushing through to publish it, before the Hurricanes v Blues match kicks off tonight. Over a month, and I've still not got it done. And the annoying thing is is that I had predicted the injuries to Ali Williams and Sione Lauaki. Yes, you caught me, I'm Robbie Deans.

Oh hush in the corner with your protestations that it's cricket season. NZ Cricket have done all they can to disprove that myth - First by making sure the BLACKCAPS played an international match in every month of 2009 except July, and then by not playing a single game over the summer holiday period.

The Super 14's a month away and the players and I are getting excited for it. While it's hard to predict what'll happen in a season [The Chiefs in the semis and final? How did that happen?] I'm giving it a shot.

Blues:
Having signed Alby Mathewson and Stephen Brett they'll struggle to get a crowd along to their 7.35pm games on Friday, until the Auckland City Council makes it illegal for cafes to be open. The signing of Brett can go two ways:
In the first scenario, Brett will be an astute kicker, as he has been over the past three seasons and Grant Fox will consider himself qualified to speak up about a player who is playing a different style of game to the rugby union he grew up with.. In the second, Brett will struggle to adjust to the more open, flowing style of Blues rugby and Grant Fox will consider himself qualified to speak up about a player who is playing a different style of game to the rugby union he grew up with.
Isaia Toeava, Josevata Rokcoko and Rene Ranger will have every single mistake they make jumped upon, while players who actually don't do much in their positions, like Paul Williams, escape the evil eye.

Excited about:
The prospective backline of Mathewson, Brett, McAlister, Toeava and Stanley.

Not looking forward to:
The performance of the Blues being used to gauge the 'health' of New Zealand rugby. Ali Williams getting injured and releasing another book, detailing how he's gonna quit the game and become a coach instead.

Brumbies: ['Cause they're the only Aussie team worth giving a damn about]
The return of prodigal son Matt Giteau to the capital territory will give the Brumbies an anchor in the backline. He'll also bring back something from the West Coast that the Brumbies have been lacking in the past few seasons - style. No, not the hair gel kind, though him and Adam A-s-h-l-e-y-C-o-o-p-e-r will go through their share, and Stirling Mortlock's, but an ability to use the ball that the Brumbies' rumbling forward pack consistently dishes up.

Excited about:
Seeing what the best Australian side [on paper] can dish up in the new season.

Not looking forward to:
Stirling Mortlock suffering another serious injury, only this time deciding to retire.

Chiefs:
All through the off-season I've pondered something. Were the Chiefs of '09 really that good? Sure, the Bulls would have beaten any S4 team that day [and probably a few tier-1 national teams, let's be honest] but looking back on the Chiefs' season, I can't really remember anything standout. Beating the 'Canes twice was a good effort, but take away that try-fest against the Blues and what was there? Injuries. Injuries, injuries, injuries. The Chiefs have been plauged with them over the past few years, and always to key players. How Richard Kahui bounces back from his shoulder injury will be a key focus for the Chiefs - but I suspect he'll be fine, so all you girls can lower your heart rate now - and which do they use at first-five, Donald or Delany? And if you do the 'just chuck one at 2nd-five' option favoured by many pundits, what do you do with Sweeney, Willison and Callum Bruce? Not to mention that they have Sivivatu, Masaga, Muliaina and one of my favourite underdogs, Tim Nanai-Williams to choose from in the back three. TN-W can play at FB while Mils has his rest period at the start, but after that? It almost seems like the Chiefs administration is banking on some injuries...

Excited about:
To be honest, not much on field. I'm excited about this though, and hoping it leads to some good stats I can use. Also, seeing Sione Lauaki get injured is always a positive for NZ rugby. The quality of the Chiefs play seems to improve when he's out.

Not looking forward to:
The fact the Chiefs have six loose fowards... There'll be some frustration while lineups are sorted out no doubt.

Crusaders:
There's something different about rugby in the flatlands. You can have an off year, with the media and public jumping down your throat and writing you off because you've got a 'rookie' coach and your best player's injured, but still 4th. Is that really a bad year? There wasn't too much impressive about the Crusaders last season, they just trucked along and bored the opposition to death with their stiff defence. This year though they've got some top attacking talent - Robbie Fruean is in for Casey Laulalalalala, and along with Zac Guildford he's flying down from Wellington to play with Colin Slade in his sandpit - and Dan Carter is back on top of his game. And then you look at the forward pack - that same forward pack that gets you in shit for making mistakes, and causes you to lose the game, even though you've held the ball for twice as long as them. And have done this for about three years. Same shit, different year really.

Excited about:
Diva Dan doin' his thang. Nobody makes line breaks look so beautiful. Oh, and seeing them without that shitty sword thing on their jersey.

Not looking forward to:
Getting my hopes up for the 'Canes, only to have the Crusaders beat us in the semis or final again.

Highlanders:
Oh, the whipping boys of the naysayers, the Highlanders manage to operate without too much scrutiny. They've actually got a decent team, similar to the Blues really. But who's getting more exposure? Yeah, that's right, the fucking Aucklanders. How do you piss off a bunch of guys from the South? Show them that a bunch of Aucklanders think they're better than them. Yeah, Peter Russell, GTFO, I just took your job.
I actually think the Highlanders will have a great season if they can stay injury free. They should beat the Aussie teams - with the exception of the Brumbies maybe - and South Africans. They've had dominance over the Crusaders, and Hurricanes [bar the score at the final whistle] for the past two seasons. They just need to stop running out of steam in the final quarter really.

Excited about:
The dark-horse chances of this Motley Crue from Southland, Otago, Hawke's Bay and Manawatu making the post-season.

Not looking forward to:
The naysayers saying the Highlanders are shit and should be scrapped from the competition.

Hurricanes:
Alphabetical order [and myself] have saved the best for last. We made the finals once, you know. But my memory of that match is kinda foggy. The stories are all set in place to make 2010 the Hurricanes' year. 'Win one for Coop!' the headlines will scream. Aaron Cruden is central to our title hopes this year. Not to put too much pressure on the boy, but it's been fucking yonks since we've had a 1st-5 who can run the ball and kick it. Combine him with the All Black studded backline [Former AB Piri Weepu, and last year's team members Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Tamati Ellison, Hosea Gear and Cory Jane] and he should have a decent season. If he comes right, he'll have a championship winning season. For now, he's just gotta focus on taking the top spot on the team from Willie Ripia.

Excited about:
Seeing Cory Jane tweet from the field in the game against the Cheetahs.

Not looking forward to:
Failure to live up to my expectations. They're not unrealistic, are they?