Should the All Blacks be more aggressive in the media?

Question

The All Blacks never seem to be very attacking or aggressive in the media, about themselves or in regards to other nations. All of the other teams seem to heavily criticise and take shots at the kiwis. Do you think the All Blacks should talk themselves up more, criticise other teams and single out players.

For example when the Wallabies put Adam Ashley Cooper at fullback we should have been targeting him in the press. Singling him out and putting pressure on him.

One team that has been good at this over the years is the Australian cricket team. Glen McGrath used to target a batsmen at the start of the series and the whole team would put pressure on the opposition through the media.

Answer 1

Right ...so the new zealand media didn't call population of wales "villiage idiots"?

Chris Rataue has wrote several articles since, each just as scathing of wales.

Answer 2

ABSOLUTELY NOT!  That has never been their style.  Their supporters and the NZ media do it, but the team doesn't.  

The reason the opposition does it is because they are hoping for a reaction or to try and put the players off their game.  I totally see it as a complement.  Every team that does it is obviously focussed on meeting the All Blacks somewhere down the line and since South Africa and France have been the two biggest critics and the only way they would likely meet NZ is in the final, it tells me they do not buy into the "choke" belief at all.

You do not see Laporte or White saying much about England or Australia, because they do not think they will make it.  Laporte should be more focussed on his own pool because he could easily go out to Argentina and Ireland.  Jake White is probably doing it because he is under pressure from the screwed up SARFU and now he has that looney Eddie Jones in his ear.

Pretty much every team that has hopes of winning the cup has launched media attacks on the All Blacks, but they have shown their class by ignoring it.  They let their on field work speak for itself.  

Eddie Jones and John Connolly were two of the biggest critics of the All Blacks.  Eddie Jones got one of the supposed "elite" teams in world rugby to a magnificent 57% winning rate and Knuckles has guided Australia to a HUGE 2 away wins in two years.  Who were these wins over you may ask???  NZ? no, SA? no, England? no, France? no... WALES??? no!  IRELAND??? no!  The ONLY wins Connolly has with the Wobblies on foreign soil is against Scotland and Italy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And they were d**n lucky to get that Italy win.

He did rate the Italian forward pack as "the best in the world" after that game though, so he clearly has vision and a good grasp on reality.  Go Knuckles you good thing!!!

nonenzedder, Chris Rattue has absolutely no affiliation with the All Blacks.  If you would spend as much time actually reading the questions as you do hating on NZ and the All Blacks, you wouldn't come off sounding as misinformed as you ALWAYS do.  Chris Rattue has got to be the biggest clown in world media and Graham Henry wanted nothing to do with him after he wrote the article about Wales... and neither did most of the NZ public.

Answer 3

Nah, no need to talk the talk.

Ted's got the media sorted, I love watching him in press conferences - there's no doubt who the top man is, everyone seems to look to Ted before they answer, its as if they're back in the principals office waiting to get dressed down if they put a foot wrong.

The press won't win the cup for us and they certainly can't get under our skin enough while Ted's on the job.

Edit: Nonenzedder , correct me if I'm wrong mate but, Chris  Rataue has never played for the ABs.

Answer 4

Yes they should be. I mean if they don't win this year they can only blame themselves and probably the media.

The other teams know that the only team that has everything to lose is NZ. If NZ dont make it..... What was wrong? Not the players, they are all brilliant.  Not the coach, he too is very good. they can blame it on the psychology of the game. They need to be more aggressive yes, but what good is it going to do? No other team expects to beat them.

Its basically going to be like NZ telling the opposition: We are better than you. All the opposition is going to say is: Yeah we know that but can you beat us when it matters most?

So NZ stand nothing to gain from being aggressive in the press.

Will this be their year? Maybe..... can they keep their focus on the field? We will see.

Answer 5

New Zealanders in general are very modest in comparison to the English or Australians who can be very loud. the All Blacks do their talking on the field and respect all opposition, not saying they dont like them but they never stoop to a low level by using tabloids. They know themselves what they are capable of and dont need to be shouting it in other peoples faces.

In 2001 the lions got slated in the press by the aussies.

In 2005 they simply had their *** handed to them by the all blacks, with the exception of the tackle on O'Driscoll....

Over-all i think more teams should take a look at the all blacks and copy their methods, they prepare for the game and keep their mouth shut...more teams should take this approach, it is more honest and repectful

Answer 6

t*t for Tat,mind games in the media doesn't matter what you say to the media,the media will portray it the way they want to project it to the oppositions out there.

All Blacks are confident and dnt need the media to remind them.A quiet opponent is a cunning and unpredictable one {ALL BLACKS}The less said to the media the better,the more uneasy the opposition will be towards you