Just over two weeks out from the start of the season, so with things taking shape (pre-season won't show much - it never really does) I feel now is a great time to make some predictions for the year ahead.

As the 2025 Super Rugby squads are announced they'll be listed here

Both forward packs just smashed each other - hard carries and some bruising defence. Halfway through the second half you could see the toll the defensive effort took on the Chiefs forwards They got really passive - just worn out really.

The most noticeable thing from that game was the 2 different teams that came out of the sheds in the first half and second half. Second half the blues went up a gear or 2

Votes were taken after each Blues match. Who was the most consistent Blues player this year

So, that’s that. Second, behind a team that got up and played their best rugby in the final. After working through the usual cycle of Denial, Anger, Bargaining and then Depression, it’s time for Acceptance. Overall, this was a big season for the Blues, a big step forward.

Blues are consistently making good decisions in attack and defence. Not perfect by any means, but if you put 50 on one o fthe top Aussie sides and still have plenty to work on, that's a good result.

Warning - positive post below. I continue to be impressed with the organisation that the Blues are building. Everything has stepped up since a few years ago - Board, Coaching, Admin, facilities, relationships between stakeholders, talent identification and so on.

First, congrats to the Blues and their fans. Monkey is off the back, losing streak in Chch broken. I hope you celebrated big, or are still going to! It was a fun game to watch, although the red card spoilt it for a while, but that's exactly why I think the 20 min red card rule is correct.

I wouldn’t go quite that far yet, simply because the Crusaders have history, quality across the park, a fantastic coaching team, and suffered from a lack of players for a significant amount of time in this game due to Scott Barrett stupidity