Do the great players arrive trailing clouds of glory….

…..or are they formed like Orcs in the fires of Mordor? Pakie raised the point that the greats arrive to the manor born. Which frankly was what excited me most about Sacha. He was totally confident.

Many of our greats have been similar:

Kolbe and Arendse (they had to be successful because the doubts about their size afforded them a narrow window)

Jean de Villiers

Pollard

Fourie du Preez

Marx

Etzebeth

Skinstad

Schalk

Big Joe

These guys made a positive difference in their first test. They were born veterans

…. 

Others have grown in the role:

Kriel

Mostert

Malherbe

Dud Toit

Vermeulen

….

But I would argue, none of those who have grown in the role had a fatal flaw that had to be corrected. And a player like Vermeulen with his complex set of skills was on the growth path before he played for the Boks, just not fully done.

….

I can’t think of one player with a fatal flaw who has come back and corrected that flaw, with one exception, Percy. Percy was hit or miss off the tee until he changed his technique. But that was a specific thing.

….

I don’t think players that exhibit mental or physical liabilities generally resolve those issues. Their teams learn how to manage them….Manie may be relieved of kicking duties….but they don’t overcome them.

So while we gush about the skills of youngsters, keep a weather eye out for their faults, because for those players that’s what tends to define their careers .

You are just back to lists…the issue is do players really recover from flawed debuts.

There's merit in the argument that players never overcome deep seated flaws although I've always believed in the evolvement of a player or that players evolve in different ways. I guess I'm a fence sitter on this one. 

In the words of Shakespeare....some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. It's the last one I find confusing

This threat started off with dealing with players being disliked by an idiot referring Dud/    Not wih any conideration   

Rassie is on record saying the selection of Gaffie du Toit was the worst treatment of a player he has ever witnessed. He was thrown under the bus - no recovering from that

Fancy starting a test career under a Knoffel of a coach like Margraaf? Hell man he was useless, one of the worst in Bok history.

Saaiman go away….your childish drivel is of literally zero interest. Deprived by your own hand of talking to me directly, you now whine away at me in the 3rd person mode. Get lost…your dishonesty has finally been fully recognized on here, nothing you say will be taken seriously.

This threat started off with dealing with players being disliked by an idiot referring Dud/    Not wih any conideration  

Not sure how the above can be called "childish drivel" when there's a problem in identifying the language it's written in.

Mozart

I have been siffering bad;y fro depression stemming from a vriety of health problem - imclusion of lwblod presure and suddering from leg ache problems stemming from infamation of  both hips  and avig to force myself to eat since I am no hugry.   

So it seems the system is switchig off and I ill not be around fo weeks rather than months/   I am sure you will be happy about his news.    .       

Ai Maaik...sorry to hear that...but you have to pull through till 2027 RWC at least...vysbyt Oom...die lewe kan soms maar wreed en moeilik wees.

ouMaaik maybe you should give Draad your phone number in case you need some Uber eats delivered. See the light, support the Democrats & you'll see the depression instantly lift !

Otherwise take care, best wishes & fight .

Mike your sanity is desperately needed on this board. Hope you are better soon. 

Have yourself checked for blood clots. 

Blood clods i do not have - he mai problem seems be dehydration causing blood pressure being low.    My ip inflation seems to agv stopped pains  and  I go some sleep at least durng he past wo nights.  I am going to go back to the chemist to fight appetite loss - that was the major cause of the death of my brother three year ago.   he got so weak that he could nt even turn on his bed withut help.

The string of problems I developed recently = after years of gd health is very depressing - but I managed o into th rdena t my home the frst ime in a week.  

Thanks for your good wishes - which makes me feel better entally as well.  .        .

Mike, I’m sorry to hear of your health issues that are causing you to feel so low. 

I think Mozart is right; you need to be properly assessed to try to get to the bottom of this and to get you the help you so obviously need. 

Sending my very best wishes to you.