The Wellington Hurricanes’ season has been perplexing. They are winning games in a New Zealand Super Rugby Conference filled with teams that have significantly more ‘star power’ than their own.
Against the odds and often common sense, the Hurricanes have managed to win games through a counter-attacking style that spits in the face of modern rugby, which revolves around possession retention.
In the Hurricanes’ eight wins this season, their highest possession percentage for a match is 51% and six of their wins have come with 41% or less.
They have achieved this through a ‘Moneyball’ situation.
The ‘Moneyball’ concept was portrayed in a novel written by Michael Lewis about real life events surrounding the Oakland A’s baseball team and its poor economic situation.
It used statistical analysis to discover which players were being over or underpaid. This way you could purchase a team economically by selecting players with great tools rather than physical stature, power or notoriety and compete with the high profile sides.
Mark Hammett has done something similar with Wellington. He shelled his team, which was full of stars and underperforming, for scarcely recogniseable faces.
It was a bold move and as Graham Henry said in relation to these decisions, “There is a fine line between being a hero and being hated.”
Ma’a Nonu, Aaron Cruden, Piri Weepu, Neemia Tialata, Andrew Hore, Hosea Gear and Bryn Evans were suddenly replaced with the likes of Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara, Ben May, Tim Bateman, Dane Coles and Andre Taylor.
It seemed like he owned a Ferrari but traded it for a Fiat.
Fans, local media and even his own players criticized Hammett heavily but given the performances produced by this ‘lightweight team’, much like myself, these detractors may start to believe in his strategy.
The ethos of the team revolves around mate-ship and the sense of belonging. It is a real underdog type mentality that only together will they survive.
I think the Hurricanes approach to the season can be summed up nicely by using a quote from the movie ‘Any Given Sunday’.
“Look at the guy next to you. I think you are going to see the guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows, when it comes down to it, you are going to do the same thing for him. That is a team gentlemen. We either heal now, as a team, or we will die as individuals.”
The decision to have Conrad Smith as his on-field leader is also a key factor in their success.
Smith is a truly likeable, intelligent, honest and professional athlete who constantly demands improvement from his young side, a man himself who does not fit the norm for midfielders in the world of modern rugby.
He is a player who could easily be described as undersized, but uses guts and guile to dominate in a very subtle manner.
Often his exploits go unnoticed by the casual observer, such is his workman like performances. He is the perfect leader for a team that required inspiration and a living example that underdogs can succeed in modern sport.
Having been a Hurricanes supporter since their inception, I should not be shocked by the current situation. Their entire marketing ploy in the early days of the franchise was for fans to ‘expect the unexpected.’
This has never been more pertinent than this year. The season has gone from one of utter despair to quiet optimism.
There is hope for the future if you are a Hurricanes supporter. These players were barely recogniseable at the beginning of the season; by the end they will be household names.
I congratulate you Mr. Hammett, you have turned me into a believer.
As my friend Rig once said, “There is a fine line between genius and insanity, it is called success.”
Jerry
Guest
There's a difference between being critical and being negative. I'm not anti-Hammett, but I'm not gonna hail him as a success for getting the Canes back to where they were before he royally screwed the pooch last season.
Johnno
Guest
-Some important facts about the 2012 wellington hurricanes to put them into context of where they are really at as a team in 2012. The 2012 Hurricanes team a good team. But. 2012 Wellington Hurricanes facts and statistics: -Hurricanes were made to look much better than they were vs the 2012 Tahs last saturday night in cold damp sydney -Hurricanes are very beatable in 2012 as proven by there results this year and an awful record supsringly at home in windy wellington. Traditonally windy wellington has been a fortress for the hurricanes but not this year. -Brumbies beat Hurricanes in wellington this year. In similiar condtions to last weekend vs tahs. under Jake White as head coach and ben mowen as captain ex tah player. Ben Mowen has really stepped up under a world class coach -Cheetahs yes the lowly ranked cheetahs from south africa beat the Hurricanes in wellington this year in dry afternoon rugby, perfect for running rugby which the canes love. -Crusaders smashed the Hurricanes in Wellington this year -Otago Highlanders beat the hurricanes this year too in Wellington -Waikato chiefs beat the Hurricanes in Waikato Hamilton this year -So in reality this Hurricances team is clearly based on this evidence very beatable by all the top teams and some underdogs have beaten the same wellington hurricanes team that dominated and overwhelmed a terrible rabble of a tahs team. -the hurricanes have scored the most tries this year , but also leak alot of points against the good teams -So we have to put this into context for 2012 The 2012 Hurricanes team is good and a wild card contender and may make the semi final series but not the best team in the super comp for mine, and the 2012 tahs are a terrible team a total rabble, and in 2013 they have to have a new plan. the tahs players are all over the shop and even lacking core fittness this year, who ever does there strength and conditioning will have to be looked as as will foley. -The 2012 Hurricanes as proven by there 2012 results , were made to look much better than they in reality are by the waratahs. And the brumbies beat this same wellington hurricanes team this year in awful wet windy wellington weather under a world class coach in Jake White captained by ex tah Ben Mowen, -So there you go in summing up, the wellington hurricanes are good team and a semi final contender . But not a top 5 team(Stormers,Bulls,brumbies,chiefs,crusaders). And I think based on the draw anyway they will be the unlucky team to miss out in the 6. The Durban sharks for me i tip to get 6th spot based on the super 15 draw running home.
Sam Taulelei
Guest
Putting the results under Cooper's reign to the side, my one biggest criticism of Cooper was that while he turned the Hurricanes around in achieving greater consistency, improved on field discipline and setpieces, it came at the expense of our attack. With so much talent in the backline, he should have done much better with it, although I admit that It didn't help we had journeymen playing at 10 for most of Cooper's tenure. I'm one of those disgruntled fans from last year who wished Hammett had never arrived in Wellington, but I'm an admirer of what he has achieved so far with this group. Even when they have lost this season, I have admired the way they've played and their positive attitude. Together with the Chiefs they are one of two teams that I habitually record their games as I know I'll be entertained. This year the Hurricanes have scored 438 points, beating their previous points scoring record from 1997 of 436 points, which is remarkable given the '97 team played far fewer games than the current side. The losses to the Highlanders, Cheetahs and Brumbies were evidence of a young side still learning and developing that killer instinct. Also the realisation that they don't yet have the depth in their squad as the leading sides have to rest their top players and still expect to win. Disappointing yes, particularly the Brumbies loss, but not evidence of an inferior side. The losses to the Stormers, Crusaders and Chiefs were being taught a tough lesson by better sides. No disgrace there, look where those sides sit on the table. In terms of where the Canes were expected to feature this year (refer the Blues) in the NZ conference, they continue to surprise and defy predictions. I would love for them to finish in the top six this year but recognise the quality of the two sides they need to beat at least one of them to get there. Call me the eternal optimist or a crazy, die hard Canes supporter but I truly believe we can topple the Crusaders at home but not the Chiefs. The Chiefs look to have the goods to me this year.
Tumble Hill
Guest
Great Article VG. Negative Much Jerry? take away last season and this is pretty much Hammetts 1st season in charge. You cant deny that this season hasn't been a success for the Canes even if they do lose to the Chiefs and Crusaders. No-one at the start of the year were picking the Canes to even make top 10! It was pretty obvious with Nonu and Hore that they were not interested in how Hammett wanted to do things - thus why he got rid of them. If a coach dosnt have his teams full support then why bother? I hope Hammett is kept on as coach long term as I am very interested to see how far he can take this group. The Hurricanes fanchise has a huge talent pool and hopefully the team becomes a team these young talented guys want to play for.
mania
Guest
team culture has definately improved. also imo the environment is better for up and coming players. hammetts really made a job of working with what he has available. just gotta wonder though if we'd have done better with also having our allBlacks in the team or were they too controversial for hammett? nonu i can understand being dropped as he can be quite infulencial and disruptive but hore? hore comes across as a man of few words who just gets on with the job.
Vanilla Gorilla
Roar Pro
The stronger than before refers mostly to the team culture rather than the actual performance. It should also be noted that Cooper had significantly more fire power. Weepu & Nonu in their primes, Umaga, So'oialo, Tialata, The Scwhalger brothers. It was a significantly "stronger" side than they are now but the team culture seems to be different. It is a bit of a throw back to the Norm Hewitt days in Wellington where culture and pride in the team was paramount. So before getting to carried away in past glory while Cooper is a very good coach he still was not amazingly successful given the level of talent he has. I also think you have taken the Pheonix to Ashes statement a little far. I was stating the fact that very few coaches could clean out their team like this and still succeed. I would think making the playoffs in one of the toughest rugby competitions after losing several key players is a significant achievemnt. Especially when a lot of those players are in their first full year of super rugby. This would seem incredibly promising to me.
Jerry
Guest
Hammett didn't want to lose any of them though. You can't give him credit for mis-reading the consequences of his decision. And there's really nothing in the Canes play that's any different than under Cooper - they still rely too much on strike power from the back and not enough on fundamentals. They can win a few games that way, and probably qualify for the finals but they're not gonna win anything of note when it comes to the crunch. And finally it's not 'stronger than before'. Under Cooper, the Canes qualified for the semi-finals 5 times. In Cooper's final season (his second worst, admittedly) the Canes won 7, drew 1 and lost 5 - this season they've won 8, lost 6. So they're only marginally ahead of one of Cooper's worst seasons - hardly a phoenix from the ashes story.
Vanilla Gorilla
Roar Pro
Cruden, Weepu and Gear all left as a result of the dumping of Nonu and Hore. I think this was a good example of a coach cleaning out a team to create a group of players that want to play his brand of rugby. Nonu and Weepu have not really shown the desire for "team" football. Weepu constantly turns up over weight and unfit and Nonu would rather shop himself around in Japan than play in the preseason for the blues. Maybe Hammett was seeing something in the everyday actions of these players around the club which we do not get to see. After all we only se them on the field. Often you see teams that get blown up like this fail in tremendous fashion and can be cellar dwellers for some time. Like the Melbourne Demons or the Tigers. He has produced a team and a culture in the dressing room which will create success in the future. I do not know too many coaches who have been able to start a mutiny at his own club and make it even stronger than before.
Jerry
Guest
Let's not talk it up too much - under Colin Cooper the Hurricanes regularly made the top 4 and they're currently only 6th. And it was only Nonu and Hore that Hammett let go, Cruden, Weepu and Gear all left of their own accord.
mania
Guest
hammetts done a lot better than i gave him credit for. bt i'll go out on a limb here and say the canes are again in familiar territory. despite the change of personel canes are still unpredictable. losing to the cheetah's was a game they never should've lost but as usual the canes did. as good as the canes are this season i cant help but wonder how we would've done with the ex players still around. piri i'd have back in a flash, though he'd be benched as TJ woud start and we could get rid of liable chrisEaton. nonu would come off the bench eventually supplanting bateman. gear would've been good cover to bring on for injured coryJane. anyway the canes are still the same old same old unpredictable team of old and thats the way i like them. unpredictable and dangerous. even if canes dont win a title they've played with courage and style. canes 4 life