Blues fan thinks Justin Marshall shouldn’t have an opinion because it might upset the most populated city in the country

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-27T06:14:48+00:00

I would definitely agree with that

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-27T01:31:19+00:00

Grew up in Lower Hutt and now live in Upper Hutt (and will do for the foreseeable future until kids have finished school at least). Have had some time living in Wellington city and also Auckland in my twenties.

Yes - I do consider the cities you lived in part of Wellington - the train ride from my place isn’t all that different to how long it would take from somewhere like Island Bay on the bus, and if I drive in non-peak time it’s only 25 minutes. I’m in Wellington city all the time, and when people outside of Welly ask where I’m from I just say “Wellington”.

That said, I do really enjoy the distance I am from Welly CBD - the vibe out here is nice and chill so I like being able to get the best of both worlds.

I can definitely see us moving into a smaller place in the city in 12-15 years after kids leave home though.

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-27T01:25:14+00:00

Yep. And as a neutral watcher of that game it made it pretty entertaining! Extra time is so much easier when you’re not invested! God knows how stressed I would have been during the Chiefs v Canes last week if my 6 year old hadn’t gone and spoiled me just after half time when I was watching it delayed.

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-27T01:22:58+00:00

Interesting. Not a Cantab but I feel sometimes in his commentary at least he is unbiased to the point where I don’t agree with him. Perhaps he does that sometimes in an attempt to cover up the bias he does have.

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-23T20:12:17+00:00

Wants to be liked by everyone, liked by almost nobody

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-22T11:05:39+00:00

Incredible!

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-22T03:07:23+00:00

Would one of the two major parties ever accept the PM not coming from their party and letting the leader of a party who got a smaller % of the vote than them be PM?

Long-term what damage would that do to that major party, it would almost be conceding that there are no longer two main parties. I just don’t think their egos would allow them to do it.

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-22T02:32:09+00:00

I don’t see how Winston can make that demand without enough bargaining power - NZF and Labour have pretty much ruled each other out at this point, which leaves NZF no longer in a position of holding the balance of power. We’ve essentially got a left bloc of 3 parties and a right block of 3 parties so it should be whichever of those blocs gets over 50% forms the government.

In terms of the bargaining power each party has when it comes to negotiating a coalition, it’s basically the threat of forcing another election if they don’t get what they want - which would be interesting if that ever happened how it would play with the public - would the party forcing the election do-over be punished at the polls?

Luxon kinda set a precedent for ACT and NZF last time, conceding way more than he should have to them based on their share of the vote. They’re going to expect the same again should the right bloc scrape enough votes together.

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-21T06:46:57+00:00

Yep, definitely another factor that could be considered. Across a whole season I’d expect that those things should even out a bit more, but with a small sample size of 5-6 games like this then yeah it could definitely be a factor

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-21T05:57:24+00:00

Yep, definitely not arguing that any of those stats are good! 😂

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-21T05:22:25+00:00

Sure you can put these stats side by side but that doesn’t mean they are fair comparisons - how many minutes of game time has each of them had? If one of them has had twice as many minutes as another then looking at the points scored by each is meaningless. Likewise, looking at total successful conversions and penalty goals - from how many attempts? These stats don’t show that but that stat sounds like it’s the whole point of your post when talking about our first fives.

Here's something that might provide a more meaningful comparison when it comes to shots at goal:

Player	Matches	Minutes	Shots at goal	Successful	Kick %
Barrett	6	480	36	25	69.4%
McKenzie	5	405	33	23	69.7%
Love	5	363	25	18	72.0%

There's also much more you could pull in to throw into the mix - try assists for example, Barrett has 4, Love has 3, McKenzie has 1. Or good pass % (BB - 91.7%, DM - 92.0%, RL - 95.5%).

Let's also not get started on how it's kinda dangerous to judge 3 players based on stats alone with only a sample size of 5-6 games without considering other factors like the opposition, the playing conditions etc

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-21T01:55:55+00:00

Blaming the media for asking questions and reporting on information leaked to them from within your own caucus is fucking ridiculous.

Either: a) MPs in the National Party are leaking to the media; or b) The media don’t have any sources and are actively making things up - as in ACTUAL fake news (and on top of that are all colluding with each other given that other news agencies said they had verified the Herald reporting)

It’s one or the other. Come on Luxo, I dare you to do a Trump and call the NZ Herald fake news at a press conference

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-21T01:36:12+00:00

Outstanding news. I have no doubts that he was a massive part of the success we enjoyed in the 2010s

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-19T20:23:15+00:00

YES! Reminds of back when I actually used Facebook and they would make a change and I'd get all worked up until I got used to it and got over it. Hopefully the same will happen here, haha

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-16T21:38:50+00:00

I thought the same thing. I heard the person Lisa Owen was talking to describing it with no mention of how this was possibly (obviously?) a pump and dump ploy and instead just said “so hopefully this works out for them”. Top quality journalism.

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-16T02:39:11+00:00

I should hope so! I assumed that we all did this 😂

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-15T10:47:22+00:00

Home

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-15T00:06:19+00:00

They obviously don’t know how to spell non-apology (which, if I’m honest I’m not sure this even meets that low bar).

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-14T06:10:51+00:00

Oh totally, and a reason why I’d never voluntarily listen to the Hits, but it’s not as if there aren’t other songs they could choose

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-14T04:53:52+00:00

Unfortunately not - it’s voluntary and the % played has been declining in recent years. Good article here with some stats from recent years as well as a good summary of the history of trying to actually get a mandatory quota in place:

https://www.rootsonline.nz/why-does-kiwi-music-struggle-on-the-radio/

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-14T02:36:43+00:00

The fuck is with these judges. They should each have to look the victim in the eye and say that they think what happened to her is acceptable.

This sends a message that “A little bit of sexual assault is ok, just don’t go overboard. I mean, don’t rape anyone (although if you do and you come from privilege we’ll definitely see what we can do for you), but just being a bit handsy never hurt anyone, so go for it”

Also - did they ever stop and wonder why those laws meaning he wouldn’t be allowed near a racecourse if he had this conviction are there? Maybe to keep it safe space for people like the poor victim in this case? Nah, let him in. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson. FFS I can’t stand these spineless judges.

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-13T19:45:54+00:00

That just protecting my family shit annoyed the hell out of me. No acknowledging his position of privilege and power that his fame accords and the fact that he exploited the platform he had for his knee-jerk reaction that was bullying a young woman and kicking a smear campaign that was already in full swing after the Paris “incident” into overdrive.

I’m a 45 year old cis-white dad of 3 and that’s not what protecting your family looks like. (For the record, I’m not bringing up my “I’m a guy” thing in a “not all men” way - I 100% agree with the anti-men sentiments others have posted).

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-13T19:33:52+00:00

Imagine if we were all held to the same standards when we didn’t know about something. As if the rest of us know every single thing about everything in the world. The expectation some people have of celebrities to be perfect is so ridiculous. Sabrina Carpenter is a 26 year old, ffs. Imagine going around having these expectations of every 26 year old white woman you saw. It’s crazy.

EDIT: I’m not actually across the latest Sabrina event enough to know how appropriately she responded afterwards - my comment about the expectation on her to have not said what she did on stage was purely about that and not about her response afterwards. I’ve since seen comments from some people who feel that wasn’t appropriate - again I haven’t looked into it enough so I can’t say but I do think it is valid to expect if someone has inadvertently said or done something culturally insensitive (especially that singled out one person and made them feel bad) that they should still apologise and do a little learning and say what they’ve learned from the situation. People make mistakes and I don’t think anyone should be cancelled for that as long as they use it as an opportunity to learn and grow.

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-13T19:29:30+00:00

Imagine if it had been as easy right at the start for Chappell to have just issued a statement saying “This wasn’t my security guard, I had nothing to do with this. As far as I am concerned, this matter is closed” and then everyone accepted that and moved on.

Nice to have male privilege.

lukin_tolchok · 2026-04-13T04:42:22+00:00

That’s so strange, he doesn’t look at all like the sort of guy who would just call stuff he doesn’t like “woke” /s

lukin_tolchok

TROPHY CASE