Yeah jettisoned was too strong a word. My point was more that the long contract indicates to me that he is or was extremely highly rated by the coaching staff, and even the fact that he is sharing minutes with a short term signing is notable. When the decision was made to release Delahunt, the plan would have been for DTM to take his place in the depth chart, as the McElroy deal was not completed until much later. Of course there is always the chance for a player to increase their standing through particularly impressive performances, for example I doubt any depth chart would have projected Cian Prendergast to become a starter while still in the academy. I don't think that's happened here though, to my eye McElroy has been decent but not a standout. I do like his abrasiveness but his darts are some way below the required standard.
It's not a big deal, just something I would note as what I'd interpret as a wider pattern of odd selections, along with the banishment of Matthew Burke, release of Shane Delahunt, non-selection of Niall Murray, and constant rotation in the back row, at out half, and on the wing. I feel like we rotate to the point that we don't have an identifiable first choice team or depth chart.
The Tom Farrell selection issue is beyond puzzling. If anyone can break a defensive line it's Tom. And while I don't wish to be critical, I didn't think Hawkshaw did much to merit his start this Friday. And as realhorrorshow says the selections being made this year are equivalent to musical chairs rather than any obvious logic.
How many different pairings have we had this season at centre
Not including changes during the game, there's been 8 unique partnerships named in the starting line-ups (including a new one for tomorrow):
12 Forde
13 Farrell
12 Daly
13 Ralston
13 Hawkshaw
12 Aki
13 Forde
He's been mentioned in another couple of posts since but I'll just quote this one.
DTM picked up a neck injury during the warmup in Lyon. Given that we have both McElroy and Heff fit I don't see any reason to risk a reoccurance six days later.
If it wasn't for that DTM would have 50-60 mins against Lyon and a decent chance of benching this week.
Keeping the national team happy. I think his selection will be so Bundee can come off early and so Bundee won't need to switch to 13. Tom Farrell is our best 13 but he's really a one position man.
We're very light on backs and Hawkshaw is one of the few players who adds that flexibility.
Niall Murray is a strange one. It seems that they're pushing Daragh at Niall's expense.
In all my years of following Connacht rugby this is one year that has been beyond bizarre. I can only describe it as managerial wollox
Is there any movement on the Sportsground redevelopment? I remember read early last month they got another 10m & it were targeting 25/26 season for the new stand.
I suspect that's a bit behind schedule.
My understanding (open to correction from better informed people) is that the ground work for the new training centre and clubhouse are getting started with the new Clan Stand to follow immediately on completion.
Edit: see update below.
It's as if Connacht branch read our inquisitive minds. The Clan Stand will be demolished at the end of this season with the Sportsground at reduced capacity for the following year. New stand scheduled to open for the 25/26 season. 😁😁😁
There's a new official announcement of the "Dexcom Stadium".
Great news. Nuts read the article about it on the 42 aswel. I was surprised to see the irfu are not contributing any of the money towards it. I had assumed they would be involved somehow
There may be some optics around the government funding there. Half the government funding (€10m) will be coming from the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) which probably requires that Connacht can prove that we're directly funding a minimum matching share. The audit optics may be a lot simpler if it's Connacht's money. The IRFU are authorising us to use all our CVC capital from the URC which we likely couldn't do without their approval. They will also likely be acting as a loan guarantor to get us much cheaper finance.
As always the IRFU remains a very opaque private organisation.
A youtube fly through of the new stadium, very cool!
https://youtu.be/NEof2CB9mg0?si=0hLCQEwMmGcKZrKt
You should tell us more about your unhappiness with the management
So we will still call it the Sportsground. Just like Lansdowne road, Musgrave, Ravenhill, Pairc Ui Chaoimh etc
And all the MUPPETS can call it the sponsor name the media are obliged to call it.
Imagine the day where you can get a pint in a glass
My definition of luxury: A terrace stand, with a bar behind serving tayto, tea and a pint in a glass.
The fact that the ground capacity is being reduced to 3500-4000 for at least next season and potentially more is very worrying in terms of keeping momentum from a supporter perspective. People get out of the habit of going and find alternatives.
Especially with investment in the squad likely to be limited and an underwhelming coaching ticket we risk losing all momentum and ending up with a good facility thats half full. There was no real talk of this when the initial plan came out.
The prioritising of the high performance centre is strange. I appreciate the offices and changing rooms may need to go but it wouldnt take a lot of imagination to use the gym building for a period. We aren't a rich club. The facilities we have were only added in the last 15 years. Increasing the capacity should be priority.
Obviously alternatives are limited. Pearse Stadium isn't going to have lights by then and in Castlebar there seems to be an issue with the surface but given we need to try and keep our supporter base and Mayo GAA still have significant debts on that stadium its disappointing if we haven't investigated that alternative.
If it's just one season at reduced capacity then it's a small price to pay. If the team perform reasonably well we'll be able to entice people back into a great new facility with a much better match experience. And it was flagged years ago when the redevelopment phases where announced.
As for the gym, we need that investment more than we need some of the extra seats. I'm going to guess that we have the most modest player facilities in the league. Every Connacht team should benefit from newer training facilities and they'll pay for themselves for years with player development.
As for the "alternatives", the conversation has been done to death on every bulletin board, Facebook page, etc. for years. The branch investigated the options thoroughly and redevelopment of the Sports ground became a very clear winner once Bord na gCann were no longer in a position of power over us.
I think the current crop of academy players who have already broken in or about to break into the squad will be huge for this reason. Looking at the likes of DTM, the Murray’s, Forde, the Devines, Gavin, Jennings and Barrett
I'll call it the Dexcom. Why not? It's its name.
Similarly, I talk about the 3 Arena, and the Aviva.
Anyway, I won't be paying for a season ticket behind either try line next season. Lets see what's offered, but if I have to pause my season ticket for 18months, so be it
Can you show me where it was flagged that capacity would be reduced to 3500-4000 for at a minimum a season? Not having a go just genuinely curious as didn't see anything concrete when it was announced that this would be the case. Also given how this project has progressed so far and the wording of the 42 article it'll go in 25/26 too. I'm guessing it'll be more likely the guts of two seasons which is a long time for fans to be excluded.
There's quality gym facilities everywhere these days. We have partnership arrangements with so many organisations like the Connacht Hotel etc. if needed for extra capacity in the short term.
Again I'd love to see evidence that we have investigated alternatives because if you're going to exclude supporters for a year and a bit at a minimum you owe it to them to check out all options. The branch were all about giving access to all supporters to see Connacht play when they moved the ulster game to the Aviva but that seems to have gone down their list of priorities now.
Contractor selected and there will be penalty clauses for delivering the project late. I would be confident it would be delivered in time for the start of that season. Even on reduced capacity. Wonder what connacht got per season for the naming rights. Great news as it effectively free money. Thomond park should have done this years ago
I actually misinterpreted you original post. I see now that you mean alternative arrangements for the redevelopment season. I'm going to guess that it would be too expensive and very awkward, not to mention not using our 4G pitch for an entire season. No one outside the branch will have the figures to prove that.
If you search for the original 2018 news articles about the redevelopment many will mention the in situ redevelopment. Personally, I remember Willie Ruane being asked about it a couple of interviews that I'll never be able to dig up.
I'd expect this all to be cleared up prior to the season ticket renewals.
Leftfield idea here, but maybe Connacht should look at the possibility of organising large offsite fan viewing spaces during the period of reduced capacity at the ground. Add some additional attractions like activities for kids, interviews with squad members, maintain the sense of home games being an occasion. I believe Leinster have been doing some of this in the RDS for their home games recently.
Come to arrangement with URC that home games for that season where possible played during daylight hours. Pearse stadium could then be used.
Play Welsh and Italian teams at home under lights as those games with a capacity of 4k would be enough
I must have missed where they're redeveloping the dog track stand - is it just an extension of the existing one either side?
From the renders and what I've heard, it seems like they're raising the height of the first few rows so that no one has their feet below pitch level anymore. That probably loses them some capacity from the existing length, but the extensions will more than make up for it and everyone will have a better view.
Nice to see many familiar faces back in the Dexcom Stadium tonight. What did ever happen to Niyi. I know he went to Bristol. And it's a shame not to welcome Jake Heenan back to Galway. Always had huge time for him
Are they tidying up the terraces behind the goals or is anything happening there?
Hard to know from vids and the pics I've seen from the last few years.
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