Fullback - Cashmore and Crichton
Cashmore should be a certainty. He offers a goal kicking option when Hill goes awol. Crichton gets there due to little other choice.

Wingers - Sivivatu, Anesi and Tahana
The 2 Waikato wingers have looked dangerous all year and simply cannot be left out. Tahana has looked solid on defence and has a great habit of scoring tries. Randle simply has not played for over a year and should have to earn his spot back.

Centre - Tipoki and Lowen.
Tipoki has made every post a winner and Lowen has been a solidifying influence in a very flakey Waikato backline. King should not even be considered, playing rugby should be a pre-requisite to getting a contract.

2nd Five - McQuoid and Maisey.
Ranby, like King, should not be considered. McQuoid has really kicked on from a good year last year and is starting to fulfill the promise he showed as a youngster. Maisey gets in due to few other options.

1st Five - Jackson and Hill
In my world Jackson will get selected as an AB for the end of year tour, in which case he will continue with the Chiefs. Hill will be the understudy to the only decent number 10 in the Chiefs region. Otherwise Donald will get a spot.

Halfback - Senio and Kelleher
Struggle to find a franchise with better halfback options in the country, both are ultra talented and with points to prove. Kelleher wants to become the AB number 1 halfback choice and Senio to prove overlooking him last year was a gross mistake. Although no doubt the fact Senio got injured will count against him. Similar to when Nick Collins got injured and dropped a couple of years back.

Number 8 - Bates and Bourke
Just as a crazy zany idea... lets pick players who have actually played this season. Bourke has really shown his talent since joining the bay. Bates has been a one man pack at times this year and is a valuable player. No other player within the franchise has really played number 8 this year.

Blindside - Lauaki and Ormond
Lauaki can be coached and developed again this year. Ormond... pure class and determination.

Openside - Latu and Holah
How long can Latu's claims be ignored? Probably a long time, but they should not be. I firmly belive that you need a specialist back up 7 in a 28 man squad. Latu has bettered most he has come across this year.

Locks - Robinson, Gibbes and Upton
Gibbes needs to move to lock... permanently. He will be selected for the AB's there and performed good things there for the Chiefs last year. Robinson is an automatic selection and Upton has been the lineout force in the Bay team, Hohneck and Duley should miss out, they have been average this year, and failed to make any impression in last years S12.

Hooker - Lutui and Willis
Lutui to come on as an impact to replace Willis. Lutui's lineout skills are not as wobbly as Foster would like to tell everyone, its just a handy excuse to pick a Waikato player instead.

Props - castle, Davison, Manu and Collins
I choose not to know much about propping... these guys will do.

Now the question... how close will this team be to the one which is selected.... NOT EVEN CLOSE!

And why? Because Waikato are determined to look after players which are contracted to their NPC side. McQuoid and Tipoki are being chased by Otago... Are Otago chasing any Waikato players? No way. The decent ones are guaranteed Chiefs spots... the ones who never played in the NPC are guaranteed Chiefs places....and the useless ones are guaranteed chiefs spots... so who is there to chase in the Waikato?

Obviously the coach has an agenda around protecting his beloved Waikato's NPC chances next year.

Is this right to have in a franchise coach... obviously not, but whilst you have a board and CEO who defend the in-defensible it will continue. The board which runs the Chiefs need to pay close attention to the selections this year.

Questions need to be asked if players get contracted after not having played any NPC rugby. Again I remind you of Nick Collins, he got injured mid NPC and lack of game time was the excuse given for dropping him, he promptly left for Japan. So will the same apply to Couch, Ranby, King and Randle?  It didn't last season with Randle being selected, and not playing a single minute, so expect not.

The NZRFU are reluctant to act, so its up to the Chiefs board to ask some very pointed questions.

Some would say that the Chiefs did well last year, but how much better could they be if they selected the best players, rather than the players that Foster knows best?

Sadly we will never know as Foster is already making excuses as to why only a few players from the team that came 3rd (second equal on points) in the NPC will only get a few spots in the Chiefs.

The Chiefs selections will be rotten to the core.