Here are some facts about the recent Under 16’s State champs. I would prefer to let the facts speak for themselves and leave Gaggerlanders to draw most of their own conclusions.
These facts have been sourced from information in the public domain. There may be slight errors based on errors in the source information. By amalgamating data available from a variety of sources, some objective facts become quite obvious. What follows represents a small subset of data available from about a 40 minute data gathering exercise, followed by some electronic filtering and counting in a spreadsheet. Thanks Mr Excel.
There are 4 competitions for Under 16’s administered by SJRU.
Under 16 A Sundays – 197 players in 8 teams
Under 16 B Sundays – 244 players in 9 teams
Under 16 C Sundays – 158 Players in 6 teams
Under 16 A Saturdays – 136 Players in 6 teams
Total kids on the books of Village footy teams = 716.
From this talent pool, the District Associates chose 195 players to do battle in the NSW Junior State Champs.
Not all Districts entered teams.
Randwick District has two U16 club teams, and only 1 child took part in the State Champs and he was in the 17 team. Both these two teams play in the A division, one in the Saturday A Comp, one in the Sunday A Comp. There was no Randwick District Team in State Champs.
Easts District has 1 team of 23 players, and only 1 child took part in the State Champs, and he played in the West Harbour Team. There was no East District Team in State Champs.
Sydney Uni has 1 Team of 29 players, and none took part in the State Champs. This team plays in the Saturday A competition. There was no Uni District Team in State Champs.
Why couldn’t Randwick, Easts and Uni register a combined team? They seem to have enough players.
Southern Districts has 2 teams, although their District team was almost entirely from one club who play in the Sunday A competition, along with two boys playing in the U17 grade. There were no players from the other club team which plays in the Saturday A competition. The District team lost two games and drew one at State Champs.
Southern Zone therefore represents 155 players. This association is entitled to showcase 25 of their best at the regional tournament after State Champs. Only 27 boys were at State Championships over the Long Weekend from Southern Zone Village Club Teams.
The situation is not quite as bad from the other zones, however Western Zone has 208 players registered for Village Park Footy (Eastwood 96, Penrith 51, Wests 61). 71 of these 208 were at the State Champs. This association is entitled to showcase 25 of its best talent at the regional championships. The 3 district teams won one, drew one, and lose seven games during State Champs.
Northern Zone has 367 registered players playing across 4 districts (Gordon 153, Manly 51, Norths 63, Warringah 100). 97 players from Northern Zone played at State Champs, including 20 players who are registered with clubs that does not appear in any competition administered by SJRU. At State Champs, Teams from this Zone played 16 games including the final. Of these 16 games 11 were won, 4 lost and one drawn. This association, representing 387 players, is entitled to showcase 25 players at the regional tournament.
The Northern Suburbs District team is an interesting case study. This district has two teams, totalling 63 registered players. One team (Mosman) has 41 players and plays in Sunday 16 B division. The other team (Hunters Hill) has 22 players and is plays Sunday 16C grade. The State Championship District Team players are all from Mosman. They were the Under 13, U14, and U15 State Champions, and a beaten finalist this year. There must be something special n the water bottles at State Champs, because the results from Mosman this year in the Sunday B Division have been lacklustre: beaten by Newport 12-17, beat Lindfield (now in div C) 34-19, beat North Rocks 41 -12, and a close one with Easts 33-31. Easts did not field a team in the State Champs despite staying within two points of the reigning state Champions. According to the ARU JGS lists, the Mosman Whales, who play in B division for club, has 11 JGS players - from lower North Shore Schools such as Hills Sports High, Scots and Cranbrook. Most clubs with 41 players on their books would register two teams, and have one or two players back up for the other team from time to time.
At NSW JRU State Champs, regular SJRU competitions were represented by:
32/136 Saturday A Grade Comp players. (102 missed the cut)
71/197 Sunday A Grade Comp players. (126 missed the cut)
60/244 Sunday B Grade Comp players. (184 missed the cut)
8/158 Sunday C Grade Comp players. (150 missed the cut)
3 players were young age players from Sunday Under 17B teams, and one was from a Under 17A team.
20 players are in Clubs that do not play in SJRU Competitions.
Are there really 60 kids in the Sunday B grade who are better than the 126 kids from the A grade who didn’t get a geurnsey for their District team?
For the Regional Tournament, 93 players from the 195 players who were listed in the State Champs programme have been selected in the Zone Teams. These players are 42/60 Sunday A Comp, 20/60 Sunday B Comp, 2/8 Sunday C Comp, 9/32 Saturday A Comp, 18/20 “non playing” members, and 4 players listed could not be found in the Programme for State Champs.
How important is past reputation/performance?
2011 SJRU Under 15 = 23 names. 22 of these were at State Champs. 6 of these are registered with clubs that are not playing this year. All 22 of the SJRU U15’s at State Champs will be in the Regional tournament, 11 @ MNZ, 2 @ MWZ, 4 @ MSZ, 5 @ Barbars.
What is the role of the Regional Tournament?
Surely it is to select the best players for the SJRU U16 team, and not to stroke the ego of Zone and District Administrators, selectors and coaches by establishing which Zone has the best players.
The numbers of players in each zone, then numbers of players from the zone who play at the State Champs, the record of the district teams from some of the zones, and the numbers of players selected for higher development via the JGS programme all suggest that the current structure for the Regional tournament based on Zones is not fair, and some kids from better performing teams are being overlooked as the SJRU maintain an outdated ego stroking and unfair Zone Team Model.
State Championship Results
Northern Zone Teams
Gordon Played 5 won 5
Norths Played 5 won 4 Lost 1
Manly Played 3 won 1 lost 1 Drew 1
Warringah Played 3 Won 1 Lost 2
West Zone Teams
Eastwood Played 3 Won 1 Lost 1 Drew 1
Wests Played 3 Lost 3
Penrith Played 3 lost 3
South Zone Teams
Southern District Played 3 Drew 1 Lost 2
Is this fair?
At State Championships, Manly and Eastwood were in the same pool, with Gordon and Wests ( A nice incestuous SJRU pool). They drew with each other, and both teams beat West’s and lost to Gordon. Conclusion is they are roughly equal or are they?
Eastwood will have 19 players at Regional Tournament - 15 players in MWZ and 4 in Barbars team.
Manly only have 5 players at Regional Tournament – 1 in MNZ, 2 with MSZ and 2 in Barbars.
The number of development opportunities available to the Manly kids hardly seems fair and equitable compared to those available for Eastwood kids. Meanwhile Southern Districts seems to be positively pampered for a team that did not win any games at all, and has zero competition for places from other Districts within the Zone.
The lions share of places in the SJRU regional tournament are given to kids who are not regularly playing in the SJRU competition.
Why do kids who clearly are not playing any Village club rugby get to benefit from having two pathways to higher honours?
The performance of the two teams containing the players who do not appear to be playing much SJRU rugby, suggests that these players will form the majority of the 2012 SJRU Under 16 team. “Scholarships Thread” anyone?
The often heard tale that Schools prevent kids from playing SJRU rugby appears to be exactly that based on the number of Schools superstars that were playing at St Lukes on the Weekend.
Given that, it is difficult to understand why Easts can not raise a competitive team by roping in their stars from Cranbrook, Waverley and Scots. There were some of these boys, who would have played their early footy at Easts, listed as playing for other districts at St Lukes.
Similar for Randwick. Unlike Easts, they even have a team which is seeming to perform rather well in A division Sunday comp.
How can Manly sustain a competitive team at State Champs, and the Wicks chose not to show up? (Surely not due to the money Problems at Brook Street?). Like Easts, there is a good argument for the Wicks to get their Scots, and Waverley boys back if they feel that they must strengthen the village club team. I noted that one Coogee U16 lad who has recently been parachuted into Scots even had to play in the Under 17’s to get noticed on the weekend.
Poor old Two Blues. Since the Raptors have gone across to Penrith, they’ve got nothing…..
