A Tale of 2 Rats.
As most know James Dargaville and Boyd Killingworth both went to Mater Maria and were Rats juniors.
Both played NSW schools and Boyd also Australian Schools.
James decided to go and play at Uni and Boyd stayed at the Rats. Boyd plays 1st grade whereas James plays 1st grade colts where Uni constantly have shifted him between the backrow and the centres.
James gets picked in the 20's and Boyd misses out.
Could someone please explain. This is not an attack on James but an enquiry into selection policy. If I were a parent of even a moderately talented footballer then I would pay whatever to get him involved in one particular club because once again it appears that if you play for them then you have the inside running.
You would have to think that Uni has some sway ... It will be interesting to see which position Dargaville plays in South Africa as Uni have used him at centre this year. He or Melrose could take the flanker spot that Boyd probably thought was his. Such is life in the lottery of rugby selection.
playing for a University side seems to be a bit of an advantage.
Let's have a look at the free ride that people are implying James Dargaville got in being selected in the Australian Under 20s.
Since coming to Sydney Uni James has trained literally 12 months of the year.
We are now well into the playing season and his gym training involves:
Monday 6:30am Heavy lower body weights
Tuesday 6:30am Heavy upper body weights
Wednesday 6:30 am Dynamic lower body weights
He also does optional extra gym sessions.
Last year he was doing a similar routine and travelling in from Avalon each morning to do his training. He is renowned for being absolutely religious in doing prehab before he trains, spending 15 minutes rolling, stretching and doing band work to activate his glutes. Because he had developed stress fracture problems with his spine while still at school he cannot squat but he has done 5 reps single leg full range with 170kg on the MyoThrusta, indicating very high level lower body strength.
He has not played back row for at least a year and has played just one position, inside centre. At the beginning of last season the strength and conditioning coaches at Sydney Uni identified his exceptional speed, athleticism and defensive ability and suggested he switch to the centres. He runs 40m in 4.96 and beeps 13.2.
At the start of this season he played 12 for Sydney Uni against Samoa A where he acquitted himself well. He chooses to keep learning his craft in Colts although he may well play some games in Grade later in the year.
To suggest that his selection in the Under 20s was because he plays for a particular club is insulting to a gifted young footballer whose training intensity would certainly match anyone in the squad, even if they are playing Grade.
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