Without taking into consideration the amount of returning year 11 oarsmen, My predictions are as follows:
Joeys: Clear favourites, having every crew podium on the day except for their 2nd VIII. Michael Lane seems to know what his doing over there with some fine form in the previous years, a 2nd in 2013 and 2014 and now a 1st in 2015.
Scots: Winning the 2nd VIII and coming 2nd in the 1st VIII race was a very good result for Scots at HotR. With a 3rd in 2014 and a 2nd in 2015 in the 1st VIII event, surely Scots are well due for a win. Time will tell.
Shore: Let's look back to 2011, Grammar win the Rennie beating shore by a couple of seconds. A year later, shore win it back in a time of 5:48, nudging out a competitive Scots crew which pulled a 5:51. David Jennings definitely knows what his doing over there, and if anything is possible, leave it to him to pull it off.
Riverview: It seems that Riverview, despite their shed being located on campus haven't had any form of success over the last couple of years. Another school which is going through a drought similar to that of Scots, if I remember correctly Riverview have come 4th for the last 4 years in a row. Despite boasting coaches of elite Australian level, nothing that spectacular has arisen out of the shed.
Newington: Although winning the 2nd VIII event a few years ago and placing 3rd in the 1st VIII in that same year, Newington was surely going to again reclaim a win in the 1st VIII. However, it seemed that things only got worst, with a 6th, 7th and now a 5th this year, which is disappointing seeing that the 2nd VIII this year managed a 3rd at HotR. Despite this, I do believe Newington can be a serious threat this year, with a strong year group coming through, and a shake up in the program.
All 4 schools mentioned above could easily take it out this year. I think at this stage, the winning edge between each school would be a big pre-season, as we saw from Joeys last year pulling a sub 6 in their first regatta at SIRC.
As for Kings, Grammar and High I don't know that much which is going on in each of their sheds. If anyone does, please inform the forum.