2018 schools rowing

[Inside Shoulder]

this year, none of these factors are in their favour and Kings, Riverview and Scots are hungry and capable.

If the cultural shift you speak of is really going to make a difference, it will take time. I would love to be proven wrong this season, but the odds are ever so heavily against you.

-GDTS

You call him optimistic and you cite 'view as a contender? (Joke)
Who was the wallabies captain when they last won?
By way of history: 1977 SGS 1st VIII last - literally, veaten by high! 2nd VIII & IVs nowhere.
1978 SGS 1st and 2nd VIIIs won.
So it's been done and it was a new broom hat did it in the of rusty Robertson: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusty_Robertson

 

[Remember 2011]

I have a question for our new Grammar acquaintance. Will Grammar resort to cheating at HOTR again this coming season by rowing no fours but a 3rd VIII?
So lets not start on the whole having no fours plea. Because that was just about the cheapest, hollowest victory i had ever seen in the 3rd VIII at HOTR.
You're also going to need a lot more than high expectations to beat the crew in the adjacent boat shed, possibly some more dirty tactics such as jumping on the "Scholarship" bandwagon.

From what I understand, and as i alluded to in my first post, the days of dropping out of the comp rather than competing in the comp are over (at least as far as rowing goes). The headmaster has announced that a new "Rowing professional" will be running the program with a new plan and a new strategy. I logically assume that means the end of the old gaurd and their tactics. This would also mean a new AAGPS convener for rowing since the old Grammar head of rowing was the convener who allowed the 3rd VIII shenanigans. If he's gone then theres no more cheating.

 

[LuvToRo]

Thanks for that clarification. I'm being serious. The new convener would not necessarily be from Grammar. Any one have any ideas on who it would be?

 

[Remember 2011]

This year, none of these factors are in their favour and Kings, Riverview and Scots are hungry and capable.

If the cultural shift you speak of is really going to make a difference, it will take time. I would love to be proven wrong this season, but the odds are ever so heavily against you.

I Would mention that Kings has the miraculous ability to do very well in year 10 and then disappoint in the 1st viii. My suspicion is that their shed is run as ineffectively and haphazardly as grammar's has been if they consistently manage to squander such a talented pool of athletes.


Further, I'd agree that the numbers wont be the same as other schools and that will take a while to come through. But training and talent counts for more than simply numbers. We had twelve year 8 quads this year and they were all terrible because the program was awful (one of my crews were only allowed to train on the water 4 times in the whole of term 4!) and the boys had no ambition to win/compete. This coming season those two things have changed for the seniors, and that's why I'm willing to back them.


P.S I dont mind if you all laugh at this now - I know how outlandish this might seem. But come racing season, you'll see what Im talking about.

 

[Remember 2011]

Thanks for that clarification. I'm being serious. The new convener would not necessarily be from Grammar. Any one have any ideas on who it would be?

I agree. and I very much doubt that the next one will be from grammar. i was just confirming that the 2017 convener will not be returning to that job in 2018.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

You'd be insane to discount 'view as a serious contender next year

They've been a serious contender since John the Baptist was bow.
My recollection is that they managed a 50 year drought

 

[Inside Shoulder]

. We had twelve year 8 quads this year and they were all terrible because the program was awful (one of my crews were only allowed to train on the water 4 times in the whole of term 4!) and the boys had no ambition to win/compete. This coming season those two things have changed for the seniors, and that's why I'm willing to back them.

Hallelulah!
I had brief exposure to the junior shed 7 years ago and spoke my mind on here about the appalling level of discipline commitment and application that I observed.
It was apparent to me that the boss was not interested in making sure the junior shed performed.

 

[bigmac]

Hallelulah!
I had brief exposure to the junior shed 7 years ago and spoke my mind on here about the appalling level of discipline commitment and application that I observed.
It was apparent to me that the boss was not interested in making sure the junior shed performed.

Who was the boss? Head or rowing or head of school? Remember 11 hints that the new headmaster will be driving the change. Townsend did a similar thing in 92 with andrew randell appointed as rowing director. Big improvements very quickly

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[Andrew B Cox]

I Would mention that Kings has the miraculous ability to do very well in year 10 and then disappoint in the 1st viii.

Yes, that very thing has kept me awake at night. Interestingly, Kings have won the 1st yr 10 VIII in 2014 and 2017, and came 2nd in 2016, 3rd in 2015. I coached the crews in '14 and '15 before moving to the seniors. My senior results with the same kids is 6th and 6th. This years coach won this year, but came 7th in the 2nd VIII in 2015.

I have written the Year 10 & senior programs for the past two years.

I tend to think the Exchange program mainly hurt the boys' transition to senior rowing. Many had missed around 800kms training.

That program is now defunct. This year, all our seniors are here all season.

So remember 11, you are right to suspect incompetence. However, that is hardly the only variable

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Who was the boss? Head or rowing or head of school? Remember 11 hints that the new headmaster will be driving the change. Townsend did a similar thing in 92 with andrew randell appointed as rowing director. Big improvements very quickly

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Head coach.

 

[bigmac]

Head coach.

Suprised the head coach dropped the ball. I thought he was very high up in nsw rowing hierarchy. Accept what you say though

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[Inside Shoulder]

Suprised the head coach dropped the ball. I thought he was very high up in nsw rowing hierarchy. Accept what you say though

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I raised it the time and subsequently and everybody said I was wrong and he was not the source of the problem and since I had no recent knowledge of rowing I let it go.

 

[bigmac]

I raised it the time and subsequently and everybody said I was wrong and he was not the source of the problem and since I had no recent knowledge of rowing I let it go.

You have been critical of the jnr boatshed for a while. Looks like you had a point

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[Remember 2011]

I raised it the time and subsequently and everybody said I was wrong and he was not the source of the problem and since I had no recent knowledge of rowing I let it go.

Difficult to say who was chiefly responsible, but in my opinion, the headmaster, head coach and sports master were not great to say the least. Headcoach was particularly atrocious for the juniors though

 

[Remember 2011]

Pretty poor form that a junior rowing coach gets on this forum and publicly slams his own head coach. A further issue for the program.

*ex head coach.

Also as a former student whose parents paid extortionate amounts of money so that I could attend, I thinks its fairly clear that his incompetence deserves to be criticized, since I along with many others was the one who lost out when he didn't do his job. Further I am clearly praising my current employer in such optimistic terms that most others seem to be skeptical, so I think loyalty is not a question.

 

[LuvToRo]

Pretty poor form that a junior rowing coach gets on this forum and publicly slams his own head coach. A further issue for the program.

I agree i wouldn't say that its a very professional thing to do to either the current head coach or an ex head coach.

You pay to attend the school but unlike all girls schools you don't pay to row. There are girls schools rowing sheds in the same predicament as Grammar currently who pay fair chunks of money on top of their already expensive school fees and they don't criticise, complain about or stop paying the rowing fees if they are losing.

 

[SIRCWATCH]

Maybe you should have just pulled harder Remember 2011?

 

[behindtheshed]

From what I understand, and as i alluded to in my first post, the days of dropping out of the comp rather than competing in the comp are over (at least as far as rowing goes). The headmaster has announced that a new "Rowing professional" will be running the program with a new plan and a new strategy. I logically assume that means the end of the old gaurd and their tactics. This would also mean a new AAGPS convener for rowing since the old Grammar head of rowing was the convener who allowed the 3rd VIII shenanigans. If he's gone then theres no more cheating.

So is Boo Radley definitely out? As AAGPS convenor and as head of rowing at SGS?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Pretty poor form that a junior rowing coach gets on this forum and publicly slams his own head coach. A further issue for the program.

I agree i wouldn't say that its a very professional thing to do to either the current head coach or an ex head coach.

You pay to attend the school but unlike all girls schools you don't pay to row. There are girls schools rowing sheds in the same predicament as Grammar currently who pay fair chunks of money on top of their already expensive school fees and they don't criticise, complain about or stop paying the rowing fees if they are losing.

Why?
I don't know anything about school girls rowing, but i do know that the SGS problem is a lot deeper than just losing - and despite what a casual reader of this thread might think, winning is not the test of any successful school sporting program.
As for blame I think there are several issues. As I recall it Vallance had a son who rowed so he must have known what was happening but I doubt he understood the importance of it.
The timeline was that the sports Master came over from Joeys andemployed a 1st XI coach from cricket NSW and a rugby coach with coaching experience at ARC level as well as 1st grade club and high rep level honours. Don't know about the position in cricket but the simple fact is that the 1st XV coach was asleep at the wheel and had no interest in the younger age groups - should have gone years earlier.
My take is that the Sports Master, a former premiership winning SJC cricket coach, recognised the problem in the 2 land based sports and addressed it.
Rowing had always been a special case - they, unlike any other sport, were permitted to run their own fundraising for boats etc.
Whatever were the problems in the shed were postponed from being acted on by the victory in 2011. But to anyone with some knowledge of rowing a short exposure to the disinterest in what was going on in the junior shed was a sure sign to me of big big problems coming down the line: kids were not turning up to training and completely disrupting the training of the crews they were in on a regular basis (every Monday for instance) but because there seemed to be no or limited teacher involvement there were no disciplinary consequences for that.
In defence of Vallance he knew nothing about sport - it took, I think, someone who did to tell him what the problem was. From a rowing point of view they snuck a win just at the right time to persevere with the status quo.

 

[Remember 1979]

Grammar, schmammar. I've been watched you post all about them and I don't see them having a chance in the world. However this is a new season, and I'm expecting big things from Scots. Now I know what you're all going to say: "SHOREWASH SHOREWASH SHOREWASH", or maybe the few campaigning for Riverview, but KT is left in the dust and I believe this is a new start for Scots. They began to show potential in the lead up to HOTR, but a disappointing performance left a bad taste in the rest of your mouths. But you wait, I'll be on the banks of Penrith witnessing the first time a Scots first Viii has won since 1979, a distant memory for most on this forum. I remember there was a time when Scots was the hot topic on this forum, but KT has lead them to nothing special. With someone finally steering the ship, Scots could be on course to ending one of the largest droughts in the GPS