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rugbywhisperer
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Caden played yes and is repeating grade 12 this year. I also think he is playing better this year. Had a shocker last year.
Australian Schoolboys & National Championship 2010
- Thread starter Lee Grant
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rugby_man
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I thought Waldo Wessels was the best halfback in the trials. It's obviously politics in my eyes at it's best with ISA dominating the 1sts side. I was very suprised to see David Lolohea miss out altogether as well.
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Mullsey
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Tonga Maafu played qld 2 last year aswell. we was in grade 11 at the time. he has had a great season for marist ashgrove, and from what i saw at ballymore on the weekend he played exceptionaly well. i dont know how there is only 1 aic player in qld 1, and he is on the bench!
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manu
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Yes and a few other boys from last year playing this year: Michael Bermingham, Curtis Browning, Chris F,Sautia, Will Slipper, Dion Taumata......
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rugbywhisperer
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That's because there are no AIC players better than the GPS players in Qld 1.
It doesn't take an Einstein to figure that one out. None of them stood out at all and the standard from AIC this year was exceptionally poor. If anything the CSS players showed better potential than the AIC players. Personally I think they were lucky to get the numbers they did into Qld II.
If AIC want more players in the main team then the best thing they can do is to be competitive in the trials. I know there are some good players in the AIC however team performance counts a lot and when a team gets thrashed like the 2 AIC teams did then even good players - such as Klassen just don't get a chance to show their wares.
Moore injured his ankle for GPS in the game against CAS at Newington and had to be helped off the field. It looked serious and he couldn't play against CHS at Knox 3 days later.
It's obviously too bad to play in the Oz Championships otherwise he would have been the Twos hooker - as you indicate: in NSW he is 2nd only to the 2009 Oz Schools hooker, Roach.
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waves
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Actually i remember that Cayden Mahere kid he made Australia A im preety sure and performed resonably well at the championships in NSW.
Wash your mouth out young man - I'm a Joeys tragic; but The St. Augustine's team is pretty special.
For Queensland folks who don't know: St. Augustines is an up and coming rugby powerhouse school, but in the historically lesser ISA competition. This year the coach and main selector of the NSW Is is John Papahatzis, who is also the coach of the St. Augustines' team.
Papa was a long time sportsmaster at St.Eddies in Canberra and was the rugby coach of such players as Gregan and Giteau - and was the first to recognise Giteau as a future Wallaby. He has also coached the Oz U/19 team and Oz Schoolboys, and had a stint as Southern Districts 1st grade coach. He knows his stuff.
In 2005 he started up the rugby competition programme in St. Augustines and it looks like he is starting a dynasty.
Anyhow he has had the courage to pick all the ISA backline as the NSW I backline, except one GPS winger, no doubt to lauch an expansive game. This could be good or bad and I can't pick which way it will go. One thing I know for sure is that there are some highly fancied lads playing in the NSW IIs this year.
The Qld I v NSW II game will be a crunch game and I fancy the NSW team to have a good chance. Likewise, if the NSW Is backline, stacked with ISA players, doesn't work out, then I would put my money on Qld IIs in their game.
Knowing little about the 4 other teams in the comp, I wouldn't be surprised to see either both Qld teams in the final, or both NSW teams.
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rugbywhisperer
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Thanks lee,
It's always going to be a tough call for the coach and selectors. It is always going to happen and if the players are any good, the coach at least knows what he has to work with. So long as deserving players are not excluded and that is the hard part. Sometimes it just so happens that the best players all go to the same school as the coach.
I agree the Qld I and NSW II game should on all accounts be a cracker and it usually is. This is a very good Qld I team with a solid and mobile forward pack and a very, very fast backline.
It's always going to be a tough call for the coach and selectors. It is always going to happen and if the players are any good, the coach at least knows what he has to work with. So long as deserving players are not excluded and that is the hard part. Sometimes it just so happens that the best players all go to the same school as the coach.
I agree the Qld I and NSW II game should on all accounts be a cracker and it usually is. This is a very good Qld I team with a solid and mobile forward pack and a very, very fast backline.
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Doc
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The reality is that GPS vs AIC is men vs boys. Anyone who saw this years comp would notice that the gap has been getting bigger and bigger each year. While there is certainly talent in the AIC players, they simply aren't there physically yet (its much worse than intra-gps comp size differences too).
There was one big bopper in AIC 2, but he looked like an oversized 13 year old, just a kid. The rest of AIC 2 would struggle to weigh more than 80kg.
Not picking on AIC its just the facts, just as QLD has dominated National Championships last few years.
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waves
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Papa also coached at Waverley College when scoloships were there and was a big factor in luring Leaguies to change preferences in schoolboy rugby then left to St Augustines after everything got dropped but i guess his method is the same.
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Upright
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rugbywhisperer,
Thanks for the update on the Qld I's, they sound impressive. Do you believe they are as strong across the park as last years team? If they are they will be well worth watching. What about the Qld II's how are they shaping?
Thanks for the update on the Qld I's, they sound impressive. Do you believe they are as strong across the park as last years team? If they are they will be well worth watching. What about the Qld II's how are they shaping?
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rugby_man
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If QLD I underestimate NSW II, they could be in for a very long day. I have seen the QLD I line-up and gee they are very impressive. I remember Henry Taefu playing for QLD Red Under 16 last year and he was quite impressive IIRC. Also they have Chris F'Sautia, Curtis Browning and Caleb Timu. But if they think NSW II is the second best side in NSW, they will get it handed to them. With Tom Connor, Boyd Killingworth, Joel Luani, Jed Gillespie, Tom Kauffman in the forwards and Apolosi Latunipulu, Jason Seage, Cameron Clark and Chris Ingate in the backs, expect a very torrid affair.
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rugbywhisperer
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I think the team is a better team per se. I think Henry Taefu will be a good distributor to Sautia and when he combines with Crook it has a great attacking potential.
I certainly don't think they will evere underetimate the NSW teams. After all, it was only a couple of years ago that NSW II upset Qld I yet Qld II took out the title by beating NSW I in the final.
I think NSW have more to worry about he Combined States team which this year can draw players from NSW and QLD.
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waves
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What about the new rule which allows players who did not make NSW Schools trial out for Combined States apparently because Victoria and Western Australia are fighting this one alone this year. If so I dont see why not half if not all the boys would have a real shot at making this team, would be a good way to prove a point.
I wrote what is below in response to what waves wrote but before reading yours - but I will leave it in as I spent 10 minutes on it. Do you have a link to the info on the change of policy - you are a lot better at this kind of thing than I am; I can never find the important sfuff.
PS Qld II beat NSW II in that final in 2006. That was the year that both Twos teams beat the other state's Ones team. It didn't help the Two's players of either state get into the Oz Schools Ones side though. To be honest the Ones players like Cooper, Beale, Morahan, Davies, Palmer, Horne and Simmons were better but the Twos players combined better as teams.
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Is this the case? I know that indigenous lads who don't make their GPS etc teams can nominate for the Lloyd McDermott Development Team (LMDT) for the Div II comp which is held at the same time as the NSW and Qld trials.
In 2007 Clinton Sills, the Oz 7s player and who played for Scots when he was at school, made the Combined States team from the LMDT, but IIRR he played in that Div II tournament. Maybe I just assumed he did; he certainly didn't play for GPS that year.
Maybe they have changed the rules as you indicated and Combined States can cherry pick from players who didn't make the NSW, Qld, ACT, WA and Vic sides, but somehow I doubt it.
There's a case for cherry picking indigenous players who didn't make their school group or state sides in the interest of spreading the game in the indigenous community.
Joeys have two indigenous lads in their Ones, 12.Corey Ashby and 10. Dillon Walford - and winger Leroy Buchanan could be indigenous rather than having an Islander heritage. Dillon made the NSW GPS IIIs and Buchanan the IIs but Corey missed out. These lads who play for a good GPS 1st XV would walk into the newly structured Combined States side since now it covers just the NT, SA and theoretically Tassie.
The Div II trials are still on as I write this and I doubt if they will get in the Combined States team anyway because of a likely requirement to play in the Div II tournament first. You could see a few indigenous lads falling through the cracks if they hold out to play in the State trials.
Whether they make the likes of, say, the GPS team, or not, there should be a way of scouting indigenous players first to spirit a few of them off to play for the LMDT team in the Div II championships if they don't make GPS, though the timeline between the naming of the GPS teams and the selection of the LMDT must be tight. And there should be a way to enable indigenous players who do make their state trials team, to play for the Combined States team if they don't make their own state team.
It sounds hard, but as I always say: if there was a million dollars in it a way could be found.
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rugbywhisperer
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There is no info on the Australian Rugby Football Schools Union site (http://austschools.rugbynet.com.au/ ) on the change of policy however it was broadcast infinitum during the Qld trials that for the first time players from Qld and NSW not making their respective state teams were eligible for inclusion in the Combined States team. That team we were told was to be announced today.
I can think of a couple of lads who would be holding their breath for that opportunity.
As for the strength of the two teams, in my opinion the Qld I team is by far the stronger on paper. As mentioned before, none of the AIC players really stood out sufficiently to supplant the GPS players so the Qld II team I would hope are very strong on teamwork rather than individual ability. Having said that I am sure they represent a serious threat to anyone playing them for that reason.
I can think of a couple of lads who would be holding their breath for that opportunity.
As for the strength of the two teams, in my opinion the Qld I team is by far the stronger on paper. As mentioned before, none of the AIC players really stood out sufficiently to supplant the GPS players so the Qld II team I would hope are very strong on teamwork rather than individual ability. Having said that I am sure they represent a serious threat to anyone playing them for that reason.
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skullring
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David Lolohea, George Kent, Jordan Reid, Jesse Harris and Brogan Roods
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