John I Dent Cup 2014

[FTS]

Yea mate I think your right - I think it will take them a few weeks to start to click - will be interesting where Ah Wong fits into the side in the coming weeks - playing a full game in 2nds @ 13 and them some 1sts in the same pos.

Ah Wong you can tell is a talented athlete and footballer! The other young outside centre in first grade has been going well and played well last night, runs some good lines. Maybe Ah Wong to the wing?

 

[No.8]

Ah Wong you can tell is a talented athlete and footballer! The other young outside centre in first grade has been going well and played well last night, runs some good lines. Maybe Ah Wong to the wing?

Yea mate they could prob do with Ah Wong at 11 or even there current 13 pushing out to 11 and Ah Wong in at 13 - they also have there U20's Wing/Centre coming back next week I think - which causes more "drama" haha (Cant think of his name) - he maybe put into 2nd grade though - I cant see them keeping Ah Wong in 2nds for long - wasnt he brought down here partly by the Brumbies?

 

[Charlie Brown]

Yea mate they could prob do with Ah Wong at 11 or even there current 13 pushing out to 11 and Ah Wong in at 13 - they also have there U20's Wing/Centre coming back next week I think - which causes more "drama" haha (Cant think of his name) - he maybe put into 2nd grade though - I cant see them keeping Ah Wong in 2nds for long - wasnt he brought down here partly by the Brumbies?

The Vikings had a few of there young boys up in QLD for U'20's OZ camp. I think they really missed young Joey Powell at 9, and Clinton Dale (9) is still coming into form from injury. This was his first game back and he was given some grief from Q'byn who he played for last season. I think its great that Vikings are developing some of there young players this year. Everyone always has a crack at them for importing players all the time! I think you'll find that Q'byn had a lot of imports run on Thursday night. A few SA in there and the big 5 from Brisbane. Q'byn were a much larger forward pack and I think Vikings did well defensively to hold them out for as long as they did. Vikings really didn't have a lot of ball in attack, where as Q'byn attacked most of the second half. Its only a few games in, and yes Vikings have some improvements to make but I still think they dug deep and will be hard to beat this year! IMO it makes for a great competition when its nice and tight and more of an even comp. Yes Ah Wong looks impressive but I thought he was a 6??

 

[No.8]

Could not agree more about the Vikings mate/missing their u20 players - big wraps on the Rowan Perry the 7 and the No.9!

Qbn forwards were huge - where has their 5 come from in qld?

Ah Wong is a 6 but I heard Brumbies are trying to turn him into a Centre? - To be honest from a Vikings point of view they would prob wont him playing at 6 -but I guess they need to follow what he was brought down for....

Who is the 6 from Vikings? any background on him?

 

[Charlie Brown]

Could not agree more about the Vikings mate/missing their u20 players - big wraps on the Rowan Perry the 7 and the No.9!

Qbn forwards were huge - where has their 5 come from in qld?

Ah Wong is a 6 but I heard Brumbies are trying to turn him into a Centre? - To be honest from a Vikings point of view they would prob wont him playing at 6 -but I guess they need to follow what he was brought down for..

Who is the 6 from Vikings? any background on him?

The 6 this week was one of the Oakman-Hunt twins. Michael played at 6 due to a neck injury a few weeks before, and his identical twin Dean played at 5.
They have come through the ranks of junior vikings footy and colts. Played ACT school boys and under 20's brumbies as well as Oz Presidents side in 2010. I heard both boys had an absolute cracker against Warringah in Sydney in the pre season trial games.
I think in a few years, Vikings will have good depth with locally produced loose forwards at Vikings. Young Kerry McInerny always has a crack as well. He was the replacement 7 Rowan Perry. The 7 from Q'byn is also highly rated. Also nice to see Billy Chalker at 10 for Q'byn. A lot of these boys played together at school boys level. Its nice to see that they are still playing and giving first grade a good crack. It shows that the junior development and good coaching across the board is having an impact. Many of these boys came from a year where there were 7 boys from the ACT School boys side of 2010 in either Aus Schools, Aus A or the Inaugural OZ Presidents side. (Tom Cusack & Lewis Holland (OZ 7's), Tom Staniforth (Brumbies, OZ 20's) Clinton Dale (made Brumbies Academy before changes with ARU structure), Dean & Mike Oakman-Hunt (Brumbies 20's, 1st Grade Club), Jack Jones (Prop at Sydney Uni).
The following couple of years produced good performances from Andrew Robinson, Joe Powell, Joel Penders, and the like who are now giving U20's OZ team a crack. Lets hope that the new structure of U20's gives some of the Southern states more of a chance at higher honours. I thought the Southern states team this year that came second overall did very well considering they only trained together a couple of times. The team, IMO had one of the better forward packs.

 

[Charlie Brown]

All I know about the 5 from Q'byn is that he's a big boy. He he. I'd hate to have to feed him every night. I was standing along side Jaryd Butler from Brumbies who said they used to play club together up in Brizzy.

 

[Brumby Jack]

First grade results

Gungahlin beat Wests 43-18
Royals beat Uni-Norths 52-13

 

[No.8]

The 6 this week was one of the Oakman-Hunt twins. Michael played at 6 due to a neck injury a few weeks before, and his identical twin Dean played at 5.
They have come through the ranks of junior vikings footy and colts. Played ACT school boys and under 20's brumbies as well as Oz Presidents side in 2010. I heard both boys had an absolute cracker against Warringah in Sydney in the pre season trial games.
I think in a few years, Vikings will have good depth with locally produced loose forwards at Vikings. Young Kerry McInerny always has a crack as well. He was the replacement 7 Rowan Perry. The 7 from Q'byn is also highly rated. Also nice to see Billy Chalker at 10 for Q'byn. A lot of these boys played together at school boys level. Its nice to see that they are still playing and giving first grade a good crack. It shows that the junior development and good coaching across the board is having an impact. Many of these boys came from a year where there were 7 boys from the ACT School boys side of 2010 in either Aus Schools, Aus A or the Inaugural OZ Presidents side. (Tom Cusack & Lewis Holland (OZ 7's), Tom Staniforth (Brumbies, OZ 20's) Clinton Dale (made Brumbies Academy before changes with ARU structure), Dean & Mike Oakman-Hunt (Brumbies 20's, 1st Grade Club), Jack Jones (Prop at Sydney Uni).
The following couple of years produced good performances from Andrew Robinson, Joe Powell, Joel Penders, and the like who are now giving U20's OZ team a crack. Lets hope that the new structure of U20's gives some of the Southern states more of a chance at higher honours. I thought the Southern states team this year that came second overall did very well considering they only trained together a couple of times. The team, IMO had one of the better forward packs.

Yea there is a number of good players coming through the system - I really think Vikings are wanting to start to build a development line of young players 1. it builds more culture in the club, 2. its better for the club to know that these players are coming through and they can start to develop them from 14-15 + of course it brings down the need to having to out-source players/spend more money on what will prob be a short term investment.

Daniel Penca the qbn 7 has been around for years - was a Vikings junior back in the day, then went to eddies and then of course to qbn 1st grade straight out of the eddies 1st XV - thats when Qbn really got back on their feet and started being one of the "powerhouses" in the comp - he is a good solid club player and I think was the best loose forward on Thursday night - he has just never had the size to move to the next level - if he was about 6 foot + and 15kg heavier in prob would of been a Brumby...I think he will still def be in the mix come NRC time though...

 

[griffins]

First grade results

Gungahlin beat Wests 43-18
Royals beat Uni-Norths 52-13

wests will be pretty disappointed with that - any report on the game? Gungahlin maye be the side to beat looking at that scoreline.

 

[Grant Jones]

The 6 this week was one of the Oakman-Hunt twins. Michael played at 6 due to a neck injury a few weeks before, and his identical twin Dean played at 5.
They have come through the ranks of junior vikings footy and colts. Played ACT school boys and under 20's brumbies as well as Oz Presidents side in 2010. I heard both boys had an absolute cracker against Warringah in Sydney in the pre season trial games.
I think in a few years, Vikings will have good depth with locally produced loose forwards at Vikings. Young Kerry McInerny always has a crack as well. He was the replacement 7 Rowan Perry. The 7 from Q'byn is also highly rated. Also nice to see Billy Chalker at 10 for Q'byn. A lot of these boys played together at school boys level. Its nice to see that they are still playing and giving first grade a good crack. It shows that the junior development and good coaching across the board is having an impact. Many of these boys came from a year where there were 7 boys from the ACT School boys side of 2010 in either Aus Schools, Aus A or the Inaugural OZ Presidents side. (Tom Cusack & Lewis Holland (OZ 7's), Tom Staniforth (Brumbies, OZ 20's) Clinton Dale (made Brumbies Academy before changes with ARU structure), Dean & Mike Oakman-Hunt (Brumbies 20's, 1st Grade Club), Jack Jones (Prop at Sydney Uni).
The following couple of years produced good performances from Andrew Robinson, Joe Powell, Joel Penders, and the like who are now giving U20's OZ team a crack. Lets hope that the new structure of U20's gives some of the Southern states more of a chance at higher honours. I thought the Southern states team this year that came second overall did very well considering they only trained together a couple of times. The team, IMO had one of the better forward packs.

Good to see Vikings bringing some of their own juniors through which they haven't been very good at in the past despite always having strong colts teams, I think Brad Harris is doing well with this and surprise, surprise they are still a top team using their own players.

 

[Grant Jones]

Was a top game in first grade between QBN and Vikings on Thursday night, as mentioned before I would of liked for our boys to have another 5 minutes at them. I don't know if we are vastly improved this year, just continuing on from some of the strong form we showed towards the end of last season. Very frustrating that Vikings seem to still be playing by their own rules again, they were very effective at slowing down the ruck by the tackler not rolling away, hopefully the refs crack down on them as the season continues to give other teams a chance to attack. 2nd grade comeback was more a case of our blokes clicking rather than Vikings fading I would like to think, did the same thing in the major semi last year where we ran over the top of them.

 

[Grant Jones]

What does everyone think about the Brumbies bringing in McVerry as backrow replacement, a 33 year old out of the Japan comp, Laurie keeps talking about looking at the local comp for talent and promoting its best players, yet doesn't give Cree a crack despite dominating the John I Dent for the last 2 seasons.

 

[No.8]

What does everyone think about the Brumbies bringing in McVerry as backrow replacement, a 33 year old out of the Japan comp, Laurie keeps talking about looking at the local comp for talent and promoting its best players, yet doesn't give Cree a crack despite dominating the John I Dent for the last 2 seasons.

To be honest I think its a joke - a guy like Tim Cree is more than ready to take the next step up + he has been around the Brumbies so he sort of knows whats going on but yet they bring in a random? Very confused....depending on the position that Tim is in i.e going to Uni, what Vikings are providing him - you would have to think if he doesnt crack it within acouple of years he will move on?

 

[Grant Jones]

To be honest I think its a joke - a guy like Tim Cree is more than ready to take the next step up + he has been around the Brumbies so he sort of knows whats going on but yet they bring in a random? Very confused..depending on the position that Tim is in i.e going to Uni, what Vikings are providing him - you would have to think if he doesnt crack it within acouple of years he will move on?

Laurie replied to a tweet of mine saying that Cree isn't a 7, I guess that it right but neither is Butler and they have made him one. And since when do teams carry a specialist 7 on the bench anyway?

 

[MarkJ]

Laurie replied to a tweet of mine saying that Cree isn't a 7, I guess that it right but neither is Butler and they have made him one. And since when do teams carry a specialist 7 on the bench anyway?

I guess they used Butler because he was already on the books and the nearest to a 7 they had. And because he's not a specialist 7, they feel they need cover on the bench in case we're getting done over by the opposition 7?

 

[Grant Jones]

I guess they used Butler because he was already on the books and the nearest to a 7 they had. And because he's not a specialist 7, they feel they need cover on the bench in case we're getting done over by the opposition 7?

Yeah I guess so, hasn't been a problem yet though, I think Cree has as many of the skills as Butler to be a 7.

 

[No.8]

Laurie replied to a tweet of mine saying that Cree isn't a 7, I guess that it right but neither is Butler and they have made him one. And since when do teams carry a specialist 7 on the bench anyway?

Yea Butler is def not a 7 haha - Cree could/will play anywhere in the loose forwards - unsure why they wouldnt pick him and get a guy from Japan instead but they must have their reasons - as I said if Penca was bigger I think he would be straight into the mix...

 

[Toby Spencer]

Will video highlights be posted on Youtube again this year?

 

[No.8]

Vikings 1st grade side for the weekend V Royals - Nigel Ah Wong put into 13 in the 1st grade side.

1st Grade

1 James Lay
2 Michael Henry
3 JP Pradaud
4 Gareth Clouston
5 Michael Oakman Hunt
6 Dean Oakman Hunt
7 Kerry McInerney
8 Tim Cree
9 Clint Dale
10 Isaac Thompson
11 Ernest Suavai
12 Rodney Iona
13 Nigel Ah Wong
14 Jerome Niumata
15 Brendon Taueki

 

[Brumby Jack]

Today's results

Uni-Norths 19 def Queanbeyan 17 (not a typo)
Wests 30 def Easts 7
Vikings 26 def Royals 10