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Melbourne Juniors

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daz

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All,

I am about to relocate from Perth to Melbourne. My son plays juinor rugby in Perth and I am looking for a good club side in Melbourne that preferably has a juniors to seniors pathway.

I'll be in the Western suburbs and I believe that Footscray RUFC might be the best bet at this stage.

Any Melbournites able to offer some suggestions? Initially, I'm looking for U14 for 2012.

Cheers.
 
Slash

Slash

Bill Watson (15)
daz said:
All,

I am about to relocate from Perth to Melbourne. My son plays juinor rugby in Perth and I am looking for a good club side in Melbourne that preferably has a juniors to seniors pathway.

I'll be in the Western suburbs and I believe that Footscray RUFC might be the best bet at this stage.

Any Melbournites able to offer some suggestions? Initially, I'm looking for U14 for 2012.

Cheers.
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Moorrabbin
 
A

Army_Gav

Guest
Western Clubs:
- Footscray (Premier)
- Melton (Div 2)
- Wyndham City (Div 2)

I think Powerhouse (Premier) even play their juniors out at Altona.
 
James Buchanan

James Buchanan

Trevor Allan (34)
Slash said:
Moorrabbin
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Moorabbin is in the South East. Not a good option.

Aside from that, it depends on how established you want the club to be. Footscray only recently regained its place in premier division. If it keeps going well by the time your young'un is up there it could be a successful team but its not historically known as a dominant club.

That being said, the historically strong clubs are mostly based in the east, along with Uni (inner north west). I believe Uni is affiliated with Northern RUFC as their juniors though.

If powerhouse is playing their juniors in the west, they may be a strong option as they have been regular players at premier level for a long while now. I'm not sure what their pathways are historically like; I played schoolboy rugby coming up so I mostly knew players at Uni, Melbourne and Harlequins, but wasn't so familiar with the other clubs.
 
en_force_er

en_force_er

Geoff Shaw (53)
I came from Vic juniors reasonably recently so I'll give you a rundown. Keep in mind a professional set-up has just starter in Victoria so I expect the face of Vic rugger to substantially change in the next 2-3 years. Anyway, here you go:

If you plan to live near Altona, Powerhouse would be a good option (the reason their seniors aren't based out of where there juniors are is something to do with two clubs merging). They aren't traditionally strong in juniors but seem to be getting better and are putting more teams of the park each year. Their senior club is consistently good in every grade if you're interested in your sons progression.

Footscray is a club on the rise, they've put some good stuff together with their seniors but their juniors aren't there yet. Despite having some committed individuals are struggling to build a good junior base (apparently they struggle to get players back year-to-year). Honestly, they are probably a few years too early for your son to have a particularly good experience playing for them.

Wyndham City seem to be THE dominant junior club but they struggle to hold onto their players in seniors because they are in what in considered the heartland of Vic League (there's like 3 league clubs in spitting distance). That being said they're trying very hard to sort out enough blokes to field an U20s side because they really want that pathway. Who knows where they'll be by the time your son hits 19 as Endeavour Hills (now a premier club) were in a very similar place to them just 2 years ago.

I wouldn't bother with Melton. I know nothing of the club and I'm sure they are great people but they seem to struggle to get the numbers in juniors and they are very much a social senior club. Doesn't sound like you'd be moving out that way anyway though.
 
R

Rukspin

Guest
http://www.melbournerugby.com.au

Melbourne have a strong club with age groups from under 6 to under 18 in junior grades. 5 Senior sides, masters and colts teams to pathway into.

Might be a little far if you live in western suburbs?
 
D

daz

Guest
Thanks to you all for the info. Wyndham City got the chocolates.

Very good basic skills here in junior Melbourne rugby; much better than Perth IMO.
 
ACT Crusader

ACT Crusader

Jim Lenehan (48)
daz - Wyndam is "poly central" :). I know of a few families that were associated with the club that spoke highly of it and they had previously played au Moorabbin and Box Hill.

Good luck with the move - but why would live in the West. Bayside or east is where its at :)
 
en_force_er

en_force_er

Geoff Shaw (53)
daz said:
Thanks to you all for the info. Wyndham City got the chocolates.

Very good basic skills here in junior Melbourne rugby; much better than Perth IMO.
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They're a club on the rise too. Right in the middle of Victoria's league heartland (that might be a bit of an oxymoron though).
 
D

daz

Guest
en_force_er said:
They're a club on the rise too. Right in the middle of Victoria's league heartland (that might be a bit of an oxymoron though).
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And right in the middle of the Melbourne chapter of the All-Black cheer squad, I have noticed. Of a junior team with 25 kids, my boy is only one of two who wears an Oz S15 or Wallabies shirt to training....

Interestingly, Wyndham City used to be a league team up until 2 or 3 years ago. They got zero support from the Storm so defected to the VRU. The Rebels send Laurie Weeks and Isaiah Mosese to the club every month or so, as well as include them in many 5 Star engagement issues.

Anyway, a very good club with a good culture. Glad to be part of our great game in Victoria, that's for sure.
 
en_force_er

en_force_er

Geoff Shaw (53)
daz said:
And right in the middle of the Melbourne chapter of the All-Black cheer squad, I have noticed. Of a junior team with 25 kids, my boy is only one of two who wears an Oz S15 or Wallabies shirt to training....

Interestingly, Wyndham City used to be a league team up until 2 or 3 years ago. They got zero support from the Storm so defected to the VRU. The Rebels send Laurie Weeks and Isaiah Mosese to the club every month or so, as well as include them in many 5 Star engagement issues.

Anyway, a very good club with a good culture. Glad to be part of our great game in Victoria, that's for sure.
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I'll think you'll find Melb rugby has a massive multicultural flavour and you'll be lucky to see too many boys walking around in Aussie jerseys.

As for Wyndham being a league club I think it's been closer to 10 years and I've been involved in Vic club rugger for 3 years and they weren't too new to the scene then.

Wyndham have been trying to get a Colts side up and running for years in the hope that it will ease their loss of numbers when players finish U18s. Hopefully this'll be the year!
 
kronic

kronic

John Solomon (38)
en_force_er said:
I'll think you'll find Melb rugby has a massive multicultural flavour and you'll be lucky to see too many boys walking around in Aussie jerseys.

As for Wyndham being a league club I think it's been closer to 10 years and I've been involved in Vic club rugger for 3 years and they weren't too new to the scene then.

Wyndham have been trying to get a Colts side up and running for years in the hope that it will ease their loss of numbers when players finish U18s. Hopefully this'll be the year!
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Just found this thread. Wyndham switched in 04 (IIRC). Know mate, who knew someone involved with the club, as it was basically overnight.

As for their team, a bloody physical encounter (next to Northern) when I played them last year. Pristine paddocks too.
 
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