sidelinesid
Jimmy Flynn (14)
Every time the NSW teams have been dominated by one club they have underperformed.
Stag is on the money.
Stag is on the money.
If the above isn't stupid enough I just noticed that Stephen Hoiles who hasn't played for 2 years and came off the bench in 2nd grade was hit with 20 player points !!!
Surely that can't be right when we've got current S15 players and recent test players with 0 points???
He's been with Randwick since under 10's why hasn't he got a 100% discount or does that only apply to Uni who have no juniors?????
Yours sincerely,
Really pissed off now !!!
I can't help but draw parallels between the lopsided Shute Shield and the failure over the last 10 years of our Super Rugby provinces and the Wallabies.
University have been incredibly successful over that period, and have provided a bulk of the players moving into the professional ranks. Eastwood and Manly have similarly performed well during that time. These clubs have rightly looked forward to matches against eachother as being season-defining, there being no other sustained competition.
But I wonder whether it may have produced kids who have never had to really fight week to week, and have always had the best available coaches and facilities. When push comes to shove in the Super finals we have no mongrel, and the Test on Saturday just emphasises the point.
Bruce, I was not labelling Uni (or Eastwood & Manly for that matter - I did mention other clubs) as the reason for Australia's failure on the provincial and international level.I have previously acknowledged on these pages that Sydney Uni has a lot to answer for, including global warming and the current obsession with waxing, but you've identified yet another area where they are contributing to the downfall of civilisation as we know it, Stag.
Thinking back to "the Super finals", where Australia was represented by the Reds and Brumbies, and "the Test on Saturday", I have to admit that these players "who have never had to really fight week to week" didn't exactly distinguish themselves. In fact it was almost as if the Sydney Uni players weren't there.
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True, but how many Super players receive their contracts based on their highlight reels from playing against the struggling Shute Shield clubs?But Micheal Hooper et al only get to play 2-3 games down in clubland.
The rest of the time they are in the hard arse world of Professional Rugby.
Phil Waugh was a Warringah junior & obviously^^^ Maybe the mandarins at SRU are p***d off that he went across the border to play for the Ponies, and this is their way to get back at him.
I wouldn't put such pettiness past the Heavy Hitters from Rugby's Underground.
You are right the coach. Something needs to be done about the points system, but what?
Most proposals put forward on this thread have loopholes that would be exploited by the clubs.
Not that I can quote an example, but should Uni be penalised for a loyal player such as Phil Waugh who may not have been a Petersham or Canturbury Junior, but has been with them for ever. Forcing players to change clubs because they have too many points would undermine some of the traditional values of Clubland.
Coach, perhaps it was Randwick's error for making him 20 points and not the system itself. Under the discounts available, they can knock off a point for every year since he's been a professional or they could knock off 100% if he's played 5 seasons with the club.
Agree the system is not perfect, but let's make sure we have the right target in our sights before pulling the trigger
Sitting around wanting uni to get worse is not the answer. Frankly they won't and if any other club in the comp had their resources they would be doing exactly the same thing. My greatest concern is where to all the kids who leave colts at Uni end up? Surely they don't all filter into grade? Every year they have the brightest talent move into grade but it is impossible to accommodate them all. I fear they are lost to the game which is the greatest shame. All clubs have players who drift away from the game after colts who should stick around as development comes later for some. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but where are these players going? Are they giving it away?
Sitting around wanting uni to get worse is not the answer. Frankly they won't and if any other club in the comp had their resources they would be doing exactly the same thing. My greatest concern is where to all the kids who leave colts at Uni end up? Surely they don't all filter into grade? Every year they have the brightest talent move into grade but it is impossible to accommodate them all. I fear they are lost to the game which is the greatest shame. All clubs have players who drift away from the game after colts who should stick around as development comes later for some. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but where are these players going? Are they giving it away?