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Sydney Subbies 2022

The Ghost of Raelene

Mark Ella (57)
I am phil lawrence
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Rae Rae
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
The other part of Div 4 after some more results have rolled in:

Grose Cup
1 Merrylands (45) fairly plain sailing for the Wolves so far, losing a close one to Epping in R1, but undefeated since. No doubt frustated that of their 9 wins, 1 was a bye (pre-Raptors returning to Grose), and 2 others forfeits (Saints and HAC). It remains to be seen if the Raptors game will give them points as they already got the "first bye = forfeit" in round 2, which was the agreement at the time.
The other two games - at Keirle Park and home against Epping - will go a long way to sorting out the minor premiership
The run home: Canterbury FORFEIT (H), Savers (A), Raptors FORFEIT (H), Epping (H)

2 Epping (40) one win back from Merrylands after losing to Savers and Eaysters, the Rams will ready to launch into the finals, and a bit miffed that their club is lacking game time across the grades as other clubs start to feel the pinch. Will HAC still have enough players for Round 12? The last round at home against Wolves could determine 1 and 2
The run home: Chatswood (H), HAC (A), Renegades (H), Merrylands (A)

3 Eaysters (37) the 5th Grade from Easts have been trundling along, playing rugby and racking up solid wins. With the upcoming forfeit to Canterbury, they're effectively in 2nd place on 42 points. Probably got surprised a bit by the 3 losses to Raptors, Merrylands, and Redfield, but at least they know the score heading into finals, and will get a rest in Round 14 unless they want a trot in Halligan Cup that day.
The run home: HAC (A), Saints (H), Chatswood (A), Canterbury FORFEIT (H)

4 Manly Savers (32) I was a little stunned at their draw with HAC, if I'm honest. They've put out three grades a couple of times recently and will be scrambling for a game this weekend at Mittigar as well. They're already on 37 based on that, with some tough clashes to go, but will be licking their lips at the chance to avenge the close losses to Merrylands and Redfield in Rounds 12 and 13.
The run home: Raptors FORFEIT (A), Merrylands (H), Redfield (H), Renegades (A).

5 Redfield (30) with a game in hand against Saints, you'd say they were on 35 points, but stranger things have happened in rugby. Variable strength opposition but again: a forfeit from Canterbury to factor in.
The run home: Mac Uni (A), Canterbury FORFEIT (H), Saints (H-WW), Savers (A), HAC (H).

6 Canterbury (24) - out of contention, having dropped 2s.

7 HAC (20) their club men have been showing strong form in Grose Cup, but they've suffered for it in McLean. Will they have enough players to qualify a 2nd Grade team in the event they make the finals? They've got to play 3rd, 2nd, and 5th in among all that. Tough ask.
The run home: Harbour (H), Epping (H), Saints (A), Redfield (A)

8 Chatswood (14) the Stags are showing some good effort but lack that little bit of size to finish over some of the other clubs here. Will look fondly back at their wins over Redfield and Raptors as they head to Mad Monday, with a tough run home and other results needing to fall their way.
The run home: Epping (A), Renegades, (A), Sydney Harbour (H), Macquarie Uni (A)

9 Saints (13) one win being a bye over the absent Raptors, with the 2 others being HAC and Mac Uni. They'll push hard on the way home but also have to find time for wet weather catchups over both Redfield and Chatswood, with only one Saturday left.
The run home: Renegades (H), Harbour (A), Chatswood (A-WW), ?Redfield (A-WW)?, HAC (H), Raptors FORFEIT (A)

10 Renegades (13) a couple of losses we should have turned into wins against Canterbury and Redfield. A draw against Chatswood with a throw-together team. Some young talent coming through to play with the old heads, but inconsistent. We've got a good finish ahead against opponents more our style, but then a massive hurdle in Epping following by Savers. The absence of Berries and Raptors might help us squeak in.
The run home: Saints (A), Chatswood (H), Mac Uni (A-WW), Epping (A), Savers (H)

11 Raptors (12) - out of contention, having dropped 2s

12 Mac Uni (11) - they've turned up every week and posted wins against Chatswood and the bye in Raptors' absence. There was a Colts side for the first time in a while, and hopefully they can build from that. They'll look to put up a fight against Redfield and take another win over the stags in R14.
The run home: Redfield Old Boys (H), Western Raptors FORFEIT (H), Canterbury FORFEIT (A), Chatswood (H)

Ladder for finals
1 Merrylands
2 Epping
3 Sydney Harbour
4 Redfield Old Boys
5 Manly Savers
6 Renegades - absence of Canterbury helps here...
7 Hawkesbury Ag College
8 Chatswood
9 Macquarie Uni
10 Northern Saints
11 Canterbury / Raptors
 

Denistone_Dennis

Chris McKivat (8)
Heard it here first team. Our esteemed subbies exec director is trying to get finals series changed from top 6 to top 4. Hard sell considering its been top 6 all year.
 

Prodigy

Alex Ross (28)
The other part of Div 4 after some more results have rolled in:

Grose Cup
1 Merrylands (45) fairly plain sailing for the Wolves so far, losing a close one to Epping in R1, but undefeated since. No doubt frustated that of their 9 wins, 1 was a bye (pre-Raptors returning to Grose), and 2 others forfeits (Saints and HAC). It remains to be seen if the Raptors game will give them points as they already got the "first bye = forfeit" in round 2, which was the agreement at the time.
The other two games - at Keirle Park and home against Epping - will go a long way to sorting out the minor premiership
The run home: Canterbury FORFEIT (H), Savers (A), Raptors FORFEIT (H), Epping (H)

2 Epping (40) one win back from Merrylands after losing to Savers and Eaysters, the Rams will ready to launch into the finals, and a bit miffed that their club is lacking game time across the grades as other clubs start to feel the pinch. Will HAC still have enough players for Round 12? The last round at home against Wolves could determine 1 and 2
The run home: Chatswood (H), HAC (A), Renegades (H), Merrylands (A)

3 Eaysters (37) the 5th Grade from Easts have been trundling along, playing rugby and racking up solid wins. With the upcoming forfeit to Canterbury, they're effectively in 2nd place on 42 points. Probably got surprised a bit by the 3 losses to Raptors, Merrylands, and Redfield, but at least they know the score heading into finals, and will get a rest in Round 14 unless they want a trot in Halligan Cup that day.
The run home: HAC (A), Saints (H), Chatswood (A), Canterbury FORFEIT (H)

4 Manly Savers (32) I was a little stunned at their draw with HAC, if I'm honest. They've put out three grades a couple of times recently and will be scrambling for a game this weekend at Mittigar as well. They're already on 37 based on that, with some tough clashes to go, but will be licking their lips at the chance to avenge the close losses to Merrylands and Redfield in Rounds 12 and 13.
The run home: Raptors FORFEIT (A), Merrylands (H), Redfield (H), Renegades (A).

5 Redfield (30) with a game in hand against Saints, you'd say they were on 35 points, but stranger things have happened in rugby. Variable strength opposition but again: a forfeit from Canterbury to factor in.
The run home: Mac Uni (A), Canterbury FORFEIT (H), Saints (H-WW), Savers (A), HAC (H).

6 Canterbury (24) - out of contention, having dropped 2s.

7 HAC (20) their club men have been showing strong form in Grose Cup, but they've suffered for it in McLean. Will they have enough players to qualify a 2nd Grade team in the event they make the finals? They've got to play 3rd, 2nd, and 5th in among all that. Tough ask.
The run home: Harbour (H), Epping (H), Saints (A), Redfield (A)

8 Chatswood (14) the Stags are showing some good effort but lack that little bit of size to finish over some of the other clubs here. Will look fondly back at their wins over Redfield and Raptors as they head to Mad Monday, with a tough run home and other results needing to fall their way.
The run home: Epping (A), Renegades, (A), Sydney Harbour (H), Macquarie Uni (A)

9 Saints (13) one win being a bye over the absent Raptors, with the 2 others being HAC and Mac Uni. They'll push hard on the way home but also have to find time for wet weather catchups over both Redfield and Chatswood, with only one Saturday left.
The run home: Renegades (H), Harbour (A), Chatswood (A-WW), ?Redfield (A-WW)?, HAC (H), Raptors FORFEIT (A)

10 Renegades (13) a couple of losses we should have turned into wins against Canterbury and Redfield. A draw against Chatswood with a throw-together team. Some young talent coming through to play with the old heads, but inconsistent. We've got a good finish ahead against opponents more our style, but then a massive hurdle in Epping following by Savers. The absence of Berries and Raptors might help us squeak in.
The run home: Saints (A), Chatswood (H), Mac Uni (A-WW), Epping (A), Savers (H)

11 Raptors (12) - out of contention, having dropped 2s

12 Mac Uni (11) - they've turned up every week and posted wins against Chatswood and the bye in Raptors' absence. There was a Colts side for the first time in a while, and hopefully they can build from that. They'll look to put up a fight against Redfield and take another win over the stags in R14.
The run home: Redfield Old Boys (H), Western Raptors FORFEIT (H), Canterbury FORFEIT (A), Chatswood (H)

Ladder for finals
1 Merrylands
2 Epping
3 Sydney Harbour
4 Redfield Old Boys
5 Manly Savers
6 Renegades - absence of Canterbury helps here...
7 Hawkesbury Ag College
8 Chatswood
9 Macquarie Uni
10 Northern Saints
11 Canterbury / Raptors
Agree with you on some points. Think it is going to be hard for HAC to qualify a second grade team.
 

Doritos Day

Tom Lawton (22)
Heard it here first team. Our esteemed subbies exec director is trying to get finals series changed from top 6 to top 4. Hard sell considering its been top 6 all year.
Gee how accurate are your spies DD? There will be mayhem especially if a certain club (who shall remain nameless) are done over by the change.

Some early holidays booked by the heavies at Subbies HQ?
 
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Doritos Day

Tom Lawton (22)
Midseason player drop starting to bite around the traps. Wet weather weekend + the actual wet weather + illness/injury has taken a lot of wind out of the sails in D1.

Any Kentwell crystal ballers around? What are the predictions for the charge to finals. The top 3 look a class above, off F/A Pats easily slide in as the fourth best team but some boneheaded plays may cost them (much to Eastcoast's delight)
 

Eastcoast

Ted Fahey (11)
Div 1 will end up being a battle of the top 3 - Only 2 teams can win it. HH are locked into 3rd and the other 7 are fighting it out to lose in the first round of the finals. Just depends which team wants to delay their Mad Monday by a week.
Colleagues look very strong across the board but were rocked by a good Waverley team. HH will go well against both but might be 1 season too early for us to win Kentwell this year.
I havent heard about player drop off at this point but will see this weekend.
2nd Grade- HH will win
Colts - Pats sit top but will choke in the finals like they did in Div 2 alot. Knox are a smokey if their colts dont get asked to play 1st grade
3/4's - Waverley and Blueys have really good squads in both and will be hard to beat. - Only issue for Waverley is how many of their ex-pats go back home for the summer. Blueys are big
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
Heard it here first team. Our esteemed subbies exec director is trying to get finals series changed from top 6 to top 4. Hard sell considering its been top 6 all year.

Ah, the rumour mill - just enough truth to spark something, without enough veracity to stop a campfire becoming a bushfire.

As someone who was at the Div 4 meeting last night, let me give some context: the discussion we had around Top 4 or 6 centred mostly around 2nd Grade (tho both were discussed).

With both Raptors and Canterbury announcing they would drop a side, Grose Cup becomes 10 teams. Having a 6-from-10 finals there almost becomes SRP (Super Rugby Pacific) where 8 of the 12 teams played finals. However, we were 11 clubs to start, so it isn't that much different in my opinion. Once Raptors came back in it evened it up, sure.

The second consideration is logistics:
Top 4 is a finals series you could do in 2-3 weeks depending on how you want to cut it. Only need 2 fields in week 1.
WIth 6 teams you're at 3 weeks minimum and you need 2 fields for the first 2 weeks.

The general consensus from clubs who attended seemed to be we should stick with Top 6 as advertised. The risk otherwise is a dropoff in player interest for those clubs just outside the finals, in a season that has already presented challenges. Similarly, those clubs in 5th and 6th have something to fight for, and there are several with game(s) in hand.

Not everyone is out of the race yet, and regardless of any likely beating a side might get in Week 1 of the finals, just making finals is a marker clubs can use each year to aim at.

Yes, including my club who might be able to get on a hot streak in the last few weeks and scrape in :)

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Heavyd

Trevor Allan (34)
Reports from Porters say Blacktown had 9 first graders and 5 colts had to back up to make 14 for 1st grade game. A brave effort from them to honour their wet weather commitments but sadly cannot see them seeing out the remaining session at this rate.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
Agree with you on some points. Think it is going to be hard for HAC to qualify a second grade team.

And they're playing 3 of the top 5 in Grose Cup, so even on points might not make it.

If you assume Redfield beat Saints in Grose Cup in their fixture , the gap from 5th to 6th becomes 12 points.
 

Doritos Day

Tom Lawton (22)
Div 1 will end up being a battle of the top 3 - Only 2 teams can win it. HH are locked into 3rd and the other 7 are fighting it out to lose in the first round of the finals. Just depends which team wants to delay their Mad Monday by a week.
Colleagues look very strong across the board but were rocked by a good Waverley team. HH will go well against both but might be 1 season too early for us to win Kentwell this year.
I havent heard about player drop off at this point but will see this weekend.
2nd Grade- HH will win
Colts - Pats sit top but will choke in the finals like they did in Div 2 alot. Knox are a smokey if their colts dont get asked to play 1st grade
3/4's - Waverley and Blueys have really good squads in both and will be hard to beat. - Only issue for Waverley is how many of their ex-pats go back home for the summer. Blueys are big
No one will be beating BM in 4s, they can call that grade off now. Men against boys stuff from what I've seen.

Didn't realise how poorly Petersham are doing across the board, trouble brewing at Camperdown Park?
 

Doritos Day

Tom Lawton (22)
How are grounds holding up after the recent deluge

I'm sure the famous Lofberg Oval is in sparkling condition.

Hopefully Lapstone is still in good nick, tied with Rawson for the best surface I've seen this season.

Yet to venture back to the Hurt Locker which was only just recovering after some relaying by council but I think it will make for grim viewing. Bad day to be an MCL when you journey out to Strathfield.
 

The Wombat

Allen Oxlade (6)
Div 1 will end up being a battle of the top 3 - Only 2 teams can win it. HH are locked into 3rd and the other 7 are fighting it out to lose in the first round of the finals. Just depends which team wants to delay their Mad Monday by a week.
Colleagues look very strong across the board but were rocked by a good Waverley team. HH will go well against both but might be 1 season too early for us to win Kentwell this year.
I havent heard about player drop off at this point but will see this weekend.
2nd Grade- HH will win
Colts - Pats sit top but will choke in the finals like they did in Div 2 alot. Knox are a smokey if their colts dont get asked to play 1st grade
3/4's - Waverley and Blueys have really good squads in both and will be hard to beat. - Only issue for Waverley is how many of their ex-pats go back home for the summer. Blueys are big
Agree that Colleagues and Waverley are the favourites but I think the pack is closer than you suggest. Mosman only lost by 1 to Colleagues last time they played and easily could’ve won that game.
BM are the favourites in 4s although Mosman inflicted their only loss on them last year, so it should be a good game this weekend.
Mosman and Waverley are the only contenders in 5s.
 

The Wombat

Allen Oxlade (6)
No one will be beating BM in 4s, they can call that grade off now. Men against boys stuff from what I've seen.

Didn't realise how poorly Petersham are doing across the board, trouble brewing at Camperdown Park?
Shammies 1s look decent and the club as a whole has improved on past year.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
Alright Div 4 this weekend for Round 11:

HAC v Oysters - can't see anything but a handy win for Harbour.
Saints v Renegades - hopefully the late-season surge continues and we can push for 6th spot and our first finals for over a decade for 1s.
Merrylands v Canterbury - this might be close until the Wolves pull away on numbers.
Mac Uni v Redfield - ROBR didn't have a game last week, and struggled a little against Raptors the week before. Mac Uni will be stinging from Harbour. Hard to tell, but I'll just go with structure over Fijian flair.
Epping v Chatswood - Rams over Stags. Should be a good game but too much power at Sommerville.
Raptors v Savers - men in black finishing strong to hold onto that top 2 finish.
 
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Eastcoast

Ted Fahey (11)
Into the more important divisions - Div 1
Mosman v Blue Mountains - Tough trip into middle harbour for Blueys - Mosman will be too strong here in 1's. The match of the day will be 4th Grade. Can Mosman handle the size of Blueys.
Knox v Colleagues - Tough gig here for Knox on the pristine field at Lofberg. Colleagues by 23
Forest v St Pats - Two teams who think they are better than they are. Melwood is a horrible oval in the middle of Winter. St Pats will be too good for Forest, unless they have trained on throwing games away this year?. St Pats by 12
Petersham v Drummoyne -Petersham are too strong here and have some stand out players that will bury the dirty reds. Shammies by 13
HH v Waverley - WOWEEEE - What a game this one is. Boronia will be pumping. Got the good news on the upgrade of facilities which will make it the best ground in Subbies. Even though Field 3 down the bottom is better. Gotta back the boys in here, Waverley are strong but hopefully we can knock them off by 1.
 
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