Shute Shield 2025

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Ghost, I thought the Rats No 9 was equal or maybe a little better on the day than Teddy Wilson, who seemed to just dish the ball out to a runner without taking the line on himself. The other players I thought were impressive were the No12 and the No 15 for the Rats. Both made quite a few linebreaks and were generally putting the Easts defence under pressure whenever they had the ball.

He was good. Looks a decent size as well which is an underrated facet at 9. Your ability to chew up a defender or barge through from close.

Rats backrow did a good job at going after Teddy.

Tyson Davis (12) is a good and experienced player. Probably unlucky to not seen higher honours at some point in his career but there's only so many jobs. Played Aus 20s and NRC as a young bloke and now a dual comp winner for the Rats as a returning player from 2017.

 

[Eyes and Ears]

I assume that might be the opportunity for Tyson to hang up the boots with a premiership finale.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Could be. How old would he be? 30/31?

He’s a Rats local and if they keep the ball rolling may be incentive to come back. Knows the Holmes boys so well.

Also might play as a part timer. Always there on the bench and start when needed. Bautz at Norths type thing

 

[Eyes and Ears]

30 this year

 

[HarryElite]

According to someone I know from western Sydney, quite a few of the players out there today were Penrith district juniors originally

My point: we need pathways so they can stay in the area. The challenge is rugby league of course

Only 2 guys in the GF squads (from 46 players). Alatini a penrith junior but played colts at rats (now brumbies), and then ropata who's from campbelltown and moved from souths to rats this season. I believe parra tried really hard to get ropata back to the west with a fair few of his mates they all bought back but couldnt compete in the $ department.

at the moment for 2026, it looks like there are zero waratahs players at west harbour (tupou and aho gone), parra (the lock gone) or souths, with a fair few new waratahs players signed who arent connected to any clubs, i wonder where they will end up based on nsw rugby saying they want to fix the west and help the weaker teams get more exposure.

kneepkens from souths came top 5 in ken catchpole this year, did the offseason with force and hasnt had any approach from tahs, in fact i believe he is headed to moana or drua. alan ferrie the lock/backrow from souths, came 2nd in ken catchpole after only arriving at the half way point of the season - no contact by tahs. the parra fullback was the most exciting player ive seen all season, kiwi lad who just capped by samoa vs scotland, not even an invitation to train by tahs.

i totally understand tahs cant sign everyone but they can get plenty of people to train and trial.

sorry for the mini rant

 

[Pfitzy]

Only 2 guys in the GF squads (from 46 players). Alatini a penrith junior but played colts at rats (now brumbies), and then ropata who's from campbelltown and moved from souths to rats this season. I believe parra tried really hard to get ropata back to the west with a fair few of his mates they all bought back but couldnt compete in the $ department.

Fair enough. I thought they were talking about across the grades on GF day, not just First Grade.

The frustration of course is any loss is hard felt when you know retaining everyone is the only way forward.

 

[Pfitzy]

sorry for the mini rant

Nothing wrong with a mini rant

My eternal mini rant is that we're not going to see meaningful change in Western Sydney until we get better alignment across the basin.

Getting rugby back into schools will help, but for every development officer you throw into the area, each NRL club in Sydney can pile in 5.

And then the private schools will pick out the best players, have their tuition paid by league, and watch most of them go back to play the 13-a-side code anyway. There isn't enough paid gigs in rugby to support the rest, and there isn't enough connective tissue between juniors, schools, and seniors to help the game flourish.