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AIC Rugby 2018

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Garry Owens

Alan Cameron (40)
Wattap AIC'rs

Seems to be a bit of early chat round the traps about Iona in 2018

Contenders or Pretenders ?

Is Iona the Hartnell to Marist's Winx ?

Let the chat begin
 

Lute

Chris McKivat (8)
Sooo funny, u try to b serious on GPS string and then want to start trash talking on this sacred thread with school kids!, do what u do best,answer to your own comments, not too many matures will!,occasionally u suck me in though .
 

Garry Owens

Alan Cameron (40)
OK AIC'rs here is the early season Owen's book

Iona - $4.00
MCA - $6.00
Padua - $10.00
SPC - $15.00
SLC - $20.00
SPLC - $25.00
Villanova - $35.00
St Edmunds - $100.00

Get some
 

BlindSide6

Allen Oxlade (6)
Hey GO,
Good to see some action on this thread. I’m interested in why you have Iona as favourites. I’m not familiar with any of the sides going into this year but was expecting MCA to be strong favourites based on last years firsts and u16s. Do Iona have a strong core of second year firsts players? Was also expecting SPC to be stronger than Padua? Would be interested in your take on it. Cheers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Garry Owens

Alan Cameron (40)
Ahoy there Blindside

Yes , this thread has been anaemic - by this time last year the AIC had already ripped through 3 pages

Anyway .....yours are reasonable points .

To be fair , Marist probably does deserve top billing and there is a rational / reasonable case to reverse them and Iona in the order

They probably ( will ) have the best pack in the competition with the core of their pack this year being Rozka and Downes and I'm tipping Dougal Perrers to be a real surprise this year . He played on the Brisbane Orange Team in the last year's U16 State Championships and really equipped himself well in the #7 spot . The backline is probably going to have too much depth of class with Tennison-Woods and KVD leading the way ( I'm assuming KVD is back )

The one thing you know about Marist Teams is that they are going to be better drilled and coached than the rest of the AIC competition . It might be fair to say that the Rugby / League balance , in terms of hearts and minds and focus is 60/40 at Marist , whereas in other AIC Schools ( in the main ) it feels like 40/60 , and consequently , this is likely to keep Marist at the top of the AIC pile into the foreseeable future

But .......but .......you have 1 or 2 guys at other points - like Padua's Danny Heenan that are legitimately ( IMO ) national quality talent - in either code . He , as a spearhead in the midfield , with a supporting cast that is also in the conversation for national level quality in Bruce Tevaga and Michael Cheer ( if he's still there ) could be enough to pull off an upset

I mean ....Padua's best 3 are better than anyone else's best 3 in the competition - and by quite a distance . From that point it sort of comes down to depth of supporting cast and quality of Coaching.

St Pat's have always had a very strong year group at this level but losing Cayle Manu to Nudgee last season was major . Louis Maritz is a stand out and is also capable of state /national honours in either code . If they still had Manu to spearhead upfront with Maritz to be the dazzling finisher he is out wide , then again , they are well capable of pulling off an upset . I just have question marks about their depth of talent and it also depends on how well they are coached / prepared ....I just felt that with what they had last year they underperformed . I think ( comparatively ) they had more on paper last year than what they do this year and they have lost ( for mine ) one of the best impact forwards in the age group in Manu - who I believe will light by GPS this year after playing out of position as a lock for the Butcher Stripes last year.

Lauries......Lauries ....yeah well ..... as an old boy I would like to pump their tyres more but there is a regime change in the joint and they are in transition with the former headmaster gone ...who basically couldn't have given a square root about sports despite a lot of other magnificent stuff he did for the place to take it out of its 1970's /1980's time warp when he come on board . Anyway ...back to Rugby .....Zac Stannard , I expect will be a steady presence at 10 and I would like to see U16's Liam Newton line up at 12 , which I believe now is his more natural position ( rather than 15 ) They will have a couple of flyers to run off this steady to strong midfield , however , I question the forward depth . They have a few good'ish U16 forwards coming through that pretty much took care of the more vaunted Marist Pack in last season's 10A game , but , if more than half your pack is made of First Year U16 players then they will probably take their lumps here and there - and most notably in what I likely to be a very Senior Centric ( and dominant ) Marist pack

To be honest all the rest will be making up the numbers and will be on the end of some whippings , although , out of the best of the rest there are a few emerging real talents at St Peters - the best of them being Freddie McKinlay in the outside backs - an outstanding talent , and whilst not massive or super sized ( neither is Heenan ) young Freddie could probably match it ( and then some ) with anyone in the AIC Opens this year - at least as an attacking weapon ( I'm not sure about him defensively ) I think he'll wind up better than Jangala Bennet ( also from St Peters before he went to Nudgee ) and he could be on a similar level to Brisbane Grammar's 15 - Hamiso Tabua-Fidow - who , if he wants to and decides to trial this year , could play Australian Schools

But that's my early season wrap

Let's see how it all develops and unfolds
 

Confucius Say

Nev Cottrell (35)
Do Ashgrove still have the brother of Nemani Nadolo and Chris Kuridrani at the school? I understand he was playing Firsts last year but finished the season in Seconds because he was still new to the system and in year 11?

Is it true there are no under 16s in the AIC and that from year 11, it is just Open Rugby teams?
 

Confucius Say

Nev Cottrell (35)
QLD under 16 reps - 2017

  • Padua - Bruce Tevaga and Danny Heenan
  • MCA - Ben Geraghty, Blake Roszka, Lachlan Tenison-Woods and John Downes
  • Iona - Sam Finocchario and Darcy Stevens
  • Pats - Bradley Kuhn and Louis Maritz
  • St. Eds - Romeo Tanielu, Dominic Luafalealo and Setafano Paese
  • Peters - Jordon Moko
  • Villa and Lauries = ?
 

Hands like feet

Allen Oxlade (6)
GO, like your odds there, I'll take MCA at $6, but yes Iona certainly the flagship team in that age group in previous years. Interesting you make mention of the two SLC midfielders, one would have thought those names would have featured in 1st XV last season, but the selection woes have been made very public previously. Our midfield let more traffic through than the gateway bridge in peak hour last year.

I think SLC will be massively up against it this year given the lack of exposure the u16s received last year, it takes probably 24months of training and playing to be a solid 1st XV player i.e good coaching in u15 and 16/1sts for some, which as we all know hasn't happened. Word is that the new coach has made promises of QLD jerseys to many players, not sure how he draws to that conclusion, hopefully he won't be publishing too many of the opposition 'game plans' from the previous season in the newsletter this year.

I reckon St Pat's will surprise a few people, very strong opens group, despite the lose of a key forward to Nudgee last year, depth will the telling factor for all schools.
 

Galloper

Darby Loudon (17)
I reckon St Pat's will surprise a few people, very strong opens group, despite the lose of a key forward to Nudgee last year, depth will the telling factor for all schools.

HLF, I'm a bit curious about the basis for your suggestion that SPC has a "very strong opens group" this year, as v SPC in 2017 MCA won the 16A's 50-7 and the 16B's 98-0.

I know SPC had at least two good 16's, Brad Kuhn and Louis Maritz, in the First XV, but not sure about anyone else.

At this early stage you would think, or at least I do, that MCA and Iona are the top contenders. I don't know how many Iona have returning from last year's First XV, that could be critical when Ashgrove has some very good players back, although the Iona team in 2017 was pretty underwhelming to say the least.
 

midas

Frank Nicholson (4)
SPC had about 7 16’s startng First XV and at least 2 on the bench consistently in 2017 with decent game time. They have been a strong playing group from Grade 5.

Depth will be an issue as shown against MCA in 2017 with those score lines.
 

Hands like feet

Allen Oxlade (6)
Are there any movements in the coaching ranks? I believe St Peter's and St Eddies have new coaches as do Lauries. Can anyone shed any light here?
 

don't_go_latho

Chris McKivat (8)
Are there any movements in the coaching ranks? I believe St Peter's and St Eddies have new coaches as do Lauries. Can anyone shed any light here?
Who are the new coaches at Lauries HLF? Do you know what happened with the commitee they appointed which included a rival schools Head of Sport?
 

Hands like feet

Allen Oxlade (6)
Who are the new coaches at Lauries HLF? Do you know what happened with the commitee they appointed which included a rival schools Head of Sport?

I’m told the committee contained 3 people, one of which was a head of sport from a rival school, the other 2 were staff members with no rugby involvement. New coach is from overseas, not much of a rugby coaching background, is a teacher on staff. All I know is that a number of grade 11s have quit the opens squad and rugby altogether since pre season has begun citing treatment from this coach as the reason, that’s come directly from the boys themselves incidentally.
 

don't_go_latho

Chris McKivat (8)
I’m told the committee contained 3 people, one of which was a head of sport from a rival school, the other 2 were staff members with no rugby involvement. New coach is from overseas, not much of a rugby coaching background, is a teacher on staff. All I know is that a number of grade 11s have quit the opens squad and rugby altogether since pre season has begun citing treatment from this coach as the reason, that’s come directly from the boys themselves incidentally.

Nothing will change until the Head of Sport is replaced. He has destroyed Lauries proud rugby culture. It is a pity, because the Head of Rugby means well IMO.
 

Hands like feet

Allen Oxlade (6)
Nothing will change until the Head of Sport is replaced. He has destroyed Lauries proud rugby culture. It is a pity, because the Head of Rugby means well IMO.
Couldn’t agree more, although the director has become somewhat of the head of sports puppet it seems, he’s just the friendly face of rugby who is told what to do.
 

Dunc Johnston

Frank Nicholson (4)
I believe St Peter's coach has come internally from their program and St Edmunds coach comes from clubland. Both with big shoes to fill, previous coaches at both schools were very good operators, St Peter's previous coach completely turned their program around, instilled a winning belief and has a premiership to show for. The situation at Lauries sounds interesting to say the least, gotta feel for the kids in program.
 

Galloper

Darby Loudon (17)
Very quiet in here so I thought I'd post an early version of the MCA First XV and see whether we can get some predictions for the other schools:

1. Liam O'Kelly
2. Ben Byrne
3. Blake Roszka
4. Jacob Heinke
5. Ben Geraghty
6. Lachlan Howse
7. Dougal Perrers
8. John Downes

9. Luke Ford
10. Zach Hogan
11. Lachy Tennison-Woods
12. Kale Van Dugteren
13. Zac Brooks
14. Elias Marjiliwa
15. Nick Loughnan

Inose Nadolo has left Ashgrove to finish school in Auckland, so a wing spot opens up. Reasonably big loss, but his defence was a bit flaky last year and plenty of options in the outside backs so not a real problem there.

Centres are a bit of a lottery, really depends on where Dave Miles wants to play last year's wings LTW and Van Dugteren. Zac Brooks played 13 for the 16A's last year and also made the Qld U16 RL side, so I'd expect him to get a run somewhere.

I had Harry Ritter pencilled in at 15 but have heard that he might be concentrating on RL this year, Loughnan was the 15 for 16A's last year and goes OK.

Forward pack fairly predictable in terms of names, but positions might vary a bit.

MCA will be very keen to have Roszka running the footy as much as possible so don't be surprised to see him at 8 despite playing 3 for U16 Qld Red last year.

Downes could be anywhere in the back 5 bar openside flanker. Very mobile, he's benching 150kg at 16 and Australian weightlifting champ but yet to show as much on the footy field as he does in the gym. Maybe this is his year?

Anyway, that's my first draft, anyone else prepared to have a go?
 
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