ARU Junior Gold Cup - National Junior Championships

[Blanco]

And yes , it is important to acknowledge a developing player ( and person's ) achievements and to provide positive re-inforcement

Just got to watch out for that fine line though so that unrealistic expectations and an inadvertant fuelling of faux star culture doesn't ensue

Someone brought up the Aus / NZ Schoolboys game on the weekend .

Best on Ground for Aus was widely agreed to be No 20 Tom Kibble.

Didn't play junior rep year on year through all the tick the list offerings , and in fact , wasn't even on the radar in any meaningful way with his Coaching Staff heading into the start of his school season - but very quickly through the trial season made a name for himself through his actions as abrasive and uncompromising with high engine work rate

Made one of the GPS Teams and ultimately one of the Queensland Schoolboy teams ( 2 I think )

And down at Nationals when QLD teams were initially underperforming ...he stood out more , because , he played tough , uncompromising , fundamental Rugby.

He wasnt swanning around looking for his carry out of game context , over Carry and lose his links , looking for his next pod and leaving the attack ball exposed etc . He played what was in front of him.

Gets selected to Barbarians and out works everyone internally in this year's class of Schoolboys to gain selection to bench on Sat v NZ schools - and then gets his chance 18m into the match after an injury to Kohan Herbert.

Best on Ground for Australian Schools

Now there is a young man with desire who wasn't fawned over and never preened and postured for gushy gooey advancer types in the junior pathways

This is exactly the prototype of player and bloke our game should be about

And a terrific sportsman as well, genuinely remorseful about a yellow card, which in my mind was marginal. Impressive young man, massive work rate. Attributes that will see him go much further.

 

[Jets]

1. Agree . The Coaches did an outstanding job with so little time and well done to the boys for responding as well as they did in such a short timeframe

2. Agree having a desire to play doesn't mean you should just because you don't play league. But let's leave the league thing alone for the moment and direct attention to new , excitable claims as to the specialness of these boys and how they are the best U15 team in the Country. A bit much isn't it ?

After all you did say on the prior page that this was about quantity and not quality in representation ? Suggesting that it was / is important to do so for grant money . To that end , there were a number of those with strong desire who have proven themselves as key players in Premiership winning teams at Club and School , GPS and AIC , that were overlooked . Anyone following closely could easily rattle off at least half a dozen names that wouldn't been out of place on Red , White or Blue.

The interchangeability of best half of White with their counterpart , and again with Blue , without skipping a beat?

And what about the 7 or 8 names you also could easily rattle off from the top 3 GPS teams that were unavailable and dominated their match ups all season long and consistently over time ?

The lack of representation from the best of the Sydney School Rugby Schools that has been established ?

It may sound like this is a campaign to diminish the achievements of Red . And it's not . They played an entertaining brand of Rugby and it was clearly evident their Coach did a fabulous job with them through the week - as did the selectors , who assembled the team despite all of the above constraints and limitations

But let's keep it a bit real and get the right context without OTT proclamations

What we should be celebrating and acknowledging is the depth of real talent across a lot of participatory " hot beds" and at least it can be said with a reasonable amount of confidence - that the future of QLD Rugby , purely in terms of availability of talent , is in good shape

I said the QRU are focused on quantity and not quality when someone questioned the work of DO’s, who no longer exist. This tournament should be about quality.

Also I’m not saying these are the best players in the country just they were the best U15 rugby team put together this year. They beat every team they played, convincingly. Will they all go on to be superstars, no. Will some of them develop into good players, I hope so. Will some players not selected in these squads become better that these guys and play for the Wallabies, definitely.

All the teams I watched in the Northern Conference had raw talent that could go anywhere. Also at the Schools 15’s in Townsville I saw some great talent. I think that this age group has a plethora of talent in Queensland and I hope that it is developed to reach senior level and play Super and Test rugby. I just think the pathway can be different and if we make everyone welcome, even those who play league and sign with NRL teams in the hope that they will return at some stage if they want.




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[Pinetree]

Fact was one of the boys was given #13 for the week, lost it after the last Ballymore game and had to wear #17 in the final. But that's beside the point. He wasn't given a starting spot in the first game and neither was #15 - he didn't even play.

Mr 13/17 was used sparingly across the week and taken off at HT in the final.

I thought it was a good balanced use of a year 9 kid who probably has some big decisions ahead of him. To call them league boys through and through could be premature. Mr 13 played club and school rugby in 2017.

Mr 15 was brilliant and did everything with a smile on his face. Looked like he really enjoyed his rugby.

The GPS school they attend are quite happy to play these fellas in their A team. Why shouldn't they play rep rugby as well? They are under 15! Are they denying school mates a spot in the A's?

Early days to call which direction they might end up. Plenty of each way bets happening across QLD and good luck to these boys who can successfully play both codes. Many cannot.

Pretty sure Mr 13 and Mr 15 Started game 1 V white might be wrong though but that's beside the point they were only allowed to play in the JGC because league allowed them, if the league governing body made them choose I believe Union would have lost out, there were a number of key GPS 1st XV players not able to play Qld/Aust schoolboys because their league commitments would not allow them however those teams are the pinnacle of our game in Union

 

[Prince Henry]

Pinetree, you don't need to rely on your memory and second guess yourself. All the facts are in this JGC thread mate.

p106 - Game 1 was QLD Red v QLD Blue
Post #2107 BAG notes that LR (aka #15) was missing from the game
Post #2110 watch the video - #15 does not run out, #23 starts at fullback and #22 lines up at outside centre

I will take your word for it that Rugby League allowed them to play...I suppose they ARE allowing their senior players to play for other countries, like Tonga and Fiji in the World Cup so letting 15 year olds play union for a week must be an easy one.

 

[Garry Owens]

Mister this's and Mister that's aside .....

Here is a guy who is the best 15 in the age group IMO ( QLD White - Rugby and QLD Maroon - League ) or would at the very minimum share the honours with Nudgee 15A's fullback , Athan Waia , who chose not to participate here
QLD Blue's late call up from St Peter's - Fast Freddie may have something to say about all this as well. He didn't play against Red - but against White , pretty much was a game winner for Blue similar to how Hamiso Tabai Fidow was for North Queensland in the JGC - the campaign before this one ( Footnote : no longer at BGS who recruited him after that JGC from 18 months ago )

Anyway ....back to Mac ....notwithstanding a two code involvement his positional play in defense and attack - and his judgement is exceptional . And owns the best ankle breaking step I have seen in the age group. Big things ahead for this young fella

 

[IamnotwhatIsayIam]

Who was the no13/17 for Qld Reds? Felt like I was watching u11s wherein there's one kid who hit puberty early running through everyone with ease... except it was 15s... and representative

 

[Garry Owens]

That’s Mr 13 / 17 to you !

 

[Blanco]

Mister this's and Mister that's aside ...

Here is a guy who is the best 15 in the age group IMO ( QLD White - Rugby and QLD Maroon - League ) or would at the very minimum share the honours with Nudgee 15A's fullback , Athan Waia , who chose not to participate here
QLD Blue's late call up from St Peter's - Fast Freddie may have something to say about all this as well. He didn't play against Red - but against White , pretty much was a game winner for Blue similar to how Hamiso Tabai Fidow was for North Queensland in the JGC - the campaign before this one ( Footnote : no longer at BGS who recruited him after that JGC from 18 months ago )

Anyway ..back to Mac ..notwithstanding a two code involvement his positional play in defense and attack - and his judgement is exceptional . And owns the best ankle breaking step I have seen in the age group. Big things ahead for this young fella

Agree 100% GO once again you are bang on. From what I hear a very well balanced, grounded young man, which is more than half the battle.

 

[Garry Owens]

Just re-watching a few of these highlights and it sort of confirms an interesting trend when you look at U15 Competitions to Open Schoolboy Competitions over the last 2 or 3 years

And that is there is still a river of talent in regional centres that are making for very competitive entrants into national competitions

Whilst there is a greater concentration of talent in Brisbane the regional centres are still delivering up gems from U15 upwards ( after earlier age group departures to Brisbane )

The point is underscored with AIC not being able to field more than 1 team for the last couple of years in QLD Open Schoolboys Trials and their team being rolled by Combined Schools in 2017 and ( I think from memory ) drawing with GPS 3

Having a close look at that regional talent , and performance , coming through JGC in the last couple of years - you’d expect that trend to continue in terms of Open Schoolboy Trials over the next couple of years , where , the quality and depth of talent coming out of Combined Schools will likely provide a better level of competition to the GPS School Teams

If this is a function of continued commitment to “flying the flag” by the Reds in these regional centres - then hats off to those responsible at the Reds for facilitating this quality we are seeing ( with limited resourcing )