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NSW AAGPS 2025 (banter and commentary)

shaquille_oatmeal

Frank Nicholson (4)
I agree Joker. At Newington, not only will the pool of players shrink, but they will have to share the energy and just about everything that goes into sport and the school as a whole. There won’t be the same morale and culture for the boys 1XV, to account for this I fear we will see more ‘shopping’ to preserve this, perhaps at the cost of depth.

Well I'm curious what "culture" is already present as I recall from the View vs Newington game at The Swamp there were only ~12 boys who had turned out in the stands for Newington 1XV. I think that already by creating a team that isn't fully comprised of homegrown talent, you end up alienating many of the boys who worked hard to try to get selected for the 1's, and in turn you have boys who don't have the same passion to support their team, even if the team and players themselves are very good.
 

Newingtonga15

Bob McCowan (2)
Absolute nonsense. There is no spite between scholars and fee paying players. Newington has strong team chemistry that fosters a culture of brotherhood. Nobody is alienated. As for the Riverview game, I was there and there were not 12 boys but closer to 50, and at Joeys New brought over 120 from Stanmore. Newingtons rugby culture is well and truly alive. Kings away crowd is regularly smaller then News.
 

InsiderScoop

Larry Dwyer (12)
This PONI stuff is completely ridiculous. It instills an arrogance into 17-18 yr olds who are already all full of it. The fact they get a free shot into the Aus u18 side is a complete joke, we saw our u20 side just get rolled by SA who all play upwards of 20 games a year. If anything these "PONI" should be the ones playing in the Aus schools tournament, where they are put through a team rugby camp, play in high pressure matches and where they actually learn to thrive under genuine match pressure. But instead, they do some fitness, PSS and tackle some pads at Tahs HQ. And then we wonder why we'll lose all our U20/senior academy games again.
 

InsiderScoop

Larry Dwyer (12)
Yes should have included that, it's a large part of my point. Scarce resources, yet we pick these PONI, train them in a small group and assume they'll get better just because they are the pick of the bunch. Then don't even select them because they aren't performing. It's not the boys fault either, I don't understand why they don't all play against each other in the tournament. How do we expect these blokes to get better if they aren't getting tested against people who are "below" them in terms of rep selection. A PONI academy camp with 10 boys is not the answer. They don't need to be rested, they should be proving how good they are against competition.
The only bloke that has benefitted from the PONI program last year is Marshall, who didn't make the cut and realised he had a couple things to actually work on. And now he's played the whole season in Shute Shield first grade.
 

FNC Rugby

Allen Oxlade (6)
This PONI stuff is completely ridiculous. It instills an arrogance into 17-18 yr olds who are already all full of it. The fact they get a free shot into the Aus u18 side is a complete joke, we saw our u20 side just get rolled by SA who all play upwards of 20 games a year. If anything these "PONI" should be the ones playing in the Aus schools tournament, where they are put through a team rugby camp, play in high pressure matches and where they actually learn to thrive under genuine match pressure. But instead, they do some fitness, PSS and tackle some pads at Tahs HQ. And then we wonder why we'll lose all our U20/senior academy games again.
100% these kids need to be playing on the Sunshine Coast, half of them arent even that good and have been on the famed Pathway. If they are as good as they are alleged to be they should be playing this week and dominating that tournament
 

The Cleaner

Darby Loudon (17)
You know
Yes should have included that, it's a large part of my point. Scarce resources, yet we pick these PONI, train them in a small group and assume they'll get better just because they are the pick of the bunch. Then don't even select them because they aren't performing. It's not the boys fault either, I don't understand why they don't all play against each other in the tournament. How do we expect these blokes to get better if they aren't getting tested against people who are "below" them in terms of rep selection. A PONI academy camp with 10 boys is not the answer. They don't need to be rested, they should be proving how good they are against competition.
The only bloke that has benefitted from the PONI program last year is Marshall, who didn't make the cut and realised he had a couple things to actually work on. And now he's played the whole season in Shute shield first grade.
100% these kids need to be playing on the Sunshine Coast, half of them arent even that good and have been on the famed Pathway. If they are as good as they are alleged to be they should be playing this week and dominating that tournament
You know, I get that they want to rest these players etc but COME ON THEY ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL RUGBY PLAYERS YET! They are 17 and 18 years old. Play and if you get injured, well sorry buddy that is very unfortunate but that is RUGBY! ITS A BATTLE OF THE STRONGEST AND FITTEST! Instead, they played 2 x 40mins games last Thursday (mind you no stand outs really except maybe for the 2 who will not be participating (Lemoto and Makasini) and 1 x 60 or 70 mins game on Friday and now they're done? They are straight through to Australian U18s? I read someone commenting about the GPS players not caring about their loss to CAS. That person was right, some of those GPS 1 boys especially those in PONI showed no care at all that they've just lost. So arrogant! That is the culture this PONI pathway breeds though. It's not the kids fault, IT'S THE PATHWAY SYSTEM. Anyway, I'll put this to bed now that I've shared my 2 cents worth.
 

Rugbynbeers

Charlie Fox (21)
Yes should have included that, it's a large part of my point. Scarce resources, yet we pick these PONI, train them in a small group and assume they'll get better just because they are the pick of the bunch. Then don't even select them because they aren't performing. It's not the boys fault either, I don't understand why they don't all play against each other in the tournament. How do we expect these blokes to get better if they aren't getting tested against people who are "below" them in terms of rep selection. A PONI academy camp with 10 boys is not the answer. They don't need to be rested, they should be proving how good they are against competition.
The only bloke that has benefitted from the PONI program last year is Marshall, who didn't make the cut and realised he had a couple things to actually work on. And now he's played the whole season in Shute Shield first grade.

Edwin langi and Isaac Fonua you would have to say benefited from it. Not all players do that is correct but it Cleary has some merit.

Langi is starting tonight a year young for the 20s

Fonua won against NZ and currently has his kings side in 1st in GPS
 
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