• Welcome to the Green and Gold Rugby forums. As you can see we've upgraded the forums to new software. Your old logon details should work, just click the 'Login' button in the top right.

NSW Schools Debating 2023

T

Thepanel

Frank Row (1)
Debater said:
Does anyone have predictions for ISDA and other competitions this year?
Click to expand...
A lot will depend on adj quality for ISDA. Was average last year by all accounts.

I’d say top chances are:
Abbotsleigh - team has won isda at least twice
Riverview - had some rep debaters last year but not sure if they were Year 12’s
SCEGGS - think they won isda B’s last year
St Aloysius - think they won CAS last year, might have been undefeated
Barker has a nsw debater in their team but not sure they can carry them all the way
Grammar are good this year but have not won ISDA, don’t have the superstars of prior years.

My overall pick is Abbotsleigh but wouldn’t be surprised if any of the above wins it.
 
Last edited:
D

DebatingNerd

Allen Oxlade (6)
Debater said:
Does anyone have predictions for ISDA and other competitions this year?
Click to expand...
For ISDA, I'd agree with Jankedandlit's prediction of the premiership going to either Grammar or SCEGGS. Grammar is always a traditionally strong powerhouse school (their record on both the debating circuit and at a state/national level over the last couple years reflects that - Jack Story, Jack Glass, Brendon Chen, Aidan Woo, Toby Mok, etc...) so they're always a fan favourite. However, they are without the previously mentioned stars as Jankedandlit pointed out. At the same time, from the results I can see, ISDA B's was won by SCEGGS last year, further they have a Year 11 on IGSA reps if I am not mistaken - so they're also a favourite. Maybe's yesterday's results (when they get published) may shed some light as they faced off against each other. But then again, the topic's absolutely cooked so it's probably not representative of their rankings at the moment so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

For GPS, the competition should be very tight this year. I'm predicting between either Grammar, Joeys or High. Grammar's always strong as said before, but as Jankedandlit pointed out before, they don't have the stars they wielded for the last couple of years so their team should be weaker this time around. Joey's because of their very visible results from last season with their First's taking the Rutledge Louat shield. Matt Toomey has evidently done a fantastic job with the program, and I'm slating them as potential premiers as underdogs this year. Sydney High had a good effort at the Premiership last year and beat out even beat out Grammar 2s in the final round which consisted of Y12s that have since moved onto the uni circuit - they also had a Year 11 CHS Representative. That puts them at a very advantageous position this year. However, they are weaker without Archie Wolifson and Tim Hanna who together consisted of one half of the CHS 1s Representative team who won the Representative Schools Championships last year.

For Premier's Debating Challenge, I am predicting either SGHS, Ruse and SBHS in that order. SGHS because of their absolute dominance over the competition for the last couple of years in Years 11 and 12. They won last year too (in an... interesting grand final ) and should be sharp this time around as well. Ruse because they yield Darshanik Aryal who has been in State Squad since Year 10, did a fantastic job being part of an effort in State Team that placed NSW as runner ups at the NSDC who should also be in State Team this year. High because of previous reasons above.

For Eastside, I am slating it between SGHS or SBHS (like it is every other year ). Both for the reasons above - but I will note SGHS Y11s did take the premiership last year so they are currently in an advantageous position.

For Archdale, there's a ton of competition like there is each year and to be honest I can't call it but I'd agree with Thepanel and Jankedandlit's claims of a strong SCEGGS and Abbotsleigh bid for the premiership this year.

As for the Representative comp this year? I have zero clue.
Most of the State's powerhouse debaters departed for the uni circuit last year so it is going to be very hard to call this year and to be honest I don't have much clue what the teams are going to look this time around either. There might be some interesting shake ups this year! Looking forward to it.

As for the State squad/team? Similarly, I don't have much clue. Most of the 8-person (not 12-person anymore) last year were Year 12s who've gone onto uni so we should be seeing a shakeup there as well. For the Team, Darshanik Aryal is a lock. For the others, it'll probably be a lot of the 2nds Reps debaters from SCEGGS, Grammar, SGHS from the end of last year but again this is all really speculative I really don't have any clue this year. The circuit has lots less, I guess "infamous" is the word here, people around the circuit like we have had in previous years. It'll be interesting to see what talent bubbles up towards the top! The ever illustrious Udai Kamath and Sophie Shead are coaching this year so as usual we have fantastic coaches prepping NSW for Nationals.

Thank you for Jankedandlit for keeping us all updated with the motions and the results for ISDA. It'd be lovely to see this continue in the future especially considering a lot more debaters than we consider use this as an informative platform ever year. I think there's an Eastside tab this year that Mikey's organised so it should be considerably easier keeping track of that competition as well this year, I'll keep everyone posted. Further State trials are in a few weeks so I'll try to keep the forum updated with what goes on there. Maybe the results can clear some doubts/predictions up!

Looking forward to the 2023 season!

DebatingNerd signing off...
 
F

FrozenFire

Frank Row (1)
DebatingNerd said:
For ISDA, I'd agree with Jankedandlit's prediction of the premiership going to either Grammar or SCEGGS. Grammar is always a traditionally strong powerhouse school (their record on both the debating circuit and at a state/national level over the last couple years reflects that - Jack Story, Jack Glass, Brendon Chen, Aidan Woo, Toby Mok, etc...) so they're always a fan favourite. However, they are without the previously mentioned stars as Jankedandlit pointed out. At the same time, from the results I can see, ISDA B's was won by SCEGGS last year, further they have a Year 11 on IGSA reps if I am not mistaken - so they're also a favourite. Maybe's yesterday's results (when they get published) may shed some light as they faced off against each other. But then again, the topic's absolutely cooked so it's probably not representative of their rankings at the moment so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

For GPS, the competition should be very tight this year. I'm predicting between either Grammar, Joeys or High. Grammar's always strong as said before, but as Jankedandlit pointed out before, they don't have the stars they wielded for the last couple of years so their team should be weaker this time around. Joey's because of their very visible results from last season with their First's taking the Rutledge Louat shield. Matt Toomey has evidently done a fantastic job with the program, and I'm slating them as potential premiers as underdogs this year. Sydney High had a good effort at the Premiership last year and beat out even beat out Grammar 2s in the final round which consisted of Y12s that have since moved onto the uni circuit - they also had a Year 11 CHS Representative. That puts them at a very advantageous position this year. However, they are weaker without Archie Wolifson and Tim Hanna who together consisted of one half of the CHS 1s Representative team who won the Representative Schools Championships last year.

For Premier's Debating Challenge, I am predicting either SGHS, Ruse and SBHS in that order. SGHS because of their absolute dominance over the competition for the last couple of years in Years 11 and 12. They won last year too (in an... interesting grand final ) and should be sharp this time around as well. Ruse because they yield Darshanik Aryal who has been in State Squad since Year 10, did a fantastic job being part of an effort in State Team that placed NSW as runner ups at the NSDC who should also be in State Team this year. High because of previous reasons above.

For Eastside, I am slating it between SGHS or SBHS (like it is every other year ). Both for the reasons above - but I will note SGHS Y11s did take the premiership last year so they are currently in an advantageous position.

For Archdale, there's a ton of competition like there is each year and to be honest I can't call it but I'd agree with Thepanel and Jankedandlit's claims of a strong SCEGGS and Abbotsleigh bid for the premiership this year.

As for the Representative comp this year? I have zero clue.
Most of the State's powerhouse debaters departed for the uni circuit last year so it is going to be very hard to call this year and to be honest I don't have much clue what the teams are going to look this time around either. There might be some interesting shake ups this year! Looking forward to it.

As for the State squad/team? Similarly, I don't have much clue. Most of the 8-person (not 12-person anymore) last year were Year 12s who've gone onto uni so we should be seeing a shakeup there as well. For the Team, Darshanik Aryal is a lock. For the others, it'll probably be a lot of the 2nds Reps debaters from SCEGGS, Grammar, SGHS from the end of last year but again this is all really speculative I really don't have any clue this year. The circuit has lots less, I guess "infamous" is the word here, people around the circuit like we have had in previous years. It'll be interesting to see what talent bubbles up towards the top! The ever illustrious Udai Kamath and Sophie Shead are coaching this year so as usual we have fantastic coaches prepping NSW for Nationals.

Thank you for Jankedandlit for keeping us all updated with the motions and the results for ISDA. It'd be lovely to see this continue in the future especially considering a lot more debaters than we consider use this as an informative platform ever year. I think there's an Eastside tab this year that Mikey's organised so it should be considerably easier keeping track of that competition as well this year, I'll keep everyone posted. Further State trials are in a few weeks so I'll try to keep the forum updated with what goes on there. Maybe the results can clear some doubts/predictions up!

Looking forward to the 2023 season!

DebatingNerd signing off...
Click to expand...
Thoughts on The Scots College, their Year 11 Team was in the Eastside Grand Final, and their Firsts Team for GPS was majority year 11. They could be a dark horse.
 
Debater

Debater

Herbert Moran (7)
FrozenFire said:
Thoughts on The Scots College, their Year 11 Team was in the Eastside Grand Final, and their Firsts Team for GPS was majority year 11. They could be a dark horse.
Click to expand...
I heard last year that either the 2nd or 3rd speaker in the Scots team was quite good in 1sts. Would he still be in the team this year?
 
Debater

Debater

Herbert Moran (7)
Debater

Debater

Herbert Moran (7)
Jankedandlit said:
Great initiative from Debater with the spreadsheet. Some more data points from last year which may or may not help:
With ISDA B’s, iirc Grammar, Abbotsleigh and St aloysius were undefeated in the prelim rounds, SCEGGS had 4/7 wins. Kambala had 6 wins. Adj quality we know was poor last season due to a number of reasons and with no panel in place until semis anything can happen.

the other big question is how many year 11’s returnees are there who debated in the ISDA A’s so ISDA B form might be skewed a bit. Scanning available info looks like maybe Scots, Trinity, Riverview, st aloysius and Knox have returnees. Grammar and Barker were all year 12’s.
Click to expand...
Thanks. It would be really helpful if everyone put their results in for their teams so we have an idea of how the competition is going and how fair each motion was.
 
V

Victor Dalrymple

Bob McCowan (2)
So far ISDA has had very poor judge quality, and FED has been even worse. It appears all of the best judges are doing Eastside this year - we will find out this Friday.
 
A

Avid Debating Enthusiast

Frank Row (1)
Love to see the 2023 forum starting out strong, let's keep up the energy. The field is definitely looking less cluttered this year but who knows what will happen...

Also, grammar may be favourites once again having already beaten SCEGGS, does anyone know how they compare to last year's team?
 
D

DebatingNerd

Allen Oxlade (6)
Jankedandlit said:
Brand new team for Grammar as all were year 12’s. Too early to tell form as beating Tangara then a heavily weighted aff topic against SCEGGS. If it’s the isda B team from last year, ofc they are good but they haven’t won isda before.

some surprises on the results tab. Well done cranbrook and joeys. Also abbotsleigh v barker tomorrow is potentially a season defining debate with the loser 1/3 wins. If grammar tops pool B, they may face one of these two powerhouses in octos: Meanwhile in Pool D, Riverview ticking along nicely with 2/2, Pool A not many results in, but expect Kambala and st aloysius to dominate that pool as field doesn’t look as strong.
Click to expand...
Not all Year 12's their First Grade team had a Year 11 on it, I recall his name was Remy Sloan?
 
D

DebatingNerd

Allen Oxlade (6)
Avid Debating Enthusiast said:
Love to see the 2023 forum starting out strong, let's keep up the energy. The field is definitely looking less cluttered this year but who knows what will happen...

Also, grammar may be favourites once again having already beaten SCEGGS, does anyone know how they compare to last year's team?
Click to expand...
On that topic? But of course, I always expect Grammar to be a formidable side and they will always be favourites.

And in response to Owl - Eastside has Mikey Xu, Ellie Stephenson and Ally Pitt adjudicating this Friday from what I can see from the tournament's Tabbycat, so that tournament's CA has done a bloody good job recruiting adjudicators LOL
 
V

Victor Dalrymple

Bob McCowan (2)
DebatingNerd said:
On that topic? But of course, I always expect Grammar to be a formidable side and they will always be favourites.

And in response to Owl - Eastside has Mikey Xu, Ellie Stephenson and Ally Pitt adjudicating this Friday from what I can see from the tournament's Tabbycat, so that tournament's CA has done a bloody good job recruiting adjudicators LOL
Click to expand...

Mikey Xu is the CA of Eastside. He was also the CA of CAS and Eastside last year. Recruiting was probably helped by the ISDA and FED CAs being inexperienced.

I would caution the commentariat from measuring judging skill off of debating ability though!
 
Debater

Debater

Herbert Moran (7)
Jankedandlit said:
TWS prioritise research on women’s health or similar. So aff weighted again. Debater’s Motion Fairness Detector about to set a new aff record
Click to expand...
Interestingly enough there is actually a 50-50 split so far. That being said we only have results for 14 debates so it is early days. I think this round could be similar to the other 2 where the Aff picks up a lot of wins in Senior B but in Senior A there are more Neg wins.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...qqEK6kShJQZymjuFOc_lZ44Jw/edit#gid=1864259194
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top