QLD Premier Rugby 2015

[Cat_A]

Thompson is reluctant to commit to another year (although is down at training to see if he's needed for Sydney) but work commitments now that he's a practicing lawyer are only growing. I believe Buchanan is off to the US initially, and we've also lost Arvier overseas (working, not playing rugby).

 

[Tigers Tale]

Red Heavy - 3 great club men indeed, but Tuffley is still my favourite Uni player - got a great attitude and sense of humour.

 

[Red Heavy]

If you are a winger, fullback or hooker playing Easts at Easts you have no choice but to have a sense of humour. Always great banter out of the the den. Looking forward to seeing what they can come up with for Randell's return.

Any news on how the Souths v wests trial went on Tuesday?

 

[Tigers Tale]

If you are a winger, fullback or hooker playing Easts at Easts you have no choice but to have a sense of humour. Always great banter out of the the den. Looking forward to seeing what they can come up with for Randell's return.?

I actually think Dell might get the silent treatment because he would thrive on it if he was given a bit of stick, and it would kill him to think that no one really cares what a self serving individual does. He is clearly not a club man like the 3 you mentioned yesterday.

Let's hope that he's looking for but I don't think that will be an NRC contract but maybe he'll get a trip to the UK with Uni at the end of the year.

 

[warhorse]

Souths v Wests trial is Tuesday 10th at 7pm at Chipsy Wood Oval.

 

[tigerland12]

Been a while since I've been on here, and I'm too lazy to scroll back through all of this thread, so could someone post the major in's/out's of each team?

 

[Cat_A]

The fact still remains the club only ended up with 1 Premiership which is below the club average per year as of late.

Anyway, the point was more that the club and specifically Premier Grade are in an unfavorable situation with some new faces and not the ideal way to be playing the first round of the competition.

I think there is a link and a really valid point in what I think you are trying to say (if I'm reading it right):

• a string of away games early in the season can mean perhaps a couple of losses by two that could've just as easily been wins by two. Given table standings over the past few seasons, the gap could just as easily be bonus points accrued
• make up ground in the 2nd half of the season, but those close away losses/no BP games mean you make the 3-4 playoff rather than the 1-2 playoff
• if you're in form (especially after your string of wins in the 2nd half of the season) you have to play finals footy 3 weeks in a row to win a GF from 3 or 4, rather than getting that vital break between week 1 and 3 of finals.
• more importantly, the team above and below you also likely have to play - no fresh reserves, and your best players are suddenly pulled up or their availability is unknown until very late etc.

There are other issues too - your time on the field itself for training will be limited because they don't want you damaging the grass, club cash flow is compromised because you lose the consistent BBQ and bar income (especially at GPS where you do a roaring trade - the bacon & egg burgers have drawn more than a few of my hard-earned dollars over the years), strings of away games don't allow players to really get into a consistent pre-match routine etc. etc.

 

[Tigers Tale]

T12 - I am not so good on the ins at Tigerland but the outs are extensive:

Enever to Brumbies;
Wilken to Aust 7s;
Placid to Rebels;
UJ Seuteni to Toulon (last year);
Toua to France(last year);
Fatal to Bond;
Deck to NZ;
Morais to Bond;
Randell to Uni(???);
Parry retired (???)

This is in addition to guys who played in 2013 GF:
Stolberg to NZ;
Bertini retired;
Butler to Brumbies;
Sam Cox to Bond;

So this leaves only 7 guys who started in the 2013 GF:
Paraka;
Sanday;
(Ready was on bench for GF - Randell started)
Gunn;
Mullins;
Brandon;
Wilder;
White.

The ins would be:
Ed Quirke - they don't think he will see much time for the Reds this year;
Lachlan Turner - will he get much game time for the Reds;
David Skelton - back from the UK;
Harley Fox (Aust SB 2014 - No.8)
Izaia Perese (Aust SB 2014 - centre)
Nigel Tanuvasa (Young Centre from Souths)

The number of guys who have moved on from Easts since 2013 is quite remarkable - are other clubs experiencing the same as guys look to take their rugby to another level?

 

[tigerland12]

Sheesh might be a bit of a slow year for the Tigers.

Opportunity to build young guys up ala 2013.

Plus, all we need is Gunn and Brandon right? haha

 

[TheBigDog]

Thanks for detailing out those points for me Cat - pretty much exactly the issues that GPS is going to be faced with early in the season, I just couldn't be bothered typing it all!

There are a whole bunch of new coaches at GPS this year who will be struggling to find some consistency in the early rounds I think.

 

[thierry dusautoir]

@rugbynerd What position does enari play?


I have heard west have a lot of new faces and pretty much everyone form last year returning.


I am not enough in the know these days to have specifics.

 

[Tigers Tale]

T12 - you never know - Easts start with Norths(A), GPS(H), bye & Uni(H).



If somehow they were to win their first 3 games then with the confidence gained from that they'll be off and running with a string of home games in the first round.



I have just noticed that Easts play 6 of their 8 first round games at home - the opposite to "poor me" GPS - so that means that they will play away in 6 of their second round games - which I think as they search for wins in the lead up to the finals may well cause them some grief.



Don't be surprised if they perform better than expected because I think Tim Sampson (like Matho) is an excellent young coach and you just never know.



The Easts & GPS draws are a joke, and will inhibit both clubs chances, just in different ways.



Every other club apart from Wests(3) play 4/5 home games in the first half of the season.



I think historically over the last 3/4 years you have needed to win 12.5 of 18 games (10.5 of 16) to make the finals. If you don't start well it makes it difficult - Easts left themselves too much to do in the second half of the season last year, and Sunnybank after a poor start 0/4 I think went onto win 12/13 in a row in 2014.

Only 29 days until kick off to QPR15 on 7 March 2015.

 

[TheBigDog]

TT is there a reason Easts have such a lopsided home then away draw? Or it just the (un)luck of the draw?

 

[Tigers Tale]

Nothing that I am aware of BD - I can only think that it accommodates the GPS predicament on the other side of the draw, but even that seems crazy because swapping the venue of any of the Bottomley Park games shouldn't be impacted by Yoku Rd.

I just think it's a crazy set of scheduling - apart from the GPS game in round 2 all of the other venues for Easts in the first half of the season could be changed.

In the same vein for GPS - round 9 is 9 May 2015 - surely Valleys Cricket is done and dusted by April in which case they could play the Rnd 5 v Wests (11/4/15), Rnd 7 v Snbk (25/4/15) or Rnd 9 v Nths(9/5/15) at Yoku Rd.

(N.B. Rnd 6 GPS v Bros (18/4/15) and Rnd8 GPS v Bond(2/5/15) are at Yoku)

 

[TheBigDog]

So whos got trials this weekend?

Full club trials GPS v UQ are out at Albany Creek. From what I've heard the game times will be kicking off later than usual to account for the weather still being a little hot.

 

[Scott A]

At UQ we're off to Sydney on Saturday to take on Eastwood for Australian Club Championships.

We've selected a strong squad with 9/23 backing up from last year's GF, which gives us a great opportunity to bring in some new players and have a look at some of our younger players.

The Premier Grade trial against GPS will therefore give a great opportunity for other players who have performed well in pre-season training to stake their claim by showing what they can do.

 

[warhorse]

Tomorrow night (Tuesday 10th) Souths Premier Grade v Wests at Souths starting at 7pm. I believe that it will be a Premier Grade/Reggies squad trial.

 

[RugbyReg]

Who's the best THP in the comp now? Surely they will be coming onto the bench for the Reds this weekend?

 

[thierry dusautoir]

You would have to think that Kirwan Sanday would be the next best THP.



Or would the let Parraka and Feao fill in despite bign mostly LHP?

 

[Tigers Tale]

I recon they'll stick with Paraka or Feao, because Sanday would be considered an international - Fiji.

Sanday would have debuted for Fiji last year bar injury and I would say that he'll be trying to get back to that level for the RWC.