Yea same as last years format. I was interested in seeing the draw as they are saying it's not been released till Thursday 2nd. Keen to see what teams are ended up on which side of the draw, should be be some interesting match ups in gamesGot a copy at home, not on me now.
Off the top of my head, there are 2 games a day.
Sunday finals will be different with a cross over, 1A V 2B -1Bv 2A
Think winners of those games will play off for final.
Seem the same as last year, I think tho, at the end of the rounds the top team from pool A and B played off in the final.Yea same as last years format. I was interested in seeing the draw as they are saying it's not been released till Thursday 2nd. Keen to see what teams are ended up on which side of the draw, should be be some interesting match ups in games
Top 2 teams sounds like a better way to do it, anyway you can post the pools ?Seem the same as last year, I think tho, at the end of the rounds the top team from pool A and B played off in the final.
This year the top 2 in both pool A and B get a shot at making the final.
To be fair ....So Rugby Spirit has 9 Easts boys in his city squad and Gary Owens has 7 in his XV. If you both know the age group so well, you will know that the Easts side has been well beaten by Riverside and Nerang, narrowly defeated Souths and beat GPS by 1 point. Why do you think Easts will dominate the city side? Tiger eyes or other influences?
To be fair ..
The story of the Easts v Nerang game was mainly about a State League kid that has been recently recruited by Nerang. He scored 3 on the day and looked like he won one on one match ups against his ex State League teammate in the Centres ( who probably figures to be in the mix for City selection ) but not only that , again , the bigger Easts pack whilst very good in the set piece and very good at flooding the breakdown and pushing teams off the ball ( off the back of their exceptional #7 who slows the play down long enough for his big boys to get there ) - aren't that great moving laterally off the pillars or in cover lines . The consequence of this is that they can give up a lot of points against a slick backline like Nerang who , IMO , has the best 10 in U13 Rugby by a country mile.
All excellent points Tashara and I was trying to condense what was already becoming a long post . And whilst I didn't see the whole game , yeah , it seemed evident that a few more boys in your forward pack , that to be fair , had been a bit up and down in their consistency ( notwithstanding their obvious talent ) turned up to play.Taking nothing away from your point that Easts have a very good forward pack, the story about Nerang's good win against Easts was mainly won in the forwards. In fact; the entire forward pack won the Man of the Match that day - go the forwards!! Nerang knew Easts had a very good forward pack and they themselves had not been performing well up front in the previous two games. A great deal of work was done at training to improve this. What the SL player did offer was the option for the coach to move 13 to 8. 13/8 has been a dominate forward in the 8 position on the coast for years and was no stranger to playing there and went on to score two trys in this game. Nerang 7 also had an amazing game and these two were the better of the Nerang forwards. With Nerang forwards not only winning ball, but winning quick ball; 10 was then allowed to play his game and feed the SL player playing at 12. 12 in essence was the tip of the sword so to speak and made the most of what was made for him. Definitely an all round team performance that day.
It was Nerang's best game in the forwards this year and was the reason they won the game - the backs determined by how much. East's reputation in the forwards can be thankful of that, but on any given day it can be about who turns up. I have no doubt Easts will bounce back up front in our next encounter because as you say GO; Easts have a very good and big tight five which would benefit any team let alone a City one.
It would be disappointing to see boys picked on name and not on what they do against their competition. I'm not as familiar with each and every player as you seem to be but in later posts you acknowledge the ability and toughness of the GPS forwards unit, so my comments were to ask why there wasn't more boys considered from that pack in your selections if it is as good as many people tell me.Yah. All good points. The majority of my tips re : Easts were in the forwards . Reality ? I would probably cull two of the Easts boys, however , I originally had 75% to 80% true merit and 20% to 25% rep picks - kids who will probably get selected on name
On this score , I would cull 2 of Easts , 2 of Riverside and 1 of South
A lot of it depends how you want to build your team , for example , if you have 3 x ball runners in your team at Prop , Lock and 8 , then you really should be looking for the best pilfer / jackal type at 7 , even better if you have another one of these types as your other lock who is also an outstanding line out option and is a perfect counter balance to your other ball running lock . And then at your Prop you should be looking for a mobile dirty worker and your 6 should be a tackling machine around the pillars and in cover lines to complement your pilfering 7 and your ball running 8 who does it better than everyone else
Yes, it's been a season with some unexplained results. Perhaps injuries, the adjacent AIC season for some of the contingent and away form is to blame? GPS could turn that around in round 2 with most games at home. Thanks for the balance and corrections/edits to your earlier views. Will watch out for your opinions post the carnival. PHTo be fair ..
Easts dominated around 70% of possession and field position against Riverside in their 1st round match up yet it was a 4 tries to 2 result to Riverside at halftime. Easts forwards dominated. The difference was Riverside got 5 touches to their winger for 3 tries and Easts outside backs , and most significantly , the cover lines that should have been coming from their 6 or 8 wasn't there. And this was the story of the 2nd half as well , but with , Riverside forwards making a better fist of it as the bigger Easts tight 5 began to fade.
The story of the Easts v Nerang game was mainly about a State League kid that has been recently recruited by Nerang. He scored 3 on the day and looked like he won one on one match ups against his ex State League teammate in the Centres ( who probably figures to be in the mix for City selection ) but not only that , again , the bigger Easts pack whilst very good in the set piece and very good at flooding the breakdown and pushing teams off the ball ( off the back of their exceptional #7 who slows the play down long enough for his big boys to get there ) - aren't that great moving laterally off the pillars or in cover lines . The consequence of this is that they can give up a lot of points against a slick backline like Nerang who , IMO , has the best 10 in U13 Rugby by a country mile.
So Easts have their advantages and are a bloody good team however I think their mobility in the forwards goes against them . If City selectors are looking at size as a predominate factor then this may not matter much.
And speaking of mobility ( and athleticism ) Souths best in the tight 5 ( in this category ) didn't make Pink or any other team which I reckon is outrageous . In Souths win over Riverside he was a factor ..a kid bouncing back to his feet after a tackle around the pillar and then sliding across in the next sequence to snuff out mid field thrust from Riverside's talented midfield. In Souths v Nerang game he nearly runs down aforementioned State League kid in a runaway try after giving him a 10m headstart. He made a similar chase in cover against Easts Centre in Souths v Easts game and catches him and puts him down .
GPS ? Yes it was a one point result against Easts , they have beaten Souths twice, and were in the game with a a 14 - 5 result at half time against Riverside.Riverside ,to their credit ,got out on a quick jump in the 2nd half with a couple of quick tries to their winger before the adjustment was made and cover lines shut him down . It was the same result at half time against Nerang - where GPS were in the game at half time,however, GPS were missing a key forward and there were no reserves after their winger does his ACL and one of their centres gets knocked out / concussed. Add to this - one of their forwards plays the whole game with a fractured wrist that occurred the prior day in a school trial.
This underscores the toughness of the GPS forward pack who are probably the most underrated forward pack in the Division 1 comp. I don't believe there is a forward pack that has bested them this year - and there are clear reasons for that based around individual ability and how well they fit each other .
Yes, there have been some homerism comments from a poster who seems to be involved specifically with them in some capacity , however as a unit they have been great
The interesting observation on GPS is while they have been right in the mix against Easts , Souths and Riverside ( they just didn't have the guns against Nerang for reasons already mentioned ) they haven't been able to put away Brothers and Sunnybank as the better teams have done . If you look at the for and against they have struggled to score points this season - which is not to say they haven't got excellent scoring options on their team - they have . But for whatever reason they haven't been able to get it done against teams they should have put 40 points on
I trust this gives you a more balanced view on things Prince Henry
It would be disappointing to see boys picked on name and not on what they do against their competition. I'm not as familiar with each and every player as you seem to be but in later posts you acknowledge the ability and toughness of the GPS forwards unit, so my comments were to ask why there wasn't more boys considered from that pack in your selections if it is as good as many people tell me.
Quote Garry Owen - "This underscores the toughness of the GPS forward pack who are probably the most underrated forward pack in the Division 1 comp. I don't believe there is a forward pack that has bested them this year - and there are clear reasons for that based around individual ability and how well they fit each other .
Yes, there have been some homerism comments from a poster who seems to be involved specifically with them in some capacity , however as a unit they have been great."
GO, interesting observations on the GPS forward pack. One could only imagine how dominant they would be if they weren't carrying the number 7 like you and your friend Peter Parker have stated.
Imagine the lofty heights this pack could achieve if they didn't rely on their individual talent and had some coaching. Perhaps we could get the Easts coach over to GPS to give our coach a lesson or 2?
http://www.rugbylink.com.au/common/...px?gradeid=20214_1&seasonid=93&entityid=51409Any match reports - results from Day 1 State Champs?