Southern Inland Rugby 2016

[paul bristow]

South Coast and Monaro can hardly rake up enough players to get a team together. Obvious result. 72 - 0 against Monaro etc. That romp prepares us to pick the Brumbies Provincial team to play an organised and well prepared outfit like the Cockatoos a week later? If the Brumbies Office is responsible for structuring a representative program like this then maybe the situation should be taken out of their hands. A whole new program should be organised geared to selecting a team more representative of SIRU as a whole and participating at Country Week.

 

[yourmatesam]

If the Brumbies Office is responsible for structuring a representative program like this then maybe the situation should be taken out of their hands. A whole new program should be organised geared to selecting a team more representative of SIRU as a whole and participating at Country Week.

Hi Paul, welcome to the forums.

I'm interested in your thoughts on some further questions to your points above. While I agree that there is room for improvement at the Brumbies Provincial Tournament, I'm not sure that your solution above is the perfect scenario.


How should this be funded? Budget costing for a trip to the NSW Country Championships is around $10-15k. Where is this kind of kanga coming from?

I hear murmurs within NSW Country where they aren't all on the same page with the Country program being dominated by ex-Shute Shield players making up such a large portion of the team in the eastern seaboard. NSW Country are talking about some form of Country Provincial Team to allow the Cockatoos to do their thing and then have something for the more amateur teams to compete at.

You may recall the SIRU has competed at NSW Country Championships in the second division at Bowral last year where we came 2nd to Central Norht in the 2nd Division competition. http://www.nswcountryrugby.com.au/fixtures-and-results/country-championships

What is the outcome for the players from playing in that tournament? They're not eligible for NSW Country and they play in the second tier? They can't progress to the main tier and can't win the tournament?

For me, the SIRU Competition needs to come first to provide a breeding ground for good local (or imported) talent. Next step needs to involve the SIRU Rep team at a Brumbies supported tournament. From there, Brumbies Provincial Team selected, maybe they could play against an ACT Griffins type outfit ala NSW Country v Sydney? After that, I think there is merit in playing against maybe a Victorian Country or Sydney Subbies type team, maybe even South Australia (anyone remember Mick McTaggart playing for SIRU at Renmark in the early 2000's???)

I get the argument that it's just playing footy for footy's sake and that the players aren't eligible for the NSW Country Teams etc at the next level, however I do agree that by playing footy at a higher standard and exposing players/coaches/referees to that higher level, it improves the competition as a whole.

How do we continue to improve the standard of competition if we aren't challenging our players/coaches/referees/managers to be better players?

 

[paul bristow]

Thanks Sam, I'm not sure about the funding. I'm just sure what we are doing has no merit. When I think of Wagga and district I don't think of the ACT. I think of Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo and Tamworth. Other regional cities and districts. Maybe Central North etc. Regardless of their Brumbies or Waratah stewardship they are the scenarios we should be looking towards as a rep program.
Surely players should be able to rise through the ranks to achieve their maximum representative potential without being stopped by bureaucratic barriers. We should be Country Rugby not Brumbies.
The SIRU comp should be just that. It shouldn't have a primary goal as a breeding ground. It should primarily exist to provide an opportunity for people living in Wagga and surrounding districts to play rugby. Importation of players is killing our game. Local sport should be for local people. Good quality players can still enter our district. Dan Dowson is a NZer who had relatives in Griffith. He was a guy who was a skilled rural worker and always employed. Dan was great for the Blacks and now he's great for Tumut.

 

[yourmatesam]

Waratahs 109 def Albury 0. City 26 def Aggies 15. Leeton 22 def Griffith 19. Tumut 57 def CSU 10.

 

[No.8]

Waratahs 109 def Albury 0. City 26 def Aggies 15. Leeton 22 def Griffith 19. Tumut 57 def CSU 10.

Woah what was Albury doing on Saturday!

 

[yourmatesam]

Woah what was Albury doing on Saturday!

Waratahs pretty handy, Albury missed too many first up tackles which allowed good support lines from Waratahs to exploit holes. Albury #7 played well.

 

[Whistle Happy]

Albury's results this year have been astonishingly Poor
I hope they are planning for next year because their 40th Anniversary Year has been a disaster
Things they will need to look at are the coaching Staff, the Committee and their Juniors.
It will be interesting to see if Manion hangs around to help re-build the club
Will Waratahs score consecutive centuries this Weekend with another big win over CSU ??

 

[yourmatesam]

Albury's results this year have been astonishingly Poor
I hope they are planning for next year because their 40th Anniversary Year has been a disaster
Things they will need to look at are the coaching Staff, the Committee and their Juniors.
It will be interesting to see if Manion hangs around to help re-build the club
Will Waratahs score consecutive centuries this Weekend with another big win over CSU ??

Some would argue that the Steamers punch above their weight in an AFL dominated town, agree that results haven't been great however it was always going to be tough to maintain their recent success.

Shame and fear can only inspire so much.

My tip is that Tahs will see what combinations they can work on against CSU.

 

[namtrak]

Shame and fear can only inspire so much.

Noted

 

[Bandar]

Some would argue that the Steamers punch above their weight in an AFL dominated town, agree that results haven't been great however it was always going to be tough to maintain their recent success.

Some would also argue that Albury Wodonga with a population in excess of 100,000 and an army base and a university should be able to find enough locals to have a half decent team which can be supplemented with 2-3 imports to be a very strong team. They don't seem to have got that balance right and have been focused on short term success with minimal development of locals.

 

[willym]

On a positive with the Steamers, they still fronted 2 grades, played the game in great spirit and never gave up. There is no lack of ticker in the club whatsoever. One thing that stuck out was the amount of young blokes playing 2's and a couple in 1s. This says to me that the club has some youth and with some time they will grow back into a strong club once again.

If they can retain some of the older guys who want to hang around and develop these young guys then its onwards and upwards.

 

[Sicnarf]

My mail is that the Steamers only turned up with 10 players for Reserve Grade last Saturday and Waratahs had to lend them players so where are all the Youngsters & older Players ?
Lots of excuses are being made for Albury but someone on the Forum is right - their lust for Premiership Glory via the mighty $ has made them very poor in the long run"
I wonder how the Club is perceived overall in the Albury / Wodonga sporting community.
It might look as though I am putting the boot in but the Club has to take the Good with the Bad on the chin

 

[willym]

they turned up with 13 or 14 for 2s, whilst we had a surplus on the bench we helped them out. The point is they still rocked up and had a crack, which i'm not sure all other clubs would have done....

 

[yourmatesam]

Some would also argue that Albury Wodonga with a population in excess of 100,000 and an army base and a university should be able to find enough locals to have a half decent team which can be supplemented with 2-3 imports to be a very strong team. They don't seem to have got that balance right and have been focused on short term success with minimal development of locals.

The Army base are focused on their training, not footy. What happened to RARC in Wagga? One of the genuinely strong clubs of the 90's and early 2000's, good bunch of blokes who always played hard and had fun after the game. The fact is that there aren't the same number of players around as there used to be in these places due to a number of reasons. I also reckon you'll find that the Steamers have had some of the guys from BARC having a run for them.

The O&M is one of the strongest country leagues in the country, let alone Victoria. Have a look at some of the names having a run around and/or coaching down there - Akermanis, Cresswell, Fevola, Schneider - all ex-AFL products. The standard is very high which drives sponsors and money.

Rugby simply doesn't have the options that AFL do in that area of the world - absolute market saturation across every media source. Also consider that the Albury Thunder have been pretty handy in recent years as well and there are only so many humans in Albury to support the many different sporting options.

I reckon you can argue that the Steamers have had a pretty green couple of years recently and they have made the most of the resources they've got at their disposal. From my memory, they've played in 4 of the last 5 Grand Finals and won 3? of these. Not a bad effort for a club outside Wagga.

 

[Almost 2 old]

Not to be apologetic for the Steamers , but, if you draw an 80 k radius line from Albury you will cut through 5 country AFL comps with the majority of those teams being inside that 80 k radius line. The total amount of teams is 52 of which all have 1s 2s & 18's and the Ovens Murray even has 3's.

Just as a side note to add to the Rugby wilderness of Albury, a couple of years ago I went down to watch ACT U18's vs VicU 18's and an old friend of ours came up from Wangaratta. He was an AFL player who had played 5 seasons for a Melbourne club and was coming up to watch his young relative. He had been living in that area for 35 years and he knew mungo existed but didn't know Rugby was played in Albury and thought he was coming to watch his great nephew play mungo. The people down that way don't even know the difference between Rugby and mungo. You only have to ask some of our previous DO's & how they bashed endlessly on the doors of the Secondary Schools in the Albury area to no avail & for very little result.

I don't envy Albury and any success they have they work very hard for.

 

[namtrak]

Just to give some clarity to the situation at Albury over the 2012-2015 period. Of the 4 run-on teams of the grand finals for each year there have been 33 different players. Of those players 8 would be considered local players, who came through the ranks. A further 10 were Australians who moved to the region for work. Another 5 players were from overseas but moved to Albury for work. The next 6 players moved to Albury from overseas because they knew someone who was playing for the Steamers. And the final 4 players were attracted to Albury specifically to play rugby. The juniors program at Albury is the same as at the other centres, it runs pretty deep up until the u17's and then it becomes a struggle as there is so much other competition. Those are the facts, make of them what you will. I tend to think there is more to be gained from discussing the good quality rugby being played across the region and the outstanding form of the competition leaders, and who of the remaining teams will challenge them.....

 

[Independent]

CSU v Waratahs.
Three digits for the second consecutive week for the Tah's. CSU are a basket case on and off the field and will be running scared on Saturday. Waratahs by 100+.
Albury v Leeton
Steamers to bounce back from last weeks thrashing. Leeton may find the conditions down on the border a little inconvenient. Albury by 12.
Griffith v Ag College
Probably the match of the round. Both teams neck and neck for the 'September' (August) action. Might be worth a drive out. Griffith by 3.
City v Tumut
Tumut will look to consolidate their standing as the team Waratahs will play in the GF. As is the case year after year, City promise so much but deliver so little. Perhaps the grass is greener for them with a bit of Red in their colours next year. Tumut by 20.

 

[yourmatesam]

#SIRU2016 Round 11 Preview:
Sorry for my lack of preview last week folks, the two weeks off got me out of my routine!

Albury (7) v Leeton (3)
The Steamers were on the end of a pretty hefty scoreline last week, but didn’t lay down during the game and kept on coming for the full 80mins. They’ll need to do the same again this week against the Phantoms who are still deciding whether to put key player Stuart Dyer back into the mix this week.

Griffith (6) v Ag College (5) – Match of the Round
A big day in the MIA for the Blacks and Aggies this week with both teams needing to take maximum points out of this round. Aggies want to cement their place in the top five and Griffith need everything they can muster to stay in touch with the top five.

Aggies are trucking along nicely, however I’m pretty confident that Coach McCarthy will be keen to see his guys really stick to their structures for a full 80mins. When I’ve seen Aggies run around, they play well in patches but need to be more consistent as the season gets to the pointy end.

The Blacks seem to have found their feet in recent weeks and from all reports were unlucky not to win against Leeton last week. I reckon there may have been a stern conversation with a certain player in regards to their field-goal attempt last week.

Hopefully the Blacks can rub this sort of stuff out of their game because that’s two close losses after the bell (both to Leeton incidentally) and it’s these sort of losses that clubs look back on at the end of the year and regret.
I reckon this game will be a real contest and am looking forward to seeing what these guys bring to the table this week.

City (4) v Tumut (2)
Pipped at the post for Match of the Round this week as the Griffith game has potential to decide final standings for the season but this match is an important game nonetheless.

City have been playing well in recent weeks and should be confident coming into this game, they’ve got plenty to play for and really need to keep hitting their straps as they come into the final weeks of the competition.

The Bulls are still competing well and deserve their current ranking on the ladder. They’ll want to keep working also over the coming weeks of the season and are looking pretty sweet where they are on the ladder.

CSU (8) v Waratahs (1)
A tough day out for the Reddies this week. Waratahs have been pretty impressive to date and will no doubt look to see which players step up to the plate as they prepare for finals footy.

 

[Whistle Happy]

The Griffith Blacks will get square with Ag College tomorrow after the 1st Round embarrasment .
Can anyone update me on how Temora & Coota are going.
Are they winning or losing in their new Comp ? and if they are winning will they make the Finals.
Rumours still flying around that both Temora & Coota might be back with SIRU in 2017 ?
Would SIRU let them return because this year's Comp ticks most of the boxes as far as I can see - No split Comp & some good quality teams apart from Albury & CSU who will re-emerge next year

 

[yourmatesam]

#SIRU2016 Round 11 scores- Tumut 39 d City 12, Waratahs 55 d CSU 0, Griffith 40 d Wagga Ag 15, Leeton 55 d Albury 20