Southern Inland Rugby 2021

[yourmatesam]

It's an interesting point and doesn't really make much sense to me. The theory from the club being that their skills are not where they need to be to play 2nd Grade, but the reality is that the visiting club will send a mix of 2nd and 3rd Grade players.

For me, there should be a top down approach, start at first grade and support that competition etc etc.

If you don't have the skills for 2nd Grade, what's your 1st Grade bench look like?

 

[paul bristow]

Athol is talking about the Leeton Phantoms. If the club is comprised of a similar makeup as previous years then the 1st grade team will be mostly Fijian players. A lot of these guys probably came to Leeton to play rugby a few seasons ago and have found employment and settled in the town. The Phantoms have certainly become much more competitive. Unfortunately for Leeton it is obvious that the developments that have occurred hasn’t had a flow on effect in terms of more players getting involved from the general community or the Leeton juniors.

 

[Bubba]

Happy new year to all.
It seems like the usual circus has started with clubs wanting to pick and choose what level they play at . I cant really endorse the 1's and 3's arguement because it was used last year to justify clubs only playing 2's .And that made a mockery of a reserve grade comp to be blunt.

From what i understand nominations have to be in by 21st. There has been no genuine news from Aggies camp and i would be willing to bet that their continued involvement in the comp will be at a very reduced level. Perhaps a 2's team and womens. Reddies announced a swathe of coaching staff recently but made no mention of 3's staff. Interesting days indeed !

 

[namtrak]

I don't have a problem with a club picking and choosing. Reading between the lines, I'd suggest Leeton may be light on numbers and are offering a 3rd Grade based on Old Boys etc that are less willing to train and travel. I think we tend to view clubs from our own experience, and advice from clubs with 70+ guys at training to clubs who are struggling with maybe 20+ at training can be a bit meaningless.

 

[Athol]

It looks as though Leeton pulled the wool over the eyes of SIRU last year with apparent player numbers and player ability before the season started
The more 1 club teams nominating and other Clubs wanting to choose what Grade they want to play in the more the Draw gets messed up for the Clubs that have a definite 3 Grades of 1sts, 2nds & Womens.
I M O Clubs with these 3 Grades should be entitled to play either at Home or Away together as a Whole Club and not split to accommodate other combinations, particularly the Clubs outside of Wagga (Tumut, Albury, Leeton & Grffith)
If you have to split Clubs split the Wagga Clubs ( City, Waratahs, Wagga Ag & Reddies) as they hardly have any "Away" travel during the season

 

[Reasoning]

Good points made by all above
The problem is trying to fit square pegs into round holes as far as having a proper Home & Away Competition where each Club Grade gets to be with each other each Weekend.
As far as we know at this stage there are 8 Teams nominating for 1st Grade (There must be a ? mark around Ag College)
There are supposed to have been 10 Teams expressing an interest in playing 2nd Grade (Add Hay & Deni to the above list and let's leave Leeton in 2nds at the current time ??)
There are 9 Teams nominating for the Women's 10s (With the Hay Cutlets being added to the first list)
3rd Grade is a Comp that is usually put together just before the SIRU Comp kicks off so that respective Clubs can look at their overall numbers and either nominate a Team or Pass.
It's not easy to find a perfect Draw but I would always want my 1st Grade & 2nd Grade sides to always be at the one venue together either at Home or Away

 

[namtrak]

any indications/ news etc as to when we will see a SIRU Draw for this Season.
Are Clubs going to play 18 Rounds or is the Competition itself just stretch for 18 weeks ? with various Grades playing a certain number of games ?
I reckon 18 matches is too many
16 matches would be my maximum but 14 matches is the way to go

I think 1st Grade has 16 games and 2nd Grade has 18 games. Maybe

 

[yourmatesam]

I think what you'll see happen with the draw will be something similar to 2019 where there were "City" and "Country" themed rounds. I forget what the actual match ups were, but the aim was to generate some "rivalries" over the course of the season.

There are probably draft draws in circulation now, based off current nominations. 3rd Grade is typically a mish mash of whatever comes.

 

[yourmatesam]

In other news, I hear that Noa Rabici will be wearing blue this year.

 

[Bubba]

You'd want to be running some serious nylon line if you are going to throw bait out that big !

 

[centralwestrep]

In other news, I hear that Noa Rabici will be wearing blue this year.

Obviously the car City gave him last year wasn't enough.

 

[yourmatesam]

You'd want to be running some serious nylon line if you are going to throw bait out that big !

There's devil in the detail there from the guys I speak to.

Good on him if it's true.

From what I hear, it's a chance outside the region.

 

[namtrak]

Sounds like the Cheque Book (Direct Credit) is getting more of a work out in the Pre Season other than Training
Steamers signed up a couple of players during the Week and City still on the look out for more players
Is Rugby still supposed to be amateur in Community Rugby ?
Sign of the times I suppose - "Playing for the love of the game " was once a common Rugby Union staement but slowly but surely "playing for the love of the $$$" is taking over
Can SIRU investigate whether players or being paid to play or do they just look the other way ??
Rabici has played for Leeton , West Harbour & Wagga City in recent years so whoever he decides to play for this year don't tell us all it will be because of his " Love for the Game" ha ha

I suspect you might be overthinking it. I doubt any Rugby club in the region truly has the assets to be paying players. We've only ever looked at jobs and accommodation, despite what gets kicked around on social media. If players in our region want to get paid, and they are good enough, then the only 2 options are either an AFL team or the Thunder.

 

[paul bristow]

Is being paid by a club in Siru illegal? I’m not sure what Siru could do if they found out a club was paying a player or players?

 

[namtrak]

Is being paid by a club in Siru illegal? I’m not sure what Siru could do if they found out a club was paying a player or players?

I'm pretty sure it's in the SIRU competition rules that players can't be paid, with exceptions for travel, accommodation, scholarships etc. The competition rules would fall under the SIRU constitution. However, investigating cases would be extraordinarily problematic I imagine. There was a missive from SIRU late last year, which specifically mentioned non payment of players. So I guess the chinese whispers are gathering momentum.

 

[paul bristow]

To save all the Chinese whispers, which are only going get louder if Waratahs dominate the competition, why doesn’t the club come clean with the deal associated with Noah before the season begins.

 

[yourmatesam]

My mail said Royals...

Not Tahs.

 

[namtrak]

My mail said Royals.

Not Tahs.

Gold. I wondered if this is who you meant.

 

[yourmatesam]

Gold. I wondered if this is who you meant.

I thought it might get a few bites, but geez Louise...

 

[paul bristow]

Don’t get it. The guy recently played for Leeton & City. Wearing blue next season on a SIRU forum? Why would anyone click to Royals? Doesn’t make sense.