Western Sydney Rams . NRC Official Team Thread

[WorkingClassRugger]

How many games did Ayoub start in First Grade for Eastowwd?

He's started practically every game I've seen them play this season.

 

[GunnerDownUnder]

How many games did Ayoub start in First Grade for Eastowwd?

All since he arrived I think?

 

[Blackers13]

P

I agree that ideally all talent should be sourced from the feeder clubs. The leaguie you're referring to who is it exactly? Same for the Fijian.

Peni Ravai is the Fijian and I stand corrected on the Leaguie claim, Henry Tafua is from Sunnybank Queensland

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

P
Peni Ravai is the Fijian and I stand corrected on the Leaguie claim, Henry Tafua is from Sunnybank Queensland

I agree with you on that front. Surely there were players present who could fill their roles.

 

[GunnerDownUnder]

A quick glance from original squad, these guys were unlucky to not get picked.
But then who would get dropped

Evan Olmstead
Andrew Cox
Alex Samoa
Cameron Orr
Usaia O'Sullivan
Joel Brooks
Alex Gibbon
Tobias Gukibau

 

[Done that]

What immediately comes to mind, is the fact that while the team purports to represent Western Sydney, there are so few players chosen
from the clubs actually in that area.There is therefore ,not much for the supporters of those clubs & the supporters of Rugby in the West ,to identify with, in this team,& therefore not much
incentive to get behind & support the team.
While I realise that the purpose of the competition is to identify the "3rd tier players" in the Shute Shield & elsewhere,I would have thought that more support & recognition
might have been given to those clubs which support the concept,& support the development of Rugby in Sydney's West.
Also while Parramatta ,West Harbour & Penrith finished in the bottom half of the table,I think within those teams there are more potential Super 15 players than might
be suggested by the selected team.
What I suspect might be the consequences of this,is that this will have a detrimental effect on the clubs in the West,as I would anticipate that a number of their better
players would interpret their omission for players from elsewhere,as indicating that there is no future in playing for the western Sydney clubs & head off for greener pastures,
in particular overseas,where many of them can at least get a decent financial return.
One wonders also, what consequences there are for the Eastwood club & it's players following Eastwood's decision to formally withdraw it's participation,& by implication,it's support.
It would seem that any consequences are likely to be beneficial to that club, as selections suggest that playing for Eastwood is a sure fire way of gaining selection,& thus
if a young player is in two minds as to where he should play,this sort of situation should remove all doubt.

 

[Dave Beat]

Few Manly boys in there.

 

[Braveheart81]

There's a team playing in the NRC and they're based at Parramatta Stadium.

Supporters of rugby in the west shouldn't be looking any further than that.

Get behind it!

 

[GunnerDownUnder]

The PI aspect is there for many to get behind
I understand each home game will focus on this

Not many would break into the woodies first team
These guys are still training with the squad and will benefit from this
As will the clubs as players get better and fitter

 

[GunnerDownUnder]

Few Manly boys in there.

Yep I'll be a manly tomorrow before the tahs to cheer them on

 

[Thebank2014]

Happy with the rams squad and even the Queenslander good on them for taking a risk and making the move down to Sydney. All the best to the rams for the NRC comp.

 

[Knuckles]

A quick glance from original squad, these guys were unlucky to not get picked.
But then who would get dropped

Evan Olmstead - Senio Toleafoa
Andrew Cox - Pat Sio
Alex Samoa - Tom Hill
Cameron Orr - Rhys Brodie
Usaia O'Sullivan - Dane Chisholm
Joel Brooks - Jerome McKenzie
Alex Gibbon - Apo Latunipulu
Tobias Gukibau - no one. He shouldn't have been involved in the 1st place.

 

[2bluesfan]

Word is Parra is about to pull the pin on the Rams too

I personally wouldn't like to see that happen. If Parra (I almost said "we") made a commitment then Parra/we should see it through as best Parra/we can and reassess the value to Parramatta and Australian Rugby at the conclusion of the NRC.

Mind you, I am very very disappointed with what I have seen so far and I totally understand the sentiments being expressed here and elsewhere. The commitment to "provide aspirational Western Sydney players with the platform", in hindsight, appears to be cleverly written with enough wriggle room to please most politicians, BUT this statement "Players will be invited to join the RAMS Squad based on form and potential in the local Shute Shield competition" may well be re-written in the near future. (Both these quotes are from the blog section of the Rams site, as at 7:15PM today.) Of course, the get out clause is "Greater Sydney RAMs Players and Coaches will largely originate from catchment area Clubs: Eastwood, Penrith, Parramatta, West Harbour and Southern Districts."

I've said before, we are entering a brave new world here and I'm not entirely sure that we've been told enough about the Rams to have confidence that this is the right model.

I have a question relating to the selection parameters: have the ARU provided input to each team's selections? One would assume so.

 

[Pfitzy]

And where is your perspective from. Are you aligned with Parramatta or Penrith where all the talent comes from and in this case financial assistance to the rams.

I'm aligned with The Rams. I nominally support Parramatta and Penrith, but place the support of rugby at the top of the chain.

What immediately comes to mind, is the fact that while the team purports to represent Western Sydney, there are so few players chosen
from the clubs actually in that area.

1) no it doesn't: GREATER Sydney Rams.

2) Eastwood is west. Maybe they don't deserve quite that many players, but if you want success, add weight to each club's position on the table and check again.


I live in Western Sydney and played subbies for five years out here, including committee stints and dealing directly with the rugby hierarchy including referees. I know the frustration of basically being ignored because we don't have the money, or the old school connections, or the facilities established a century ago that mean we are subject to the whims of LGA.

But if we keep sitting in our pile of mud and bitching about HOW something should happen, we are no better than Poido or Papworth in believing that Club rugby will see the game prosper in this nation.

We need a third tier established, and in time the game can grow outwards and upwards, and bring Western Sydney into the fold as the cradle of life ahead of the GPS system.

 

[RugbyFuture]

Its being enacted but again being created to the detriment of the clubs with the direct link to the community, hopefully in time amendments can be made.

We should support the team, the idea but hopefully look to a day when organically the best come from the area.

 

[Pfitzy]

All good things take time. We have waited this long to rise, what is a few more years?

 

[GunnerDownUnder]

The rams need to be competitive from day one
The business side needs to generate money sponsors etc
The woodies are a class above the other teams that were initially involved in this
The rams are actually not a representative side nor a merger of clubs they are a separate entity with a nominal financial and administrative input from clubs
They have picked a squad to win not fulfil a quota
As said before the wider squad will train together and these guys will all benefit from this so the mtbs pirates and emus all benefit in the long term

 

[RugbyFuture]

There's some things behind the scenes which aren't being seen here. Some of the things you mentioned I've heard rumours of not being adequate either.

 

[isp resp loquitur]

A quick glance from original squad, these guys were unlucky to not get picked.
But then who would get dropped

Rhys Brodie for a start - he was not even on the Rams web site for the first 55 or whatever they pretend - appears to be a late blow in from Sydney Uni Second grade.

 

[2bluesfan]

The rams are actually not a representative side nor a merger of clubs they are a separate entity with a nominal financial and administrative input from clubs

I think that's the problem some of us have. When the Rams bid was announced, it came from the Clubs. At some stage, the Clubs and ARU have allowed that initial feelgood factor of "Greater Sydney" having a team that was broadly representative of the constituent clubs to be diluted by having 'our team" morph into something quite different. I may have been asleep at the wheel but very little was communicated as to how the new entity came into being, and how it would represent the interests of the clubs/people who were behind the initial bid. Even now very little has been communicated about the members of the private consortium. I haven't seen any information on the website and I can't be bothered paying for ASIC records. The ARU has obviously approved all this so I suppose I should draw some comfort from that.

I understand it's early days yet - the Rams (why is it capitalised on the website? is it an acronym?) don't even play for another 22 days, plenty of time to ramp up that fan engagement strategy.

I can understand if some view my comments as totally negative. They're not meant to be. Not totally. As a Rugby fan, I hope the NRC succeeds. I'd just like to be able to support a team with which I can identify somewhat. The Rams V2014 are probably not that team unfortunately. But good luck to them.