Author: Ben Marczyk
Ben Marczyk
Passionate about rugby from the grass roots up. Usually found at Brisbane club rugby games, or being involved in the junior and schools system. Love a chat, happy to admit when I'm wrong. I will watch any game of rugby regardless of who is playing, from juniors through to tests
It was with great fanfare that the QRU unveiled its latest proposal to redevelop Ballymore the spiritual home of rugby in Queensland. But is Ballymore really where the future for the QRU could and should lie? I’m going to take off my rose-tinted glasses for a while and have a hard look if it all really makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, I love the joint, having been going there for nearly 30 years as a fan and sometimes participant but let me play devils advocate for you all. I have great memories of Ballymore in the times past; Carozza…
All of us would have to been hiding under a rock over the last week to have not seen the much bally-hooed release by Rugby Australia of the changes to junior grading in the U10-U15 age group that can see players moved up or down based on an assessment of skill and weight. But is it all a mirage? Let’s look at the questions I have with the system as I understand it, and work through a bit of a scenario using my son’s age group at his local club. This should be a decent enough microcosm that I would…
So on a steamy Thursday night the Queensland Reds turned out what appeared to be a near full strength squad for a trial against a Fiji Warriors side that on paper looked to be quite strong. After an intra-squad trial that raised more questions than answers. Having been part of the crowd first time round gave me a good opportunity to assess the progression of the squad. So away we go… The Reds started off positively enough with a good early run of possession punctuated by a few key handling errors, particularly in the flanks. This was a common theme…
The Reds kicked off their season with an internal trial and the one and only Ben Marczyk (@Ben_Marczyk on twitter) went along and was kind enough to give us his thoughts. Before I get too far into this, I think I need to spell out the framework that I used to look at this game. Firstly I totally understand that it was the first proper game environment for the Reds squad this year, secondly it was an intra-squad game which can be both good and bad, and finally and probably most importantly, I was looking for some spark, any spark…