QLD GPS Rugby 2018

[human]

Yes but ..

Looking beyond face value of a couple of stars (who performed phenomenally well btw) a significant part of the T and F success story is about the depth of participation that led to the accumulation of points in the lower placings

That was the Cake

The “stars” were the Icing

And the guy and his team that run the program supported by the S and C Team deserve some credit , if only, (as not quiet rightly suggested - but doesn’t matter) in working with “the rest” where they were able to build a strong platform

2016’s Captain of Track was special and is generally regarded by the boys as one of the best student leaders that has been through in recent times ( College Cap )- and 2017’s guy was also of similar quality( College Vice Cap )

All true GO, however the plan is fairly clear - recruit (buy is too crude a word) an outstanding junior athlete for year 11/12 (D.Roper in 2015/16; A Moloney in 2016/17) and build the depth around them - each of those two athletes contributed at least 20% of BBC's total points in the T&F championship (Moloney won 7 individual events in 2016 and 6 in 2017 I think). Both these boys were outstanding Brisbane junior athletes. For 2018, BBC have gone further afield, bring E.Nketia from the ACT - he is not in the same all round class as the other two but might be okay at rugby as well as being a good sprinter. Whether he is good enough to beat the BSHS sprinters at GPS remains to be seen.

 

[Oldschool]

Is Flook back this year ? If he is ..I guess Pasiota , Robbins and Flook are the returnees in the back line ?

Pretty good base to build from right there

Backline and loosies will be good. Tight 5 could be a challenge, especially in the locks. If they hold their own in the scrums they'll do well.

 

[TheKing]

He is not back.sadly.

Can confirm. He's done a Kalyn Ponga and signed with the Cowboys, and they've brought him home to Cairns to play with the Northern Pride U18s.

He recently ran an 11.02 from a standing start, which would have taken 1st place in the National U16s last year. He is rapid.

 

[Countryjack]

All true GO, however the plan is fairly clear - recruit (buy is too crude a word) an outstanding junior athlete for year 11/12




You mean "do" ( copy is to crude a word) what
-NC and TSs have been doing in rugby and swimming for 20 years
- what IGS and NC have done in track for 20 years
- what BGS has done in swimming and x/ country for last 5 years?
when you win by 98 points 20% does not mean didley

 

[terry from Townsville]

Thought I’d have a go at gps 1

Nonggorr - tss
?
Mavaega - gt
Tasi - igs
Tuinona - bshs
Manu - nudgee
Roach - gt
Gerard - tss
Kirk - gt
Parata - tss
Condon - gt
Waight - bgs
Robbins - nudgee
Bowyer - bbc
Samuela - tss

cant think of a hooker

 

[Countryjack]

uote="terry from Townsville, post: 991792, member: 70124"]Thought I’d have a go at gps 1

Nonggorr - tss
?
Mavaega - gt
Tasi - igs
Tuinona - bshs
Manu - nudgee
Roach - gt
Gerard - tss
Kirk - gt
Parata - tss
Condon - gt
Waight - bgs
Robbins - nudgee
Bowyer - bbc
Samuela - tss

cant think of a hooker[/quote]



Not bad at all. A lot of TSS boys' and quite rightly so.
Do not forget Carter Gordon is still at BBC ,. Did he not replace Parata in Qld 1?

 

[terry from Townsville]

Yeah its a hard one there are 3 or 4 top shelf first fives in the competition again this season and its so hard to choose one. no one would be wrong in picking the bbc boy as first choice or the nudgee boy or even the grammar boy

its good for the competition

 

[TheRugbyGod]

Rumour has it that BSHS have brought in 7 boys on rugby scholarships in grades 10 and 11.

 

[BraveandGame]

Nonggorr - tss
Kaituu - nc
Mavaega - gt
Tasi - igs
Tuinona - bshs
Manu - nc
Roach - gt
Gerard - tss
Kirk - gt
Parata - tss
Vaihu - gt
Condon - gt
Robbins - nc
Bowyer - bbc
Samuela - tss


Very tough at 10 with BBC, BSHS, and NC having top Draw 10's
13 will be a tough spot - not sure Robbins is best there but you kinda want Vaihu, Bowyer and Robbins in your team. Fullback is a lock as is 7, 1, 5 and 8 - 4, 6, 9 and 12 are strong favorites but will face competition I feel, 3 will be hotly contested and 2 I think will be a surprise, but that's for the trials.

 

[Garry Owens]

Yeah I agree that Bennett has got to be a certainty for a wing spot

I know the Terrace brigade like pumping their guys but who does Vaihu replace out of Waight , Robbins and Bowyer - when one of those 3 would have to give way for Bennett anyway ?

Waight had a cracking year last year , starting with , Open Schoolboy trials and then into the season proper . He , in my view , deserves the starting shot at the 13 jersey as he is ahead in the pecking order in how he has proven himself on this level already.

Vaihu is a very good player . Very good . No question about that . But I have Bowyer ahead of both of Robbins and Vaihu - both in terms of speed and X factor ability in being able to make something out of nothing ( when nothing is on )

Personally , I also have BBC's Matt Sterling and Terrace's Simone Maafu on the same level as Robbins and Vaihu .......but then BSHS , Nudgee and BBC each have at least 1 x youngster in the outside backs that might actually be better then their competition a year ahead of them - right now

GPS 2 is going to be a damn good team as well ...........even GPS 3.

I anticipate AIC won't be the bunnies they have been in the last several years and should beat GPS 3 this year and ( at least on paper ) challenge GPS 2 strongly and give GPS 1 a competitive game as well.

There seems to be A LOT of competition in the backs that should see genuine class all the way down to GPS 3 , however , I'm not sure that they same depth is there in the forwards ( compared to the last few years ) which is why AIC should actually win a game or two this year against the GPS teams.

 

[Garry Owens]

Early Season Tip for the " Where the fuck did he come from ? " award

Connor O'Reilly - IGS

 

[BraveandGame]

But I have Bowyer ahead of both of Robbins and Vaihu - both in terms of speed and X factor ability in being able to make something out of nothing ( when nothing is on )

Personally , I also have BBC's Matt Sterling and Terrace's Simone Maafu on the same level as Robbins and Vaihu ...but then BSHS , Nudgee and BBC each have at least 1 x youngster in the outside backs that might actually be better then their competition a year ahead of them - right now

You'd be on you own there I suspect, except of coarse for the what was it ' (the) BBC brigade (who) like pumping their guys'

No one at GT (in Maafa's case) or the State Selectors (for the others) seem to agree.

Going by the performances in the state champs last year - the 15's were significantly behind what the 16's produced in term of overall standard of play - always much harder to play with the older boys than people expect - look at Issac Lucas as a 16 year old to his 17 year - I would cite Gordon, Kirk, Manu, big Zane and Condon from last year all contributors for sure but hardly dominant (maybe Zane by years end but still better props on offer) - they will improve beyond measure this year.

Some 16's will contribute this year as those mentioned above did last year, BUT 16 year olds very very very rarely dominate the opens and I have seen little to suggest any different from this years lot.

In fact who was the last 16 year old that could be considered to have dominated in the GPS comp. Ponga??

Time will tell.

BAG

 

[The Nomad]

The 10 spot will be very interesting .

Parata probably is the front runner , but Gordon has come a long way since last year's GPS season, he certainly will be better off for his run last year. As will Pasitoa from NC .

Interestingly , Pasitoa played at 12 for Qld U16 Red team last year and both played well and combined well with Gordon. Maybe Pasitoa has a future at 12 rather than 10. In fact the backline combinations in that Qld Red backline were a stand out at the national champs and looked like this:

9 Kirk GT
10 Gordon BBC
11 Vaihu GT
12 Pasitoa NC
13 Condon GT
14 Tennyson-Woods MBA
15 Samuela TSS

Robbins (NC) and Heenan ( Padua ) came off the bench . Obviously the AIC boys will be playing with their own crew, but overall, not a lot different to the backline being offered up by a few here.

Think Bennett will have a spot in there somewhere and the 10 could go either way.

In the forwards , think Gallagher ( BBC ) and Hassall (TGS) could be included in the 4/5/6/8 mix, Vella (NC) at 3 and Crothers ( Churchie) at 2 could be included in the front row.

Could also be a bunch of new arrivals we haven't seen yet.

 

[Garry Owens]

@ BAG

Bit over zealous aren't we ?

In summary response :

1. Prior years rep and who was who in that zoo really doesn't mean anything in a forthcoming season for GPS selection , especially when , you have a completely different set of selectors who form the GPS Teams . Nor should it . As an aside , if you actually understand how this section process works - Sterling and Waight were preferenced ahead of Vahui and Robbins in last year's GPS Open's trials . Separate to this reality you seem a little butt hurt that an opinion was expressed that doesn't value a specific player to the same level you do and puts said player on a similar level to other talented boys from a mix of other schools . Boo hoo for you.

2. Sterling was having a knock out season until he succumbed to his shoulder injury .No one knows for sure but for those that actually watched the games instead of drinking the kool aid - it would be entirely reasonable that he would have been right in the mix for U16 National Champ selection.

3. I wonder whether Maafu was still dealing with an ongoing shoulder issue last season ? I actually don't know , however , I do recall this did plague him through his U15 campaign - and at that time , and from that Logan stable - I rated him more highly than others from that stable at that time - including your boy. Talent doesn't go away and things change from season to season in ups and downs etc. Three cheers for Terrace rating Player X over Player Y . It must make it so .

4. Waight did it all through Opens Schoolboy trials last year on GPS 2 . Doesn't seem you know much about him or caught any of the action.

5. Not sure what you are talking about re : last year's 15's and State Champs unless you were talking about the shit fest that was the fish that John West reject in the Club based 16's City / Country thing ?? Anyway......who cares . I wasn't talking about massive numbers of dominance - reading is fundamental - I was talking about three , 3 , yes 3 .....U16's ( this year ) from 3 x separate schools and who didn't participate in any of last year's 15's rep ( or weren't here ) and you wouldn't know them anyway . But you ( and others ) will soon enough. So hold on to that angst big guy. And get your context right before you swing.

6. Last 16 to dominate ? What about your own Dirty Harry ? Wasn't that long ago for your memory to be that dim surely ?

 

[Garry Owens]

Just curious BAG .....( and Nomad ) how many guys Terrace got from 11 to 15 that are sub 11 over 100m ?

And who do you anticipate wears your 10 jersey to bring it all together ?

 

[BraveandGame]

@ BAG

Bit over zealous aren't we ?

4. Waight did it all through Opens Schoolboy trials last year on GPS 2 . Doesn't seem you know much about him or caught any of the action.

Have nothing against Waight at all - as with you I prefer some players over others.

6. Last 16 to dominate ? What about your own Dirty Harry ? Wasn't that long ago for your memory to be that dim surely ?

He was 17 (2016) then 18 (2017) he played his 16 year in the 16A's. close though we was dominant!

Won't bother with the rest - opinions and assholes and all that, you really should meet the Pot, Mr Kettle - other than to to say there is a lots of 'maybes', 'could be's', 'might ofs', and 'all a new years' in your post - but Vaihu made the teams the others didn't - and I am not sure he even trialed for GPS teams as at that time he was in the 16's behind JJ at GT.

 

[BraveandGame]

Just curious BAG ...( and Nomad ) how many guys Terrace got from 11 to 15 that are sub 11 over 100m ?

And who do you anticipate wears your 10 jersey to bring it all together ?

10 will be very interesting - might be one of the 27 new boys GT brings in every year according to this forum ;-0

I haven't had my stop watch out this year, yet!- but on exposed form Glen is about .4 behind Bowyer and GT's quickest by not that much. Our top speed u/16 is just ahead of Ripley if that helps.

Football speed is more about acceleration, evasiveness and ratios than straight line speed - Glen, Tyrone, Mone are plenty fast enough for the rugby paddock.

You must be excited about our new U/16 lock prospect. ;-)

 

[Garry Owens]

Yes I am very happy for the said U16 prospect but only if the Terrintelligencia don't stuff it up and play him as an aforesaid lock prospect.

He's a 1 , and in my view , is good enough to represent ( at the minimum ) QLD Schools 1 or 2

Good pick up and a terrific young bloke - one that Terrace got right

 

[BraveandGame]

Terrintelligencia don't stuff it up and play him as an aforesaid lock prospect.

He's a 1 , and in my view , is good enough to represent ( at the minimum ) QLD Schools 1 or 2

Well GT like their starting props to have very little experience and to have played in the back row the season before so that'll help.

 

[Galloper]

In fact who was the last 16 year old that could be considered to have dominated in the GPS comp. Ponga??

BAG

Elton Flatley?