Sorry people, this may upset a fe of you but I am afraid the time has come for the schools competing in the u18 ACTJRU to draw a line in the sand with the club sides and let them know enough is enough. With the exception of Vikings and to a lesser degree Wests the other club sides are making a mockery of the competition with the number of forfeits occuring. This has being especially evident towards the end of the season where some of these clubs are have seemingly 'given up the ghost'.
The main players, namely Eddies, Marist and Grammar need to put an ultimatum to the clubs to compete each and every round or rack off. My own view is that the sooner these schools depart from the u18 comp and revert to the ASC the better. I would rather see Eddies, Marist, Grammar, and Darra play each other three times a year than have their 1st XV 's not get a game at all because clubs sides cant maintain interest. At the very least the 2nd and 3rd XV comps would have a greater number of teams with Trinity, Burghman, Radford and possibly a Mackillop side put together. I am sure over time these other schools, particularly Burghman and Trinity could assemble teams which could compete in the 1st XV comp.
The current arrangement is a joke and an insult to some of the pride that schools such as Eddies and Marist place in their 1st XV jumper. I know this post will annoy many of those who are backbones of the club sides and try their very best to assemble a strong XV each weekend. I apologise to those people but sadly you are being let down by your fellow clubmen. Marist 1st XV has not got a game in the last two weeks due to forfeits. Is it any wonder that when they go away to Sydney to play in Waratah Shield semis against schools such as Oakhill they get blown away like they did last week. They are simply not getting the level of competition week in week out that they need to prepare for those types of fixtures. How long will it take before some one does something about this? As I have said three games a year against each school who is competitive would serve these schools much better in terms of player development than the current arrangement.
