Ahoy there Blindside
Yes , this thread has been anaemic - by this time last year the AIC had already ripped through 3 pages
Anyway .....yours are reasonable points .
To be fair , Marist probably does deserve top billing and there is a rational / reasonable case to reverse them and Iona in the order
They probably ( will ) have the best pack in the competition with the core of their pack this year being Rozka and Downes and I'm tipping Dougal Perrers to be a real surprise this year . He played on the Brisbane Orange Team in the last year's U16 State Championships and really equipped himself well in the #7 spot . The backline is probably going to have too much depth of class with Tennison-Woods and KVD leading the way ( I'm assuming KVD is back )
The one thing you know about Marist Teams is that they are going to be better drilled and coached than the rest of the AIC competition . It might be fair to say that the Rugby / League balance , in terms of hearts and minds and focus is 60/40 at Marist , whereas in other AIC Schools ( in the main ) it feels like 40/60 , and consequently , this is likely to keep Marist at the top of the AIC pile into the foreseeable future
But .......but .......you have 1 or 2 guys at other points - like Padua's Danny Heenan that are legitimately ( IMO ) national quality talent - in either code . He , as a spearhead in the midfield , with a supporting cast that is also in the conversation for national level quality in Bruce Tevaga and Michael Cheer ( if he's still there ) could be enough to pull off an upset
I mean ....Padua's best 3 are better than anyone else's best 3 in the competition - and by quite a distance . From that point it sort of comes down to depth of supporting cast and quality of Coaching.
St Pat's have always had a very strong year group at this level but losing Cayle Manu to Nudgee last season was major . Louis Maritz is a stand out and is also capable of state /national honours in either code . If they still had Manu to spearhead upfront with Maritz to be the dazzling finisher he is out wide , then again , they are well capable of pulling off an upset . I just have question marks about their depth of talent and it also depends on how well they are coached / prepared ....I just felt that with what they had last year they underperformed . I think ( comparatively ) they had more on paper last year than what they do this year and they have lost ( for mine ) one of the best impact forwards in the age group in Manu - who I believe will light by GPS this year after playing out of position as a lock for the Butcher Stripes last year.
Lauries......Lauries ....yeah well ..... as an old boy I would like to pump their tyres more but there is a regime change in the joint and they are in transition with the former headmaster gone ...who basically couldn't have given a square root about sports despite a lot of other magnificent stuff he did for the place to take it out of its 1970's /1980's time warp when he come on board . Anyway ...back to Rugby .....Zac Stannard , I expect will be a steady presence at 10 and I would like to see U16's Liam Newton line up at 12 , which I believe now is his more natural position ( rather than 15 ) They will have a couple of flyers to run off this steady to strong midfield , however , I question the forward depth . They have a few good'ish U16 forwards coming through that pretty much took care of the more vaunted Marist Pack in last season's 10A game , but , if more than half your pack is made of First Year U16 players then they will probably take their lumps here and there - and most notably in what I likely to be a very Senior Centric ( and dominant ) Marist pack
To be honest all the rest will be making up the numbers and will be on the end of some whippings , although , out of the best of the rest there are a few emerging real talents at St Peters - the best of them being Freddie McKinlay in the outside backs - an outstanding talent , and whilst not massive or super sized ( neither is Heenan ) young Freddie could probably match it ( and then some ) with anyone in the AIC Opens this year - at least as an attacking weapon ( I'm not sure about him defensively ) I think he'll wind up better than Jangala Bennet ( also from St Peters before he went to Nudgee ) and he could be on a similar level to Brisbane Grammar's 15 - Hamiso Tabua-Fidow - who , if he wants to and decides to trial this year , could play Australian Schools
But that's my early season wrap
Let's see how it all develops and unfolds
