Gary Owen III
Syd Malcolm (24)
I was there for both trials, there was at least 220 kids there for the 15's.
The trials were different as you might expect the 17's had a few more drill with extra complexity. I'm not sure how next weekend will go as I believe you will only see those boys that clearly were not up to the standard missing a second trial. How does 14 teams of 15 go into 4 teams of 30, plus you need to accommodate the 16's national boys, luckily for the other boys only half of them have put their hands up.
I go back to my earlier post, they already know who they want as the 16's have been seen plenty of time over the last year and they just want that 15 year old that is a stand out. This year 14's that made the sydney Side will be in and i understand they had a long list of kids from the 14's state champs, the rest will come from the 13's that are stand outs.
I'd say both age groups will be 80% the older boy and 20% the younger.
Considering the turnout on Sunday - i do hope the JGC evolves into having a separate U16's as well moving forward.
It would be a shame for about 80% of the lads whom will make this years U15's to then be told next year to "have a year off" as they cant fit them into the U17's just yet.
I know it is over summer etc but I don't think we want to create a situation where the lads start looking at other sports for the "gap year" because the U16's have a limited pathway - although i understand the regionals / nationals etc are still an option for this age group.