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Australian Rugby / RA

The Ghost of Raelene

Simon Poidevin (60)
Ghost I wonder how long it might be before these schools have a league team?
Don't think we'll be seeing Kings v St Doms anytime soon. I'm not putting my head in the sand, I doubt the schools would have interest in playing and probably losing to some of the traditional league schools.

I don't think it's a concern of the NRL sides if their prospects play some Rugby and the boys don't seem to kick stones about it either from what I have seen. They still play Club League and it's more about protecting the asset in these schools.
 

The_Brown_Hornet

John Eales (66)
From around U 14 on both NRL & AFL pay considerable money, by the time players are between 16 & 18, SB Bull & Jersey Flegg sides pay good money and also are required to sent players for tertiary education / training at uni or TAFE if they have left school. AFL have similar but more advanced.

Just picking up on this: is that a typo saying that the AFL pays players at U14 level? Having been involved with Aussie Rules here in WA through my boy playing (and a mate's kid who plays for an SANFL club), I can say that this doesn't sound right.

The pathways in Aussie Rules typically are: local club or school ---> picked for district WAFL/SANFL/VFL club at U/14 or 16 level ---> WAFL/SANFL/VFL colts ---> WAFL/SANFL/VFL Seniors ---> Drafted at AFL level

The draft will have guys who have only played at school (like the private school [PSA] comp here in Perth), but the majority will have gone through the club system in some form. The pay at WAFL/SANFL/VFL level (seniors only I believe) is pretty low and definitely not something a young player could live on. They all have jobs or study outside of footy.

Or have I misinterpreted what you're saying?
 

half

Dick Tooth (41)
Just picking up on this: is that a typo saying that the AFL pays players at U14 level? Having been involved with Aussie Rules here in WA through my boy playing (and a mate's kid who plays for an SANFL club), I can say that this doesn't sound right.

The pathways in Aussie Rules typically are: local club or school ---> picked for district WAFL/SANFL/VFL club at U/14 or 16 level ---> WAFL/SANFL/VFL colts ---> WAFL/SANFL/VFL Seniors ---> Drafted at AFL level

The draft will have guys who have only played at school (like the private school [PSA] comp here in Perth), but the majority will have gone through the club system in some form. The pay at WAFL/SANFL/VFL level (seniors only I believe) is pretty low and definitely not something a young player could live on. They all have jobs or study outside of footy.

Or have I misinterpreted what you're saying?
I am talking mostly about boys and it falls into a number of different areas.

In league in NSW the NRL teams all have teams in SG Bull i.e. under 19 & Jersey Flegg i.e under 21.

Many obviously not all players in SG Bull are from 16 , the NRL pays these players well, and if they have left school they must attend academic training at TAFE or Uni. I am told by those who have sports minded children that the AFL has similar, but I am unaware of specific competitions.

Kids under 18 and identified and still at school have a lot of things done for them.

Part of the reason I know this, and not wishing to brag here, but I was a decent half, and worked with a guy whose son was a half, playing for Parramatta SG Bull while still attending Seven Hills sports school, and he played both Union and League at school. I became a kinda player / family mentor, and this is about 10 years ago.

There was a tour of Japan going in union and he was invited to go, parents paid some money and he went, and on his return, AFL offered him more than league to move over, league offered less than AFL, and union offered nothing.

He finished school, qualified to uni to become a physico, league as long as he played paid his uni fees and some money, again AFL offered more.

Union offered nothing, the kid was not the next wiz kid, and at 20 stopped playing for an NRL club and went to the next level down and was paid 70K at a semi professional level.

At roughly 23, he stopped playing at all to develop his career.

I suppose the story line for this is talent scouts spot players from about 14 to 15 and track them for entry into those teams at NRL & AFL level just below their professional level.

As an aside, Football was losing so many 15 to 17 year olds to AFL and to NRL, they developed about the same time I was helping the boy above, their own talent identification program from u 12 thu to u 17, and those so identified were selected for special assistance in coaching, it actually worked and the slippage fell by over 60% but was and is still huge.
 

Jimmy_Crouch

Peter Johnson (47)
It's a positive for sure. Having a great experience in those formative years creates an affinity to the game and would lead to an interest to return if the Wallabies weren't shit.
 

Pfitzy

Nathan Sharpe (72)
I doubt the schools would have interest in playing and probably losing to some of the traditional league schools.

They stopped playing CHS sides when a bunch of league kids with the most basic understanding of the Laws towelled them up...

Basic premise: unless you have genuine depth in your competitions, you don't improve. The navel-gazing that goes on in the Rugby schools competitions blows my mind.
 

The Ghost of Raelene

Simon Poidevin (60)
They stopped playing CHS sides when a bunch of league kids with the most basic understanding of the Laws towelled them up...

Basic premise: unless you have genuine depth in your competitions, you don't improve. The navel-gazing that goes on in the Rugby schools competitions blows my mind.
When was this? The old story of Matraville beating Joeys in the 70s when they had all 3 Ellas, Lloyd McDermott and Eddie Jones in the side. Occasional upsets have happened but I don't think combined CHS even play GPS anymore because it was becoming a joke.
 

Pfitzy

Nathan Sharpe (72)
@Lindommer was relating the tale to me, and we've not caught up over a beer for some time, so it would have been years ago (but later than the 70s).

My point - facetious/vague tho it may be - is that Rugby schools and League schools are in two different places in their respective codes. One forges better athletes through greater depth and spread of competition, both within and without the school system in which they participate.

(Insert my tent about realignment of Rugby junior systems here)
 

Brumby Runner

Jason Little (69)
When was this? The old story of Matraville beating Joeys in the 70s when they had all 3 Ellas, Lloyd McDermott and Eddie Jones in the side. Occasional upsets have happened but I don't think combined CHS even play GPS anymore because it was becoming a joke.
I remember it being around the mid-1970s or a bit earlier. My recollection is that CHS had beaten GPS in a run over some years.
 

stillmissit

Peter Johnson (47)
I remember it being around the mid-1970s or a bit earlier. My recollection is that CHS had beaten GPS in a run over some years.
There were a fair number of HS playing union at that time, thenumber were still OK in the 90's and early 20's but fell in a heap around 2010 as a guy I know who ran the schools comp in Western Sydney for many years told me 2 years ago.
 

Adam84

Rod McCall (65)
APL, the independent governing body managing the A-League has made redundant half its workforce, potentially up to 75% once all done and dusted.

It may have been suggested on this forums previously that the APL/A-League were a model Australian Rugby should follow, given they used PE to provide a cash injection. Silver Lakes paid $140million for a 33% stake back in 2021 to the APL governance model.

Also KeepUp; the digital news/media platform the APL spent $30million on has been disbanded also. Like English Rugby, not looking great.
 
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LeCheese

Greg Davis (50)
APL, the independent governing body managing the A-League has made redundant half its workforce, potentially up to 75% once all done and dusted.

It may have been suggested on this forums previously that the APL/A-League were a model Australian Rugby should follow, given they used PE to provide a cash injection. Silver Lakes paid $140million for a 33% stake back in 2021 to the APL governance model.

Also KeepUp; the digital news/media platform the APL spent $30million on has been disbanded also. Like English Rugby, not looking great.
It also serves as a cautionary tale when selecting a platform to hold broadcast rights imo. Paramount neither had the viewer base nor was an attractive enough proposition (particularly regarding other sports offered) to lure many over, and the game has suffered as a result. Similarly the EPL on Optus. I can’t remember seeing a single piece of A-League advertising in recent years either.
 

stillmissit

Peter Johnson (47)
What happpend in 2010?
Don't take the 2010 as a fixture. A few things happened around that time. The NSW rugby had a great guy doing development work in the West, an ex-teacher, part of his job was to get schools in Western Sydney playing rugby, he was very successful. NSW cancelled his contract. You may remember around this time the media had made a big issue about broken necks and mothers and female teachers lost interest in rugby. The schools that played rugby normally had a male teacher who was interested and as they left so did the rugby.
I went to one of the finals when the comp was going well one afternoon and also reff'd a couple of games to help out. The guy running the comp said that from this time it just fell apart and they went from a (guess) 16 team comp to about 3 teams and he abandoned it.
 
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