Brisbanes Rugby DNA

[RugbyFuture]

Just looking up things and trying to figure out the makeup of the Queensland Premiership etc. (never been to brisbane)

first of all im confused by what brisbane is and what south east queensland is, is there a difference, or is it like sydney, with penrith, parramatta, central coast and wollongong?

secondly how small a geographical footprint does the competition have? why isnt there an ipswich and logan team considering mungoball is always talking aout them being major growth areas of the region?

anything else important i should be asking?

cheers

 

[RugbyReg]

Brisbane is the capital of QLD. It has some bordering suburbs, and some cities that are getting closer (Ipswich etc). Places like Logan are different local councils, but are effectively Brisbane.

So the Premiership contains:

Sunshine Coast (about 1 hour and a bit north of Brisbane)
Gold Coast (about 1 hour south of Briso)
Norths
GPS
Wests
Souths
Easts
Brothers
QLD Uni
Sunnybank

The reason there is no Logan and Ipswich basically comes down to infrastructure. I think Logan have mooted for an introduction to the comp, but they need to ensure they have the lower grade numbers to be accepted. And I am sure there is some parochialism from the existing clubs. Haven't heard of Ippy even talked about as a possibility.

What else do you want to know?

 

[RugbyFuture]

so would ipswich be accepted as part of the greater brisbane area or considered a seperate town? for instance, just measured it on google earth and ipswich is the same distance from brisbane CBD as blacktown (between parra and penrith) is from sydneys and the same distance i travel to go to uni everyday and its all (in reality) considered sydney.

 

[RugbyFuture]

also wouldnt mind some information for the wikipedia page for me to update, information much like that on the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shute_Shield page i developed

seems these two teams have an ultimate goal of representing those two regions

http://www.rangersrugby.com.au/Home

http://www.loganrugby.com.au/

 

[RugbyReg]

nah, Ippy would be considered separate from Briso.

 

[Jets]

I personally would love to see a Toowoomba team in the Brisbane comp too.

One of the problems at the moment is that a lot of teams are located close to each other so they are fighting for the same players while other areas have players but the need to travel quite a way to play Premier rugby. I think that in an ideal world the compass clubs (Norths, Souths etc) would be located further away from the city. I understand why this isn't going to happen but it would be good if some of these teams had relationships with junior and subbie teams further out of town, they may do but I haven't heard about it. I know that Sunnybank has the Brown Plains Junior team under their umbrella.

Not sure how it would work in terms of draw though as it would lengthen the season a bit and would require more teams in the finals.

 

[TOCC]

so would ipswich be accepted as part of the greater brisbane area or considered a seperate town? for instance, just measured it on google earth and ipswich is the same distance from brisbane CBD as blacktown (between parra and penrith) is from sydneys and the same distance i travel to go to uni everyday and its all (in reality) considered sydney.

Ipswich is to Brisbane as Parramatta is to Sydney..
They are in the same urban footprint, but historically have been two seperate cities.


Regarding your questions about Logan and Ipswich, i think its inevitable that Logan will get a team, the biggest issue is currently infastructure and funding. They were in negotiations with the Logan City Council about getting new facilities co-located at Griffith University, however i have heard there was delays with that.

Sunnybank Rugby has spread its footprint into the Logan region, a lot of the top players are lured up to Sunnybank, Sunnybank has bailed a couple of the junior clubs out of the years as mentioned earlier(Browns Plains).


Toowoomba(Darlings Downs Rugby Union) has been pushing hard for a team as well, but its unlikely this will happen in the near future. Townsville was also chasinga team, but due to the tight financial nature of the QRU this is unlikely to happen any time soon. Redlands has also been another club which wants a Premier Grade team, they have good juniors and are in a growing region.


Off the top of my head, this is the pecking order for expansion of the Premier Grade Comp.

1. Darling Downs(have the player base, have the facilities, have the funding)
2. Logan(very likely to see them included in the next 2-3years dependant on facilities)
3. Redlands, have the facilities, are in a good catchment area
4. Townsville, long shot in the future depending on funding

 

[liquor box]

Logan would be a good addition, they have a huge islander population

 

[DPK]

Ipswich is to Brisbane as Parramatta is to Sydney..

So Ipswich > Brisbane?

 

[TOCC]

So Ipswich > Brisbane?

population wise no, but is Parramatta bigger then Sydney?

anyway i was reffering more to the urban footprint and the idea of it historically been the economic capital of western Brisbane. That amongst other things, that the 'westie' stereotype is just as fitting in Brisbane as Sydney.

 

[RugbyFuture]

dont agree that ipswich will get a team but think toowoomba will?

 

[TOCC]

I think what the QRU needs to do with Ipswich, is consolidate the clubs under a unified umbrella, similar to the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Darling Downs.

Include Goodna, Karanna Downs, Springfield, Forest Lake, Ipswich(maybe even Gatton) all under the same governing body(similar to Met West in juniors). This immediately broadens the catchment area of the clubs, it also provides more direct development pathways. Same as Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast the Met West side will provide a Premier Grade side and a Premier Colts side, with the rest of there teams playing in the the Met West rugby comp.

Its a necessary requirement i think due to the lack of playing numbers out in Ipswich, it will take a little bit of time, but what it does is lays the foundations for a strong future by ensuring the grassroots is there to support the club.

 

[unsub god]

Good in theory TOCC, however there is one problem. Uni, Wests, GPS and Sunnybank already suck the cream from these areas for their Colts / Seniors recruitment. Wests currently have an agreement with Ipswich, but it has been fairly unproductive for both, as schoolboys that are any good are snapped up by one of the four clubs as soon as they leave school.

 

[TOCC]

Good in theory TOCC, however there is one problem. Uni, Wests, GPS and Sunnybank already suck the cream from these areas for their Colts / Seniors recruitment. Wests currently have an agreement with Ipswich, but it has been fairly unproductive for both, as schoolboys that are any good are snapped up by one of the four clubs as soon as they leave school.

they suck the cream from there because there are no alternatives for these players..
Players with the potential on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast used to be lured to Brisbane clubs, establishing premier grade sides in those regions stopped that.

 

[liquor box]

I think what the QRU needs to do with Ipswich, is consolidate the clubs under a unified umbrella, similar to the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Darling Downs.

Include Goodna, Karanna Downs, Springfield, Forest Lake, Ipswich(maybe even Gatton) all under the same governing body(similar to Met West in juniors). This immediately broadens the catchment area of the clubs, it also provides more direct development pathways. Same as Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast the Met West side will provide a Premier Grade side and a Premier Colts side, with the rest of there teams playing in the the Met West rugby comp.

Its a necessary requirement i think due to the lack of playing numbers out in Ipswich, it will take a little bit of time, but what it does is lays the foundations for a strong future by ensuring the grassroots is there to support the club.

I think Toowoomba would fight pretty hard to have Gatton as part of their team, there are a lot of country boys at Uni in Gatton so it could be a good breeding ground

 

[TOCC]

I think Toowoomba would fight pretty hard to have Gatton as part of their team, there are a lot of country boys at Uni in Gatton so it could be a good breeding ground

No, Gatton is not part of the current Darling Downs Competiton or representative sides

 

[Jets]

No, Gatton is not part of the current Darling Downs Competiton or representative sides

That might be the case at the moment but I think if Toowoomba were to get a Premier team then a few guys from Gatton would fancy their chances of playing for them. A lot of these guys would have gone to school in Toowoomba or would be from around the area. I guess I would be looking at more of a Darling Downs team.

I do like the idea of making an Ipswich team sit above the local comp. There is a bit of talent floating around that western corridor and I think they would attract quite a few players.

 

[TOCC]

That might be the case at the moment but I think if Toowoomba were to get a Premier team then a few guys from Gatton would fancy their chances of playing for them. A lot of these guys would have gone to school in Toowoomba or would be from around the area. I guess I would be looking at more of a Darling Downs team.

I do like the idea of making an Ipswich team sit above the local comp. There is a bit of talent floating around that western corridor and I think they would attract quite a few players.

mate, Darling Downs is already a team, there is no 'Toowoomba' team, Darling Downs Ltd is the overarching body in charge of Junior, Senior and Representative Rugby on the Darling Downs, which encompasses teams from Toowoomba, Kingaroy, Warick, Condamine, Goondiwindi, Roma and Dalby. Darling Downs Ltd already has a representative side which played in 2009 State Championship against the Premier Grade sides and in 2010 they played in the country championship against the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

Much the same as Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast Ltd, the Darling Downs Ltd is its own body which manages the competitions, development and rep sides.

Gatton left the DDRU years ago because the vast majority of there players would prefer to play in the Brisbane Subbies competition, mainly because many of the players were from Brisbane and they would rather return home on the weekend.

QRU needs to rationalize the Brisbane rugby competition IMO, at the moment you have the subbies and premier clubs almost competiting against each other, for the game to grow they really need to be supporting each other. There is currently 14 different rugby competitions running in Brisbane, within that you also have different pools, Colts2 has a pool A and a pool B.

Some clubs are niche clubs like those in the Wyatt Cup, that comp can remain but the rest of the rest of the Subbies and Grade clubs should be merged together. At the start of the season each club works out how many teams it can provide and it fills the competition spots up from the bottom, so for example Ipswich might only have 5th grade - 2nd grade, so thats what it provides. Another club like Sunnybank might have from 5th Grade - Premier Grade, so it fills up those spots. You might eventually have a case where 5th grade has 20 teams, if thats the case you could split the competition in a geographic sense(north/south).

It might be a bit of a dick around, but what it does provide is a natural progression for growing clubs, Ipswich might only fill up to 2nd grade in 2010, but by 2012 they have enough players to fill enough teams that they now have a 1st grade side, they can then establish a premier colts side in preparation for stepping up into premier grade rugby.

/rant over

 

[en_force_er]

How does the Darling Down team do against the Prem Grade sides?

 

[Doc]

How does the Darling Down team do against the Prem Grade sides?

I think they played last year and copped a few 80-90 point losses (I may be wrong) against probably 1st grade standard sides, 1st/Prem grade trial type teams.