I have been quiet on the CAS selection debate deliberately as we are dealing with school kids and whether they are in or out may have very personal impacts on them. Criticism from GnG bloggers does not help.. The selectors have a tough job but their process is more robust than the arm chair selectors here on GnG. Invariably they have watched key games for all CAS schools, the majority of which were probably trials. Barker had solid trial form. Close wins over Riverview and Newington clearly assisted in clarifying selectors choices. Sadly one of the most influential players for Barker in both of those matches was Matt Hanley, Barkers Captain and No8. Injured against Newington, he is gone for the season but not without potentially influencing selectors on players around him. Young Harrison Deane at 10 outplayed his GPS rivals on the day in both games and selectors remember things like that. That said the balance looks ok in the CAS1sts. Knox are clearly the best team and deserve their 9 caps in the CAS 1sts. But they have 2 tough games remaining. They must get past Waves at Death Valley which is no easy task and then take on Barker at home in the season finale. A betting man would give similar odds for 3 scenarios to play out. Knox winning outright. Waves winning outright or a 3 way tie. Bring on term 3.
G'Day Rod, agree that boys should be completely left out of any discussions/criticisms re selections, similarly, blaming refs, Yes they make mistakes but are human and it's a thankless job, that's why they are diminishing.
Selectors on the other hand is a different issue. In defense of them, they are typically chosen, so whilst they may/may not get things right, they agree to do it, and so they have a duty to do their homework and get it as right as possible, because it does make a big difference.
Example, a mate of mine was at a Waves v Newington game way early in the year, a GPS dad, and was asking me who was who on the field, NOT his fault but REALLY! So he sees 1 game!
So I am not sure how robust their selection process really is, and of course, the political pull of the coaches. counts.
Then what happens is that teams can either get better as the season progresses or maybe worse. Waves is a classic example, not good early at all, but that was because half their team was on the sideline. Now they have beaten 2 strong CAS schools and have won their last 5 games with all players back. So based on the most current form, how does Waverley only get 2 players in the CAS 1s?
This analogy applies to any side in that position because basing positions on games over 6/7 games ago just doesn't cut it.
Furthermore, just as the GPS people will probably agree on their own front, we get it very wrong almost every year.
The process of selecting selectors needs to be better, understandably it will probably never be perfect, but way too many errors have occurred over the last few years IMO, others may disagree which is fine, but how we lost in 2021, with the talent on offer we had, was a joke.
