Dewar Shield 2017 & other Vic comps

[elementfreak]

Defending champions from 2016:

Grade​

Game​

Best on Ground​

Dewar Shield Melbourne 20 d Harlequins 19 Mick Snowden (Melbourne)
P2 Harlequins 28 d Melbourne 26 Paris Dale (Harlequns)
P3 Melbourne 49 d Endevour Hills 14 Robert Kelly (Melbourne)
P4 Melbourne 26 d Power House 20
A Grade Kiwi Hawthorn 25 d Eltham 13 Matt Tamalii (Kiwi Hawthorn)
B Grade Ballarat 18 d Melton 13 Josh Pyalanda (Ballarat)
Colts Moorabbin 29 d Harlequins 25 Jowell Samatua (Moorabbin)
Women Uni Panthers 34 d Box Hill Quins 17 Silei Poluleligaga (Uni Panthers)
So teams are starting their pre-season for 2017 and moves aplenty by the looks of it.
Current vacancies that are listed on the Rebels website https://melbournerebels.com/victorian-rugby/play-rugby/club-vacancies/

Endeavour Hills seem to have a new head coach, not sure what has happened to Paul though.

 

[amirite]

You mentioned a lot of rumours, do go on.

Shame about the Endeavour Hills coach, he pulled a rabbit out of a hat last year. Excellent display from a very united group and whilst they had talented individuals, they were virtually the same XV from the previous year.

My mail says:
- Norths to restart and decimate Melbourne Uni (or at least their lower grades, with the high performance players being told to suck it up and play for a prems team).
- Souths to continue to be pillaged to feed the other South Eastern suburbs clubs.
- Footscray in ever more trouble that Souths.

 

[elementfreak]

Heard the BH are looking for a new coach and that a couple of their older 1st grade players from the last couple of years might be taking over.

The VRU have been thinking about dropping the comp to 7 or 8 teams to strengthen the sides, those players who want to play prem would move clubs to make sure they are playing 1st grade, sort of what the ACT have done.

Northern are coming back and like you said Uni will lose a fair few players.

Saw that the 2015 Melbourne coach was coaching PH juniors at the 7s over the summer, not sure if he has moved to PH or will stay at Melbourne next year.

 

[amirite]

Heard the BH are looking for a new coach and that a couple of their older 1st grade players from the last couple of years might be taking over.

Interesting. With their recent success you'd say they'd have their pick of coaches.

The VRU have been thinking about dropping the comp to 7 or 8 teams to strengthen the sides, those players who want to play prem would move clubs to make sure they are playing 1st grade, sort of what the ACT have done.

Yeah, I've heard they've shelved this for another year. The issue is, how many Souths or Footscray players would make the top 5 or 6 sides? Probably 3-5 per team.

At which point you have to say, is it worth dismantling a club to distribute 10 players elsewhere?

Northern are coming back and like you said Uni will lose a fair few players.

Saw that the 2015 Melbourne coach was coaching PH juniors at the 7s over the summer, not sure if he has moved to PH or will stay at Melbourne next year.

Every year Powerhouse roles out 7s teams featuring players that don't necessarily play for Powerhouse for the rest of the year. I wouldn't read into it too much.

I've heard Melbourne have about 5 Mitre 10 Cup players coming their way and Uni are struggling to find a Prems coach.

Do you know much about the Northern insurgence or if Kiwi-Hawthorn are getting read for a tilt at Prems?

 

[Train Without a Station]

Norths won't decimate Uni.

Northern had a team as recently as 2014 without any issues for Uni regarding player numbers.

Any players who have an interest at playing at a high level will go to Uni over Northern. Those who leave out that way and don't will play there but that probably only impacts 3rd and 4th graders. Considering such a small number of those players come via Northern it shouldn't change a lot (most are from outside of Melbourne originally and end up at Uni due to proximity).

Have they even confirmed they are going to have a senior team again in 2017? They are definitely having a colts team but players are probably more likely to migrate to the prems aligned team ultimately if colts are their highest grade.

 

[amirite]

Norths won't decimate Uni.

Northern had a team as recently as 2014 without any issues for Uni regarding player numbers.

Any players who have an interest at playing at a high level will go to Uni over Northern. Those who leave out that way and don't will play there but that probably only impacts 3rd and 4th graders. Considering such a small number of those players come via Northern it shouldn't change a lot (most are from outside of Melbourne originally and end up at Uni due to proximity).

Have they even confirmed they are going to have a senior team again in 2017? They are definitely having a colts team but players are probably more likely to migrate to the prems aligned team ultimately if colts are their highest grade.

Didn't Uni already have numbers issues in 2016?

 

[Train Without a Station]

For 4th Grade and colts. But no different to 2014 for example.

But this was a result of a pretty high injury rate.

The colts had 38 registered players for example.

Across the 5 grades there were 150 players so it wasn't getting players that was the issue. Keeping them on the park was.......

As a reference Quins had 111 across 5 grades (3 senior and 2 colts). Unicorns had close to 250 across their 6 senior grades.

 

[amirite]

For 4th Grade and colts. But no different to 2014 for example.

But this was a result of a pretty high injury rate.

The colts had 38 registered players for example.

Across the 5 grades there were 150 players so it wasn't getting players that was the issue. Keeping them on the park was...

As a reference Quins had 111 across 5 grades (3 senior and 2 colts). Unicorns had close to 250 across their 6 senior grades.

Stop me if I'm prying, but I'm interested in the workings of Uni. With their resources and location I feel they should be of Melbourne and Quins ilk.


Why are Norths only starting a Colts? Seems to be putting the horse before the cart. Do the Norths boys not like Colts at Uni?

 

[Train Without a Station]

Amirite,

I definitely disagree there on Northern. Norths have a huge junior base. I think colts is the perfect conduit to senior rugby. When you lose players (to go play colts elsewhere) you don't get a lot of them back. Having a senior team without a colts team would probably be putting the cart before the horse for them.

I think Northern merely want to grow their senior club. Can't blame them and considering the benefit Uni's association with them has yielded, I'm sure Uni can't feel badly done by either.

With regards to Uni, i've been there on and off since I first moved to Melbourne and I think just instability at management level has been the issue.

Since Jason Jones has been on board the club has definitely traveled in the right direction. 2016 was certainly not good, but compared to 2012 I think the club was much more competitive and as noted, the injury toll was pretty high were with around 30 players registered per team, by the end of the year 4th grade was a struggle.

I think by the end of the season we were missing close to 8 players who had basically been first choice in their position in first grade, but then also 2nd choice in those positions, etc. By my count there were 20 players who'd played first grade that were unavailable due to injury.

Regardless Uni were never in the hunt this year but that's probably what made a team that could have won 5-6 games a team that only won 2 games.

So some of Uni's shortcomings are their own fault. The other half though is probably location. It's not really convenient for many players who aren't at U of M. Personally I'm near Albert Park and can travel up to an hour to get to training some nights. Then a lot of the PI boys will live in the North West and Footscray is closer as well.

So if you're South of the Yarra you probably end up at Unicorns or Powerhouse. And if you're North of it, unless you're in the city, or Brunswick/Carlton, Footscray probably works better.

They're probably better harnessing the Uni association now though. Jason is located at the Uni in full time employment, the Uni Head S & C coach is working with the club and they are already using the uni's facilities for off-season training now.

They were also using them sporadically last year but not to the same extent.

 

[amirite]

Fair enough on your internal info on Uni, can't argue with any of it, but I think you're pretty mistaken about Northern having a strong base.

Struggling to make up 15 people in their 18s this year, and I believe there was no team in the U12s and U14s. Their 16s won a granny though, which is good.

 

[OneOrThree]

Good to see Toby rockin' his EH socks.

 

[elementfreak]

Coaching Announcement*****
We are pleased to announce that Tia Suemai has been appointed as Head Coach of Footscray Rugby Union Club for the 2017 Dewar Shield season. Tia joins the club with an expert knowledge of Victorian Rugby, having held positions with the Melbourne Rebels along with coaching/mentoring roles with Dewar Shield sides Melbourne University & Melbourne Unicorns. Tia has strong links to the Rugby 7's format, having played and coached for the Borneo Eagles and also runs a successful mentoring program ‘Charis Mentoring Inc’ with his wife Taua, which the club will be looking to support throughout next year and beyond.
Tia has a strong playing pedigree in the Rugby XV’s format. He is internationally capped for the Manu Samoa & has played for several representative teams in New Zealand.
Tia will be joined at the Dog Pound by close friend Rob Aumatagi.
Please extend a warm welcome to both Tia & Rob. The club is looking forward to the 2017 Rugby Season!!
Further coaching personnel and preseason details will be announced shortly.
https://www.facebook.com/footscrayrugby/

 

[amirite]

He's a good man, hopefully he'll stop the rot at Footscray. A lot of rumours of them being in deep strife.

 

[elementfreak]

Update from Moorabbin.

Each of the Committee members have been assigned areas of responsibility in 2017 to ensure we are focused on improving across the whole Club.
There are 4 pillars of management at the Club:
1. Rugby - lead by James King
2. Social and networking - lead by Lynda Taylor
3. Funding - lead by Kathy Barber
4. Club Operations - lead by Sunia Kilgour.
Having this structure will ensure that our efforts are streamlined
and not duplicated, with clearly defined communication paths through to the Committee.The focus for the Committee this coming year will be to follow through with our Strategic Plan, which can be viewed in our Club rooms. This Strategic Plan was devised by the 2016 Committee and key members of the Club in July. The purpose of the plan is to ensure that the Club members and volunteers are aligned in our efforts to make MRUFC the Rugby Club of Choice.
Director of Rugby
A major element of becoming the Rugby Club of Choice is to strengthen the coaching resources at the Club. To deliver this, the Committee has appointed Justin Carroll to the position of Director of Rugby. Justin will report to James King as the leader of the Rugby pillar on the Committee. He will be responsible for implementing many programs into the on-field section of the Club including, but not limited to, rugby programs across all grades and ensuring coaches are suitably trained/accredited. Justin brings with him a vast rugby knowledge and network through working with local schools, other Victorian Clubs as well as the VRU and ARU governing bodies. The
Committee looks forward to working with Justin to improve our on-field performances and to make MRUFC an attractive option for all players to come and play rugby.
The Director of Rugby role is a paid position and will be funded by private donations. As a result of this, the position will have set goals and desired outcomes that will be reviewed throughout the year by James King and the Committee.
Justin will continue to coach 1st grade as a volunteer for 2017.

 

[amirite]

Moorabbin are always so organised.

 

[elementfreak]

Looks like Noni, the 2nd grade coach from last year, is taking the step up and coaching the 1sts at Box Hill.

 

[amirite]

Looks like Noni, the 2nd grade coach from last year, is taking the step up and coaching the 1sts at Box Hill.

Didn't they do this last year as well? Kudos for the internal promotions, but shame that it's so short term.

Everyone that's ambitious should line up to be the 2017 2nd XV coach.

 

[TheNorth]

What's the word on university head coach?? Sly field returning?

 

[amirite]

What's the word on university head coach?? Sly field returning?

To where?

 

[amirite]

What's the word on university head coach?? Sly field returning?

I'm not going to liemate, I feel really blue-balled here.

My mail is Uni doesn't have a head coach signed up but they've talking to some crackers, though as you may know their Kiwi HC from Uni last year didn't finish up the season.