Hunter Rugby

[schmidt it in]

Yeah awesome idea. I think at merewether 8 clubs all play on the 2 ovals in the draw.
Ive just come up from Subbies, a few things that could be taken from hunter. Weekly rego option is a great idea.

Yeah weekly rego is great, although it does come out more expensive in the long run.

Was looking at the 4s draw and it looks like some rounds are at the same area for a few of them like you were saying.

For example:
Tonight in Round 1, they are at Marcellin Field 1 and Field 2 (Maitland).
Round 3, they are at Passmore Oval, and Hawkins Oval (Hamilton Senior and Junior fields).
Round 5, they are at Ernie Calland Field 1 and 2 (Southern Beaches).

Other rounds for example:
Round 2, there is two games at No.2 Sportsground (Wanderers) and two games at Townson (Merewether).

 

[HogansHeros]

Yeah weekly rego is great, although it does come out more expensive in the long run.

Ofcourse, but you can have a pool of blokes who cant commit to a season and wont pay a full season of rego but will happily throw on the boots a couple times a year and just pay once off. Great idea, keeps guys in the system and club.

 

[Crashy]

Look out for new recruit Gus 'Axe' Gordon who is turning out for Hammo this year. Part of the ex premiership winning Shore team last year where his physicality helped win the big one.

 

[schmidt it in]

Hunter Junior Rugby '25 Breakdown:

So I spent some spare time the last few days breaking down the juniors of Hunter Rugby this year.
Might not be completely accurate as Rugby Xplorer for some reason does not have a ladder for every competition, and I had to manually go through the results/fixtures to list clubs etc.

Breakdown:

There are 10 clubs that field a Junior team in at least one competition.

The largest junior competition in the Hunter is u11s, with 11 teams competing.

Maitland is by far the largest Junior club in the Hunter with some age groups having three Maitland sides (u11s). They have a total of 20 junior teams ranging from u8s-u18s.
Merewether second with 13.
Wanderers with 10.
Singleton and Hamilton with 8.
Southern Beaches and Nelson Bay with 7.
West Newcastle x Lake Macquarie barbarians with 2 (West Newcastle are a brand new club this season with the aim of growing in the outer suburbs).
Lake Macquarie with 1.
Terrigal with 1 (although they primarily play in Central Coast zone except for u18s due to numbers in the CC zone).



Note regarding below u8s and girls rugby, some clubs run their own friendly u7s competitions. These are not on Rugby Xplorer and not counted in this.
Junior girls will be broken down at a later point, at the moment not all teams seem to be on Rugby Xplorer.

 

[schmidt it in]

Games postponed:

University vs Wanderers and Southern Beaches vs Merewether postponed due to ground closures.

 

[HogansHeros]

Looks like all the Suburban games went ahead. Some very one sided games, esspecially the Nelson Bay v Medowie match up.
Rd 1 of FN4s went ahead at maitland. Maitland with 2 sides in the comp, just such a big club and strong club. Awesome set up there.

 

[schmidt it in]

Hunter Rugby Round 3 Results:

Only Maitland vs Hamilton went ahead in Premier due to ground closures.

Premier 1:

Maitland with a shock loss to Hamilton at home. Hamilton must have bounced back after their big loss the University in round 2.

Premier 2:

Premier 3:
Maitland vs Hamilton results unavailable for some reason on Rugby Xplorer?

Womens XV:
University vs Wanderers postponed due to field closures.

Suburban:

Round 1 Friday 4s:

 

[schmidt it in]

Looks like all the Suburban games went ahead. Some very one sided games, esspecially the Nelson Bay v Medowie match up.
Rd 1 of FN4s went ahead at maitland. Maitland with 2 sides in the comp, just such a big club and strong club. Awesome set up there.

Honestly wouldn't be surprised if Suburban continues to grow if they decide to break it into divisions or regions.

For example you could have an Upper Hunter Subbies competition with:
- Singleton RED
- Singleton BLACK
- Scone Brumbies
- Muswellbrook
- Singleton Army (They play every few years depending on postings at the Army base)

Lower Hunter:
- Newcastle Griffins
- Cooks Hill Brown Snakes
- Nelson Bay Gropers
- Medowie & Districts Marauders
- Pokolbin
- University (They have lots of numbers this year and had a Suburban team in 2022).
- East Mayfield (Had a side in 2022)

Might not be the best way to go about it, they could revert back to having a graded Subbies competition depending on performances but if the competition does keep expanding it would be worth looking into.

 

[schmidt it in]

Hunter Rugby Round 4 Fixtures:

Premier:

1st grade: 3:30pm
2nd grade: 2:10pm
3rd grade: 1pm

Womens XV:

Suburban:

Bye - Cooks Hill

Friday 4s Round 2

Bye - Maitland (Team 1)

 

[HogansHeros]

Honestly wouldn't be surprised if Suburban continues to grow if they decide to break it into divisions or regions.

For example you could have an Upper Hunter Subbies competition with:
- Singleton RED
- Singleton BLACK
- Scone Brumbies
- Muswellbrook
- Singleton Army (They play every few years depending on postings at the Army base)

Lower Hunter:
- Newcastle Griffins
- Cooks Hill Brown Snakes
- Nelson Bay Gropers
- Medowie & Districts Marauders
- Pokolbin
- University (They have lots of numbers this year and had a Suburban team in 2022).
- East Mayfield (Had a side in 2022)

Might not be the best way to go about it, they could revert back to having a graded Subbies competition depending on performances but if the competition does keep expanding it would be worth looking into.

Yeah splitting it up geographically is the way to go. Shorter commute times is such a bonus for keeping people playing. 5 teams in the north there is probably not quite enough tho.

 

[schmidt it in]

Hunter Junior Rugby '25 Breakdown:

So I spent some spare time the last few days breaking down the juniors of Hunter Rugby this year.
Might not be completely accurate as Rugby Xplorer for some reason does not have a ladder for every competition, and I had to manually go through the results/fixtures to list clubs etc.

Breakdown:
View attachment 21615

There are 10 clubs that field a Junior team in at least one competition.

The largest junior competition in the Hunter is u11s, with 11 teams competing.

Maitland is by far the largest Junior club in the Hunter with some age groups having three Maitland sides (u11s). They have a total of 20 junior teams ranging from u8s-u18s.
Merewether second with 13.
Wanderers with 10.
Singleton and Hamilton with 8.
Southern Beaches and Nelson Bay with 7.
West Newcastle x Lake Macquarie barbarians with 2 (West Newcastle are a brand new club this season with the aim of growing in the outer suburbs).
Lake Macquarie with 1.
Terrigal with 1 (although they primarily play in Central Coast zone except for u18s due to numbers in the CC zone).



Note regarding below u8s and girls rugby, some clubs run their own friendly u7s competitions. These are not on Rugby Xplorer and not counted in this.
Junior girls will be broken down at a later point, at the moment not all teams seem to be on Rugby Xplorer.

Hunter Junior Rugby '25 Breakdown continued:

Finally found info on the Junior Girls competitions this year:

U13s:
- Singleton
- Maitland
- Merewether
- Hamilton
- Lake Macquarie

15s:
- Singleton
- Maitland
- Merewether
- Nelson Bay
- Lake Macquarie

17s:
- Singleton
- Maitland
- Merewether
- West Lakes (West Newcastle x Lake Macquaire)

 

[schmidt it in]

Hunter Rugby Round 4 Results:

Wow oh wow, some crazy matches in 1st grade this weekend. Plenty of wet weather around, but that didn't stop the action this weekend.

Premier 1:

Wanderers too strong for the Beaches.

University vs Maitland was the match of the round in my opinion. Maitland would've been frustrated they lost by a lot against Hamilton last week and were ready to bounce back. University after a poor season last year have shown they are contenders in 1st grade, in a back and forward game they hold out Maitland and snag a one point win.
Great try from the Seahorses

Merewether the defending champs, go down by 5 to Hamilton. Hamilton are showing they are contenders as well.

Premier 2:

Premier 3:

Suburban:

Womens XV:

Round 2 Friday Night 4ths:

 

[schmidt it in]

Country Championships on this weekend, so Hunter Rugby has this weekend off.
Round 5 is Saturday May 24th.

Catch-up games:

Southern Beaches v Merewether @ Ernie Calland (Round 3 wash-out):

1st grade - Thursday May 15th 7pm
2nd grade - Saturday May 17th 3:30pm
3rd grade - Saturday May 17th 2:10pm


University of Newcastle v Wanderers @ Bernie Curran Oval (Round 3 wash-out):

1st grade - Tuesday May 20th 7:30pm
2nd grade - Thursday June 5th 6:15pm
3rd grade - Tuesday May 20th 6:15pm
Womens - Thursday June 5th 7:30pm


Maitland v Hamilton @ Marcellin Park (3rd grade didn't play for some reason):

3rd grade - Wednesday May 21st 6:30pm


Friday Night 4s Round 3:

 

[Propsruntheworld]

Did the Waratahs used to play in the premier division? what happened as a club? looking at socials they may only now field a womens team? Curious to know if anyone has any background to this question?

 

[schmidt it in]

Did the Waratahs used to play in the premier division? what happened as a club? looking at socials they may only now field a womens team? Curious to know if anyone has any background to this question?

The Waratahs used to play at Waratah Oval and yep were involved in Premier.
They used to actually have a bit of money/connections and get players from all around to play from them.

Their club was involved with the leagues club/RSL (can't remember what exactly it was) in Waratah and that is how they got most of their funding, once that shut down they couldn't keep their bigger names and slowly started to lose numbers.

 

[HogansHeros]

Should start to see some cancellations coming im soon. Pretty soggy out there.

 

[HogansHeros]

Friday 4s washed out.

 

[schmidt it in]

Should start to see some cancellations coming im soon. Pretty soggy out there.

All premier and Friday 4s have been postponed.

All junior games also washed out.

Suburban looks to be on, depending on individual grounds.

Most Women XV games have been moved to Scone, with Nelson Bay vs Uni hoping to take place at Nelson Bay still.

 

[Propsruntheworld]

All premier and Friday 4s have been postponed.

All junior games also washed out.

Suburban looks to be on, depending on individual grounds.

Most Women XV games have been moved to Scone, with Nelson Bay vs Uni hoping to take place at Nelson Bay still.

Lets hope that the grounds recover for next week, that would be the best result at this point.

 

[schmidt it in]

Well after a few very disruptive weeks, things finally look like they will go ahead as normal this weekend in Hunter Rugby!

Hunter Rugby Round 6:

Premier:

Womens:

Suburban:

Friday Night 4s Round 5: