John I Dent Cup - Canberra Competition -

[BrumbiesPolynesian]

Empire

I agree, Gungahlin should finish Minor Premiers...with Tuggies 2nd...then Wests and I think your right, Royals to finish 4th...they are finishing very strongly....their Backrow...best Backrow of the competition in my eyes....although they dont have the depth in the backs....good to see Junior Lafaele back from Souths Brisbane back with Royals though..he is a outstanding finisher.....see how it goes...dont write off the Whites though...

 

[Empire]

I think one has to rule out teams though, and the Whites are certainly not the same team of the past 3-4 years.

Junior being back won't hurt - depth and injuries are key components running in towards the hospitals, and a player of his quality certainly will assist in Royals getting to the top 4.

For the rest of the teams (Easts and Uni), it's all about putting in a good effort before the end of the year and looking towards next years recruitment, retention and development. Fun fun.

 

[yourmatesam]

A few weeks late replying FTS, but the top four will be in my opinion:

Easts are too far behind to catch up, and really need to think about next year and avioiding wooden spoon. Early injuries (3 broken bones, and two other serious injuries in 1st grade) hampered our team getting any traction this year. Mental strength has been a huge issue with many tight games not being won, and in other games the score blowing out ridiculously. Potential is there but there is a need to retain majority of the team.

I played for Easts in 2002 (we finished 5th), and found the club culture very different. I came from a club with a good 'culture' and really found mental toughness wasn't there. We had some handy players in that team (Eddie Langi B&F for the comp) but the whole season didn't seem to gel and that was something that carried on through the grades. I'm not sure what the boys at Easts are like now, but from keeping an eye on the results, it seems that this is a similar issue.

 

[Empire]

Culture has changed radically since then, as has the management and the feeder school (and obviously players... 2002 is quite a while back!)

I was barely in high school when you were there, so it's interesting to hear about the comments. Quite a lot of dodgy things went on around then... things that make the current group fairly dismayed and disappointed.

I joined at a time when the club was on the cusp of being a top team in '07, and then nearly winning it in '08. Since then, it's been a long rebuild after imploding after the grand final loss.

At present, the relationship with St Edmunds is pretty low key (i.e. barely anything), the attention and playing group is largely Boys Grammar based, and this is bringing a good culture and mateship to the club. Hopefully with the continuing improvement of Boys Grammar, we may start to get a good year on year influx of solid players.

I'm hoping something can be sorted prior to the 75th anniversary of the club in 2013. As the only original club still standing, it'd be nice to be a competitive, healthy club that might (might!) just be able to win a premiership... the first in 63 years.

 

[BrumbiesPolynesian]

Culture has changed radically since then, as has the management and the feeder school (and obviously players... 2002 is quite a while back!)

I was barely in high school when you were there, so it's interesting to hear about the comments. Quite a lot of dodgy things went on around then... things that make the current group fairly dismayed and disappointed.

I joined at a time when the club was on the cusp of being a top team in '07, and then nearly winning it in '08. Since then, it's been a long rebuild after imploding after the grand final loss.

At present, the relationship with St Edmunds is pretty low key (i.e. barely anything), the attention and playing group is largely Boys Grammar based, and this is bringing a good culture and mateship to the club. Hopefully with the continuing improvement of Boys Grammar, we may start to get a good year on year influx of solid players.

I'm hoping something can be sorted prior to the 75th anniversary of the club in 2013. As the only original club still standing, it'd be nice to be a competitive, healthy club that might (might!) just be able to win a premiership... the first in 63 years.

Isnt Gordon Scott still part of Easts now?

 

[BrumbiesPolynesian]

I do have a question though, what happened after the 2008..after such a great year, why did the club end up going backwards....and in reality, do you think Easts will be back to that form in the next 5 years?

 

[ten four]

this is the year that uninorths had the ability in the team to do much,much better than it has.
A series of near misses in 5 or 6 matches .
But as the saying goes look at the scoreboard.
The side`s forwards were excellent,most of the season and won good quality possession in most games,
the ir defensive efforts were also good going by the for and against record.
The big failing was the execution in the midfield Too much one out stuff, chip kicks,too many grubbers,too many of the mid field players trying to win the game on their own, and giving up possession to easily.
The backs were all capable of much better , but seem to take the same options week after week.

 

[yourmatesam]

this is the year that uninorths had the ability in the team to do much,much better than it has.
A series of near misses in 5 or 6 matches .
But as the saying goes look at the scoreboard.
The side`s forwards were excellent,most of the season and won good quality possession in most games,
the ir defensive efforts were also good going by the for and against record.
The big failing was the execution in the midfield Too much one out stuff, chip kicks,too many grubbers,too many of the mid field players trying to win the game on their own, and giving up possession to easily.
The backs were all capable of much better , but seem to take the same options week after week.

I saw Uni-Norths early in the year playing some trial games. They have some genuine pace in the backs, as well as some handy forwards, but their discipline and attitude were pretty ordinary. They were bickering with eachother and easily baited by the opposition.

 

[Empire]

Gordon Scott isn't around at present, had health issues earlier in the year.

 

[Empire]

I do have a question though, what happened after the 2008..after such a great year, why did the club end up going backwards....and in reality, do you think Easts will be back to that form in the next 5 years?

I think the next 5 years will largely depend on how strong our colts are next year (they have improved out of site this year, and if all players eligible had been playing would have been a very competitive side), the recruitment over the off season this year and actually having a proper dig at offseason/preseason. If next season is as bad as the last 2-3, then the club will be in serious trouble.

I'm hoping some strong recruitment and retention that builds toward 2013 (yes, 2013 - our 75th anniversary) comes to pass.

 

[Zeno]

The weekly Report & Preview is up now on the blog.

 

[yourmatesam]

I see Charlie Fairfield-Smith is having a run for the Owls in the second row. I think he's from Young, a product of the Young Yabbies (and probably boarding school in Sydney somewhere). I'd be interested to know how he goes on Saturday...

Also - Empire... Shouldn't Robert Beath be running around with Easts and not the Whites?

 

[Empire]

Robert Beath went to Queanbeyan with all his school mates. It was the fashionable thing to do at the time, and still is for the majority of Eddies boys.

 

[random477]

Robert Beath has been running around with whites for about 4 years now

 

[yourmatesam]

Robert Beath has been running around with whites for about 4 years now

I can't imagine his old man would be too stoked about it, although i know there is a lot of cross-over between Easts and Quangers.

From memory, he's got some jets yeah?

 

[sportsfan]

As I am not around the park for the games today and next week can someone report on whatever game they were at . Also scores for all games would be great.

 

[Slash]

forgive my ignorance as I've been focusing on Sydney comp this year, is there still one round to go of regular season?

 

[strapping]

wests looked big and strong in scrums but that was about it, vikings however in the first half didnt do the damage they could have tries from broken play not the best structure. thoughts about the effect of the changes in academy next year? will colts suffer to fill the void left by the reshuffle in the comp created by a large number of franchise players (you would think) leaving.

and yes one more round before finals

 

[ten four]

any scores from this weekend ?

 

[canberra2011]

any scores from this weekend ?

Royals 39 Wests 31

Royals will be hard to beat watched them on Saturday and they showed they could win the final, good tough forwards and good mix of fast and strong backs!