Afternoon gents,
I would like to give an update on my predictions for the rest of the season, with a prediction for each team.
Newington
The wonderful Wyverns hailing from the brickpit of Stanmore. Newington had a wonderful victory over my beloved Shore men on the weekend in the torrential rain. I think Luca Cleverly injury has really threatened their hopes of a premiership with Cleverly being their leader. Although this injury has really hurt the team with two previous losses before Shore. Rodwell, Makasini and Humphries alongside Baxter Warner are an excellent combination being these players gel together. I do think the Wyverns can beat Scots in two days time at the Brickpit if we recall the trial game (Newington by a large margin). The Newington front three have large size, which worked very well in the wet with the pick and go in the second half. Newington second half of the season I think will be very up and down with some close losses and they may grab a few home wins. I think the future for Newington Rugby lies in the further development of younger programs and not rely on "im***s".
St Ignatius College
St Ignatius College hailing from the wonderful swamp, which wouldn't be too wonderful after that rather large downpour on Saturday. I think the wonderful Swamp may be the largest home ground advantage in all of the GPS schools. The swamp encroaches you into the banks of the mighty riverview. I think the start that View got off to this year was magnificient. The quality players they have include Gus Grover, Tom Hartman, Phoenix Graham and Daniel Osbourne, pivotally all gel at the right moments to have produced 2 good wins against quality sides. We saw last weekend that without playing at the Swamp, they struggled (although Death Star looked partly like the swamp). I have tipped Iggies to win this week back at teh swamp, with most likely a large home ground advantage. The rest of the season for Riverview I think predominalty is how much can the team work together and gel to produce more results. The future is bright for Riverview with many 1st XV players being in Yr11. Ignatius have a good draw coming up with Round 5 and 6 hopefully proving to be tough games.
The King's School
The wonderful King's that prevail over the rest of us, with their plunge pools and first class seats to Henley. King's last year showed us the depth of the program, with this year an early setback with Number 10 Ben Sawyer suffering a season ending injury, setting the team back just a little further back. The team has substantial amount of young players with the future looking bright for the next two years. Issac Fonua, is the standout by far for the team, with basically everything starting and running through him. The backline through the likes of Fenwicke, Risati have showed they can score well, with some bright sparks showing in the two previous games. I think this week they will go down at the swamp due to the large home ground advantage. I think the future for Kings is extremely bright for 25 and 26 season. The rest of the '24 season should entail a few wins and a few narrow losses. I think the boys showed extreme tenacity against Joeys last weekend in the rain to perform in front of a large crowd at Home. The draw for Kings is mixed ahead with a few hard games before a good rest in the the holidays.
The Scots College
The wonderful death star, hailing from the hills of Bellevue Hill. Scots were the large premiership favourites going into the season, with a new arrival Lemoto proving to be a good grab, alongside a wonderful backline consisting of Large, Mckenzie, Jaques, Fittler and Lemoto, alongside Aussie Schoolboys Toby Brial. The early setback of injury to Large, proved significant consequences for the team, with the start they have had to the season. 7 games left, the boys could still end up back in the fight but the team is not "gelling" at the moment with more individual heroes rather than playing for the school. I think Scots will go down narrowly against Newington, but the rest of the season is all up in the air. The future is not bright for Scots at the moment due to significant number of players being in Yr12, unless they use the im**** card anymore.
Shore School
My wonderful Alma Mater. The wonderful Stirling Bridge in which the
@Joker quite loves the Northbridge Mums and quite delicious meat pies. Shore's season has had an eventful start in which 2 narrow losses has possibly affected the premiership hopes for the Shore boys. The quality side has had many standout players this year such as Le Maitre, Jai Callaghan, Rex Bassingthwaite, Henry Conick, have all had tremendous impacts to the side. In both defeats, the team has had leads at half time, which proves like a very start strong team. I think they will beat Joeys on Thursday which will be a tight tussle in wet conditions. I think the season could very easily turn around with a chance of a premiership still in chance. I think they will need to gel together for a complete game like the Kings game, to be able to win from now on. The future is still very bright with the younger years doing quite well in the age groups alongside plenty of players in Yr11 in the team.
St Joseph's College
The current premiership favourites and the home of Sydney Rugby. Joeys always somehow get a good team together highlighting their coaching programs but also the depth and hunger all boys must have when entering Joeys. Although last year was not the year they would have liked, this year is looking to display a better season with great depth an excellent teamwork throughout the teams. Justice Tamompeau is the standout player so far alongside Jonty Fowler displaying Joey Fowler esque characteristics. Although I said that Joeys will go down on Thursday to a strong Shore Side, I think Joey's still have a tremendous shot at winning the premiership for a 50 something time. I think the rest of the Joeys season will be interesting with two tough lineups the next two weeks especially with the battle of the Catholics.
My premiership predictions:
Joint premiership : Shore and St Joseph's College
3. St Ignatius College
4. The Scots College
5. The Kings School
6. Newington.
