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NSW AAGPS 2024

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The Prince

Allen Oxlade (6)
thoughts on joeys v view game? Joeys coming of 3 straight losses and with logan back are going to be dangerous however, view are never to be underestimated.

-Prince
 

tombookbarry

Frank Row (1)
I don’t think it’s that restrictive, more like having a structure to work within and the boys are tought to play ‘eyes up’ as well, from the coaching I’ve seen (low down in the grades) the boys are taught how to improve the things they didn’t get right the last week. It’s been great to see the boys get better week on week and grow in confidence. It’s a great Rugby/life lesson.
The Scot’s teams of Blackburn era played the most attractive schoolboy football I’ve witnesed (including 80-90s joeys)
2014 team - not one penalty goal attempt.
Sure they were stacked but so were joeys and newington. Their success was strongly built on their coaching.
 

Balmain Subbies

Billy Sheehan (19)
This was the Scots College model.

I was at Scots in 2009 when this exact model was implemented. EVERY TEAM had to play the same style with no regard to the players coaches had. If they lost game after game, so what. At least they won a premiership. During Scots premiership run in the 5 years of playing Joeys, each year they won no better than three games each year. The 2nd's would complained that they were the cattle for when a star was injured. During that time some very good rugby staff left as they could not deal with Herr Directors edicts.
Now now @Joker, we all know the letting Bladesy walk over to your mob changed Scots dominance
 

Mungo1866

Peter Burge (5)

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woefulwinger14

Frank Row (1)
It will be a challenge for sure. That Scors backline looks incredibly scary. I think they can do it, but they for sure will have a massive fight on their hands and nothing less.

However, heres to supporting the Iggies this week.
I tend to agree here Chairman,
The Shore backline will need to put in a great effort as a returning Fittler and the plethora of heavy hitting Scots boys will no doubt be making attempts to rise to the occasion on some of their final schoolboy games ever.
I can only pray Shore can pull through and win it as I believe they are deserving after the long awaited drought of an outright premiership.

- WW
 

rugbyAU

Nicholas Shehadie (39)
I tend to agree here Chairman,
The Shore backline will need to put in a great effort as a returning Fittler and the plethora of heavy hitting Scots boys will no doubt be making attempts to rise to the occasion on some of their final schoolboy games ever.
I can only pray Shore can pull through and win it as I believe they are deserving after the long awaited drought of an outright premiership.

- WW
Scots haven't exactly been great this year, why are they now being hyped up before the final game
 

FastNFurious

Alfred Walker (16)
The ambitious plan to play rugby league in GPS schools


NRL’s push to have elite private schools play rugby league competition​

The NRL is in talks with private school powerbrokers to bring rugby league to the sporting fields of elite NSW and Queensland private schools which have been exclusive to rugby union.
The NRL is set to deliver a hammer blow to the Wallabies’ rugby union talent factory by muscling in on the city’s prestigious GPS private school sporting competition, with rugby league boss Andrew Abdo saying “the door is more open now than it’s ever been.”

It can be revealed senior bosses at the National Rugby League have already held meetings with some of Sydney’s most elite private boys schools in an official push to introduce rugby league as a GPS sport, for the first time in over 100 years. It is a move which would shatter Wallabies fans’ hearts in the historic rugby union heartland.
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo has told The Daily Telegraph the ARL “Commission is very focused on this, and they’ve given us the task of developing a strategy to do just that, and that is, build a relationship.”

The Daily Telegraph has obtained the numbers which have opened the door for the NRL to install rugby league programs into GPS schools, and other elite independent schools, for the first time in over a century

There are almost 330 students enrolled at GPS schools that are also registered to play rugby league from junior club level through to representative pathways at NRL clubs.

Almost another 80 students who attend elite independent schools in the CAS association, like Barker College and Knox College, are also participating in rugby league.

“The door is more open now than it’s ever been,” Abdo said.

The Australian Rugby League Commission and NRL have now made it a priority to end the ostracisation of the sport in elite private schools.

Abdo said the governing body has engaged in positive talks with GPS powerbrokers and stakeholders over the introduction of rugby league programs.



We’re having really promising conversations with schools that are historically very much a rugby union schools,” Abdo said.

“The Commission is very focused on this, and they’ve given us the task of developing a strategy to do just that, and that is, build a relationship.

“Build relationships with the Department of Education, with the school principals and with the relevant school associations.”

There has been a seismic shift in attitudes at GPS schools that have had a history of discouraging its students from playing rugby league, or being contracted to NRL clubs.

Now, the injection of rugby league talent at the rugby schoolboy level is seen as beneficial to the school’s pursuit of a First XV premiership.
The timing of the GPS rugby tournament no longer clashes with the Harold Matthews (under 17’s) competition, which has eased tensions towards rugby league at elite schools.

The NRL is taking a strategic approach and has raised the possibility of running league programs outside of the winter months to ensure students won’t have to choose between the rival codes.

“We’re thinking innovatively about the product offering and having the right product for the right school.

“For example, touch football versus league, tag versus tackle.

“We’re also thinking about competitions that might not run in the traditional sense of the winter season, so that kids don’t have to choose, but rather happen perhaps a shorter period at the end of the traditional winter period where there could be an inter school competition

“The bottom line, we are focused on this and are confident we can make it happen.”

While the 15-man game is struggling at the senior level, competition at the schools level is flourishing, with the help of league talent.

The introduction of league programs into prestigious private schools would be another blow to the player development prospects of Rugby Australia.
Already, the NRL’s elite junior development pathways are a huge draw for aspiring footballers across the country once their schooling days are over.

Those pathways will only increase when the NRL eventually expands to a 20-team competition.

NRL clubs are currently able to offer six development contracts worth $80,0000 with the potential to be upgraded into the top 30 rosters, where the minimum salary is $130,000.

But Abdo believes the NRL offers more than just financial incentives over its rival code.

“It’s about opening up talent pathways,” Abdo said.

“Aspiring elite athletes want great facilities like centres of excellence, which we are helping our clubs invest in.

They want great coaching and great mentors, and they want an opportunity to showcase their skills in an elite professional environment, week in, week out. Rugby league and the NRL can provide all those things.”

Some of the NRL’s next-generation stars like Brisbane’s Cameron Bukowski (Villanova College) and Israel Leota (Ipswich Grammar), Melbourne’s Stanley Huen (Ipswich Grammar), Penrith’s Jesse and Casey McLean (Newington College) and Rooster Blake Steep (Scots College) are products of the GPS system in Sydney and Brisbane.

At the senior level, this year’s State of Origin series featured Joseph-Aukuso Sua'ali'i (The King’s School ), Angus Crichton (Scots), Cameron Murray (Newington) and Connor Watson (Knox Grammar) for NSW, and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (Brisbane Grammar), Jaydn Su’A (Anglican Church Grammar), Pat Carrigan (Gregory Terrace) and Lindsay Collins (Padua) for Queensland.

South Sydney skipper Cameron Murray told this masthead he would not be surprised to see even more GPS students choose an NRL pathways given the quality of development available to young talent coming through the ranks.

“The public schools rugby league system is extraordinary and the resources rugby league kids have access to at private league schools and in the NRL junior reps is really unmatched,” Murray said.

“We might see more and more kids come through GPS schools into NRL but I still think the development you get at NRL is still the top tier in junior development.

NRL clubs and GPS schools have developed a symbiotic relationship at the junior representative level.

Clubs receive the benefit of a player in their system who had access to a quality education and richly resourced athletic programs.

While the schools have the advantage of a player that is also receiving elite skills coaching and physical conditioning at NRL club land.

“I always thought schoolboy rugby was the genuine pathway to playing union professionally, the GPS rugby programs are the highest quality. But obviously now more are also playing league.

“They are both pretty good ways or pathways to work on your craft.”


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2 points-1) sounds like Abdo’s fairy tail. The kind of puff piece journalism that is really just a press release written in house at the NRL and handed to a lackey journo at Holt Street to try and influence decision makers. 2) speaking of decision makers, I very much doubt Joeys, Shore or Riverview would support this. I imagine Newington and Scot’s might and I think Kings would be on the fence. The vast majority of old students from all schools would be against it.

A final comment, if some wanted to go this way, it would be the end of the AAGPS, period. Sounds dramatic I know but the reality would be that simple. Player numbers for both league and union would fall. More and more the focus would be singularly on the top team and each would contain half a dozen highly played players.
 

Balmain Subbies

Billy Sheehan (19)
2 points-1) sounds like Abdo’s fairy tail. The kind of puff piece journalism that is really just a press release written in house at the NRL and handed to a lackey journo at Holt Street to try and influence decision makers. 2) speaking of decision makers, I very much doubt Joeys, Shore or Riverview would support this. I imagine Newington and Scot’s might and I think Kings would be on the fence. The vast majority of old students from all schools would be against it.

A final comment, if some wanted to go this way, it would be the end of the AAGPS, period. Sounds dramatic I know but the reality would be that simple. Player numbers for both league and union would fall. More and more the focus would be singularly on the top team and each would contain half a dozen highly played players.
Why do you think Scots and New would support this? What evidence do you have to back this up? I am not sure you understand the importance of Rugby at Scots or the traditions there. League will never get off the ground as a GPS comp or if it did it would be some ticky tacky thing they tried with AFL a while back.
 

The Chairman

Phil Hardcastle (33)
Scots haven't exactly been great this year, why are they now being hyped up before the final game
Returned their best player and the backline looks very threatening. At home too trying to deny Shore the outright crown they will have plenty of lads behind them.

No doubt they have the firepower, but can they put it together?
 

moa999

Tom Lawton (22)
some ticky tacky thing they tried with AFL a while back.
Not to say it's a major sport, but the View lads showed up on Fri night to support the XVIII in the Grand Final against Knox.

A league/ union split would be the AFLs wet dream.
 

Goosestep

Jim Clark (26)
2 points-1) sounds like Abdo’s fairy tail. The kind of puff piece journalism that is really just a press release written in house at the NRL and handed to a lackey journo at Holt Street to try and influence decision makers. 2) speaking of decision makers, I very much doubt Joeys, Shore or Riverview would support this. I imagine Newington and Scot’s might and I think Kings would be on the fence. The vast majority of old students from all schools would be against it.

A final comment, if some wanted to go this way, it would be the end of the AAGPS, period. Sounds dramatic I know but the reality would be that simple. Player numbers for both league and union would fall. More and more the focus would be singularly on the top team and each would contain half a dozen highly played players.
I think there goal would be to “get a foot in the door “ and then eventually takeover … play the long game
 

CasualObserver

Sydney Middleton (9)
Shore hasn't had a resurrection of sport in general - but certainly it has in rugby. During the very tough years Shore had on the rugby field they were still very competitive any many other sports.

I'll nominate a couple of people / groups I think have contributed to the resurrection of rugby at Shore:

1. The Old Boys - many old boys became sick of seeing the school become the laughing stock of the GPS with diabolical results week in week out, year in year out. The Old Boys remember a school that was well rounded and competitive across the board and called for change.
2. The Headmaster. Shore has had a couple of changes of Head in the past 5 years or so. The new / current Head, I think, had the foresight to listen to what was important to all sections of the school community and did his best to encourage growth in the areas that needed improving.
3. David Mason-Jones - himself an old boy and former GPS and Shore 1st XV captain. Has been on the Shore administrative staff for at least 10 years I'd say. He witnessed first hand the troubles Shore was having on the rugby field and has been instrumental in rebuilding programs aimed at coach and player development over the past 3-4 years.
I reckon Shore are favourites to win the cricket this year.
 

CasualObserver

Sydney Middleton (9)
I think there goal would be to “get a foot in the door “ and then eventually takeover … play the long game
I'm not sure whoever wrote the article has much understanding of how full the calender already is. Isn't touch footy already offered at many schools over summer? The bigger loser may be cricket.
 

CasualObserver

Sydney Middleton (9)
Returned their best player and the backline looks very threatening. At home too trying to deny Shore the outright crown they will have plenty of lads behind them.

No doubt they have the firepower, but can they put it together?
In schoolboy sport, always back the choke/ collapse!! Pressure will be too much for Shore, so hopefully Joeys can knock over Riverview to get the joint premiership.
 

Rookie21

Jimmy Flynn (14)
I attended Shore from 2017 to 2022 and witnessed, first-hand, the dark days of Shore Rugby and the beginning of the resurrection.

Every Thursday morning after period 2 finished, assembly would commence either in the War Memorial Hall or the School Quad, depending on the availability of the hall. From 2017 to 2019, I wasn't interested in the GPS Rugby competition whatsoever. I did not attend any games, nor did I pay attention to any results. Despite this, I became accustomed to the weekly announcement of how much our First XV had been beaten by the previous weekend.

Despite this, the culture and support were still there, reflected by the cheer captains every single year. They were the highlight of assembly every week.

A quote I vividly remember from the cheer captains of 2019:

"Boys make sure you're at Northbridge this Saturday, 3:15pm, massive game against Scots. I think soccer is on at 1... or something? Anyway, make sure you're at the footy."

If you asked Year 9 me, in 2019, to name a single First XV player or else I'd get shot, I'd have had ten bullets in my head.

Despite my lack of interest, I still knew that the problems with Shore Rugby stemmed from matters outside the team. Dr Timothy Wright, Headmaster of Shore from 2003 to 2019, disagreed with the direction that other GPS schools were taking in their approach to their Rugby programs. This included the way players were trained and also coaching, both personnel and coaching styles.

Dr Wright left at the end of 2019 and was replaced by Dr Timothy Petterson in 2020. Dr Petterson's arrival coincided with the opening of the R A I Grant Centre, a state-of-the-art sports and training facility that is far superior to anything that other GPS schools have at the moment. Along with this, the rugby program underwent massive reform under Dr Petterson's leadership. The MIC of Rugby resigned and new coaching staff were brought in to start building Shore Rugby from the bottom up, not the top down. The results of this system are now being reflected today. My year group was the strongest the school had seen for a number of years and had been since the U13s. I remember having conversations with people who had attended other GPS schools who genuinely thought that Shore would win the title in 2022, the year we reached Year 12.

I didn't notice this during the years of 2017-2019, but I never actually saw the First XV training. All of a sudden, it was like I would see them training every single morning in the Grant Centre when 2020 rolled around. 2020 was still not a favourable year in terms of results, but with the benefit of retrospect, it was the year that the system completely changed to start the rebuild. Crucially, David Mason-Jones was appointed MIC of Rugby. To this day, he is brilliant.

2021 then rolled around. I was in Year 11, so my year group now found themselves in the open age group. Before the season was cut short due to COVID, our 3rd XV was incredibly dominant, mostly featuring players from my year. The 2nd XV was also very successful. The 1st XV, however, still had work to do. They weren't able to notch a win, but the effects of the restructured Rugby program were starting to show in the fact that scores were now something like 35 - 20 in favour of the opposition. A stark difference from the 80 - 0 that was not uncommon in years prior.

It was at this point that I became interested in the GPS competition. Perhaps because my friends were coming into the First XV. I have always been an avid Rugby fan, though.

So then came 2022. This was the year that Shore put themselves back on the map. What a season it was.

The 2022 squad had brilliant success in the trial matches, the school could sense something special was building here. The hype and culture around sport at Shore shifted, quite shockingly, from Rowing to Rugby. Crowds were large, chants were loud and the team was winning.

Players like Jackson Stiel, Leo Bassingthwaighte (brother of Rex Bassingthwaighte) and a 15-year-old Marshall Le Maitre made themselves household names in the competition.

That year, I attended every single match. Shore had their best result against Joeys in years (granted they still lost by 12 points 12-24), fell agonisingly short against Kings (20-19), beat Riverview on Old Boys Day (32-29), beat Newington at Stanmore right on the bell (27-29) and beat Scots at Bellevue Hill courtesy of the best drop goal I've ever witnessed by Daimon "Nudge" Pin (24-27). Shore ended up finishing equal 2nd with Newington that year.

I graduated that year, looking forward to seeing future Shore teams build off the legacy that the 2022 team established.

Granted, 2023 was a lull year with lacklustre results. The year below mine weren't as strong as we were.

However, if you look at the younger age groups, you can see the effects of the radically changed Rugby program displayed in the results. The school have focused on creating pathways and systems for the younger years to ensure success when they reach their senior years.

And then we have season 2024, where Shore have won the competition. Considering 2022 was the year where Shore achieved their first win in six years, this is a remarkably rapid turnaround.

My only criticism is that I wish it happened sooner.
 
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