Talks of a possible match up between Barker and Shore. Thoughts?
I've talked to a member of Barker staff about this. Barker too recognises the potential for a GPS Winner vs CAS winner match, but in that staff members words 'I don't think either team who won their competition wants to finish a successful season knowing they weren't the best team out of all the teams they played against. That game would make one team feel even better about their season knowing they were the outright best across both associates, but somewhat spoil the season for one team' (the team that loses that match). Considering Riverview beat Barker 1sts in a trial game, and Riverview came last this year on the GPS ladder, I think there isn't enough justification for this match in how crucial it is in determining the better team out of the two premiership winners, and also which competition consists of better teams. This game just isn't really needed. You can look at previous years when GPS winners play CAS winners in trial matches to determine the best team in NSW, just look at Barker 2018, they beat Kings and joeys in the trials (who were the joint GPS premiers that year).
Having been involved with Cliffy Palau way back in his Manly Colts days - to my knowledge he never went to Newington or any other GPS school for that matter. He in fact went to Balgowlah Boys' High School (my old school).
In that case then Le Maitre can take the position at 8 in my all time GPS team list. I believe he played no.8 for a couple games in 2023 and 2022, so he slots in nicely.
100% its like having to play a grand final every game. If you beat one team you have to beat them again especially for the young years trying to go undefeated for the pennants. Must change back to the old days.
Funny you say that. During the single round competition era people were pushing for the return of a 2 round comp, as the single round competition meant no room for error, and teams that lost 1 game would often lose motivation and incentive to play as they had really no chance of winning the premiership, as they weren't going to play a rematch against the team they lost to, which that would give a much greater chance for premiership contention. An example of this is the Shore basketball 1sts of 2019, which was an exceptional team and one of the best in a long time, to which they had a chance to win the premiership that year if they beat the other major contender, Riverview. They played what was a 'grand final premiership decider' match in the 2nd game of the single round comp, which they just lost, which ultimately meant that Shore really had no chance of winning the premiership that year, as Riverview would beat every other team to continue their premiership run, as Riverview knew they had no room for error (losses) if they wanted to win the premiership. So knowing this, that Shore team lost motivation as they had really no chance of winning the premiership in that single round comp and were gutted by how losing 1 game meant their premiership hopes were practically over in what was the schools best chance in a long time. This lack of motivation was mainly the reason why they got upset by High and Kings, who Riverview beat comfortably, which if Shore played as best as they could, they too would of likely beat High and kings as well as Shore only lost to Riverview by 3 points.
Just a side note: That Shore vs Riverview game I think is the greatest game of GPS basketball ever (here is the link to the footage of that game -
or the condensed game
). Anyone got suggestions for what is the best GPS rugby game ever. My suggestion would be Kings vs Shore in 1997, which 17 000 people were in attendance to the game at Northbridge. That game too was a premiership decider, which was Phil Waugh's final game as a schoolboy, which he got so close to winning the premiership, after being in the 1sts for 3 years.
