Qld Country - official NRC thread

[Scrubber2050]

Scrubber, that's great that these coaches give the guys in Brisbane the heads up.

Now what does old mate in full time employment in Townsville, with a mortgage and maybe even a dependant do?

As stated, "they will need to remain in their homes albeit Goondiwindi, Townsville or Mackay."

I'd be doubtful there is any capable players running around that the QRU are completely unaware of. The problem is they logistically cannot be involved in anything more than country rugby due to their choice to live in the country.

TWAS - you are the "Voice of Reason" and right
The Driver, Fireman and Conductor (of TWAS).
I was a mere non-paying passenger

 

[Train Without a Station]

Scrubber, it gives me great pleasure to see you have finally come to that conclusion.

 

[Scrubber2050]

TWAS - only on this issue - haha

 

[Train Without a Station]

Give it time Scrubber! Give it time! I'll badger you into submission on all topics one day!

 

[emuarse]

Interestingly this thread has closely examined the pathway for country players to the next level, and that the general consensus of opinion is that those players who have wanted to take that pathway are already playing in Premier teams, and those who haven't, won't, e.g long distances, job & family commitments etc. with possibly a few exceptions.

However another and important consideration of the NRC is to give the fans a tribal resonance and I believe this is where the Country team will be a success.

There are many people from the country who follow the game they play in heaven, but feel somewhat isolated.
The ARU & Pluver have a concern that the game is being lost to other codes through lack of grass root identity. Queensland Country will have many supporters, who will have a tangible effect in the long term for the code.

I played my rugby in Brisbane at club level, but as a schoolboy I played at TSS, where then 95% of the students were country. My family was originally from the country, so I identify with country people and know how they will be right behind this team.

 

[Scrubber2050]

But that country trialism won't be supported by country people if they don't see some genuine country (still) boys running around.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Doubt many will follow it if it's a bunch of country boys playing in the bumfuck, nowhere comp, getting parachuted in on the weekend and then rolled by 100 either.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Its likely that will happen anyway. I am not saying fill the team with genuine country boys but 3 or 4 would be good

 

[Jets]

I think they will come out and have a look. I'm not expecting them to sell out stadiums but they should be able to get 2K supporters in. Even if they gave free tickets to junior players who come with an adult.

 

[TOCC]

"Country" fans are used to supporting teams of players who they don't know and from areas outside of their own towns, In Toowoomba people didn't purely go to watch the Darling Downs team play because they know the players, in most cases the majority of the team were from towns like Roma and Goondiwindi which are 2-3 hours away. They go to watch the game's because its a higher quality of football compared to the local Downs tournament.

The value in attending a game will be through the greater entertainment value of watching higher quality rugby union, I don't think its going to cause much grievance that the Toowoomba Rangers or Bears aren't represented in the team.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Well said. To say people won't supporting them because they are non-country players ignores the fact that it's an ignorant assumption to make that people will support all country because they are from a regional town.

 

[Scoey]

From the city thread:

There is now a twitter account (@brisCity_NRC). No tweets as of yet.

Country has a twitter account also.
@QLDCountry_NRC
Also no tweets yet.

Edit: Sorry. Wrong twitter account. Fixed now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jets]

I thought they might give us a hint of who might be in line for each team by who they followed but they haven't.

 

[saulih]

I just wanted to insert two comments here:

1. The QRU has been really clear that they will be selecting the two teams based on 'origin'. TT posted the selection criteria earlier:

The QRU has released the player allocation/selection criteria, it is as follows:

...

Requirements as per current CBA and NRC player contracting guidelines.

Allocation of players will be based on the following:

§ Place of birth
§ Junior Club Representation
§ Senior School Representation
§ Club where majority of Senior Rugby has been played

Further to the above, the following High Performance considerations will be taken into account:

1. Ensure there is no positional conflict for contracted players in any of the teams
2. Player retention
3. Development of key succession plan players
4. Developing key combination
5. Player availability
a. Level of experience
b. Injury status
...

The "High Performance considerations" also point to the selections coming from the top end of the 'player pathway'. In my opinion those guys playing at club level in the sticks are not going to be selected based on that evidence. Furthermore, they shouldn't be. If they have not been selected at a higher level, they are not ready for the NRC.

2. The "player pathway" for country boys has been fairly well laid out; from club rugby to regional team selection, then selection to Heelers, then make move to QPR (unless you were fortunate enough to be playing for the Stingrays or the Breakers). The NRC QLD Country team inserts into that player pathway above the Heelers. I initially thought that the team would essentially be a repackaged Heelers team (with some Reds thrown in), but everything that is being revealed about the QRU's plans shows that it will be a team showcasing players who have progressed in their career, having come through that Heelers representative team and are now playing at a higher level (or ready for the move). The question for me in all this is, what about all the guys who may have originated in the bush (birth, QJRU), but then boarded at schools in Brissy, and have since gone on to play QPR, never having represented a country region? Is the QRU going to take that broad a definition of the idea of 'origin'?

I think the QRU is slow to come out with concrete answers, because it went into this venture not really knowing the answer itself. That is not a knock on the QRU, just an acknowledgement that starting a new venture like this is not straightforward.

 

[Jets]

From my reading of the above it is a case of place of birth and Junior Club coming before senior rugby so those guys from the bush will be selected in the country team. I think they haven't come out with anything concrete as they need some flexibility in the system. If the two best 9 were both born in the bush they don't want them locked into the Country team. One will play city and the other Country.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Exactly. Common sense needs to prevail.

It could not possibly be a repackaged Heelers team because as noted previously, it's logistically possible. You'd be limited to those who are flexible in their employment and living arrangement and who can relocate for 3 months. Then further to that, you are disregarding potentially superior talent for the sake of having people from country regions. It isn't an "origin" concept so it doesn't have to be that way.

Beau Robinson isn't from QLD, but he plays for the Reds and I love him anyway!

 

[Jets]

Over half the Sunnybank team would be of Country Origin, depending if the class the Tapuai's as being from the coast, where they went to school, or Melbourne.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Over half the Sunnybank team would be of Country Origin, depending if the class the Tapuai's as being from the coast, where they went to school, or Melbourne.

Country being Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand

 

[saulih]

hmmm. Jets, I never read the criteria that way until you stated that. I took it more as these are some of the ways we will look at it but not necessarily in any order. What you say does make sense when you consider the following.

I took a little dive into this years QPR players to see who has Heelers rep honors. Sampling the player squads from 5 rounds, and cross referencing them to a Heelers player list I compiled of players between 2008-2012. I came up with a mere 10 players that are in the QPR today:

Simon Bartley (Easts) - 2012
Joshua Edmond (Sunnybank) - 2012
Sef Faagase (Uni) - 2009
Rubin Fuimaono (Bond) - 2009, 2012
Haydn Hirsimaki (Sunnybank) - 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Stacey Hosking (Bond) - 2011
Mitchell King (GPS) - 2010
Matthew Langmack (Bond) - 2010, 2011
Gregory Melton (Sunnybank) - 2011
Andrew Turner (Wests) - 2008

Of course there may be a few players that were not in that five round sample I took. Regardless, that is only 10 out of 139 Heeler reps (08-12) that are currently playing.

The "player pathway" from Heelers to QPR is a not a trail often taken.

The playing squad will almost certainly need to be selected with a broader definition of 'origin' in place. Makes me keen to see those squad announcements.

Unless some date for the announcement has already released, my guess is late next week. What do you all think?

 

[saulih]

…suffice it to say I retract my earlier claim that it would be "showcasing players who have progressed in their career, having come through that Heelers representative team and are now playing at a higher level "

The showcase would be pretty bare!