Qld Country - official NRC thread

[saulih]

Didn't see a thread yet for this team, and since I probably would align my support with this team I figured a thread would be good.

One of the points of discussion on this team has been the lack of clarity whether the team is under the control of GDCRU because of the choice of playing ground. My last post on this was here:

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/co...y-championship-2014.13799/page-46#post-585125

Points to discuss:
Name? If not the Qld Country Heelers then what?
If Nambour didn't already own the moniker, the 'Cane Toads' would have been perfect!

What players originated in the country? Is the QRU defining "origin-based" as 'born in', 'trained by', or 'rep'd for' country unions.

I would think that players who have rep'd for the Heelers would be the strict minimal eligibility for this team, but what about players that started playing at country HS's and moved to Brissy for uni. Or what about those that were born in the country regions, but boarded at Brisbane HS's?

Super 15 Candidates:
Kiap in the "Distribution of Players" article, proposed that these S15 players belong to QLD country:

Daley, Holmes, Slipper (WB squad)
S. Fainga'a (WB squad)
O'Donoghue, Enever, Simmons (WB squad)
Quirk, Robinson, Schatz
B. Lucas
Tapuai, A. Fainga'a
Davies, Feauai-Sautia
Toua

Anyone on that list who doesn't belong or anyone that should?

Brisbane Comp Candidates:
Tigerland12 posted on a different thread that these players from the Brisbane comp would feed the Brisbane & Country teams -

Easts: Parraka, Ready, Sanday, Enever, Gunn, Mullins, Brandon, White, Placid, Seuteni, Toua, Quirk, Turner

University: Owen, Hanson, McDuling, Browning, Buchanan, Gale, Taulagi, Davies, Harris, Faagese, Johnson

GPS: Kite, Frisby. Kerevi, Kuridrani,

Brothers: Beauchamp, Shipperely, Greene

Wests: O'Donoghue,Genia

Norths: Vuki

Souths: Robinson

Sunnybank: WTS Hooker, Ah Wong, Taefu, Tapuai, Shatz, Lucas

Who from this list is 'country origin'? And secondly is there inclusion in the playing squad for QLD country warranted.

QCRU Heeler Player Candidates from 2013:

Queensland Country Heelers Squad- For Cockatoos game in Townsville​

Dale Ah Wang​

Matty George​

Sam Munsie​

Rikki Abraham​

Dan Collins​

Rory Arnold​

George Duddy​

Ross Morrissey​

Harry Elliott​

Rubin Fuimaono​

Haydn Hirsimaki​

Shaun McCarthy​

James Turvey​

Sitiveni Navuetaki​

Jason Welburn​

Steven Finigan​

Jay Forrester​

Taputoa Rea​

Josh Cooper​

Tereina McLean​

Lee Anderson​

Tereta-Junior Siakisini​

Louis Fesolai​

Tom Beattie​

Luke Evans​

Tom Kearney​

Martin Collins​

Tom Vinson​

Matt Gandy​

Will Slipper​

​

Notables from this list are those that were selected to rep for combined country against the Lions last year:

Kearney, Hirsimaki, Abraham, Arnold, Ah-Wang, Siakisini​

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

The first thing that needs to be established IMO is whether this is a Country side taking advantage of Bond's generous funding & facilities offer & playing a couple of games in say Toowoomba & Noosa (I really think Townsville is out of the question, initially at least), or Bond Uni/GC in mufti. Answer that question & a lot more pieces of the puzzle fall into place in terms of squad composition etc.

So far it's been billed as QC (Quade Cooper)-GC, so I'm hoping for the former, or at least some kind of 60/40 JV, but have a feeling we may end up with the latter. If that happens I have serious doubts as to how well it will be supported, esp if they really are dumb enough to try playing out of Robina.

 

[RugbyReg]

I'd be interested to hear confirmation that bond are contributing anything bar some facilities? I understood the qru were funding both teams.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

My info is that the Southside Clubs/Griffith proposal lost out because Bond were willing to contribute some funding as well as facilities whereas Griffith were only going to provide facilities. QRU will be the main but by no means only funder - hence the need to establish exactly where the Country side of things stands.

It looks like in NSWRU the Country RU will be pretty much an interested but not particularly involved party, I'd like to see QC (Quade Cooper) a lot more involved - as you may have noticed, I'm not convinced that a GC-dominated side can be a long-term proposition.

Edit: another reason the Southside/Griffith proposal fell over was that of the Clubs only Sunnybank were willing to invest heavily, the others were interested, some more so than others, but were either unwilling or unable to put up much by way of funding.

 

[saulih]

This article was published earlier this week...

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au...and-country-team/story-fnj94izo-1226864283367

Points I note:

1. Garrick Morgan was the source for a lot of the content - he is current head coach of the Heelers. Is he on the sidelines on in control?

2. "Under current regulations, the Country team can’t field more than two players from the Brisbane Premier Rugby competition." that would include the GC Bond team also. That would imply that the GC cannot be too heavily represented.
My question though: What is meant by "current regulations"? Is that reg's for the Heelers team? I don't think so, because there have clearly been more than two from the Premier comp in the years gone by.

3. The Bond Uni Vice Chancellor Tim Brailsford indicates that the playing venues are still undecided. He mentions games being played at the GC and at Townsville/FNQ.

4. "We will become the Queensland Country centre of excellence" ??? What the heck does that mean?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

1. Hopefully he's the foundation coach.
2. Hopefully the current reg's apply to rep fixtures e.g. QC (Quade Cooper) v NSWC to stop both sides stacking their teams & will have no bearing on the makeup of QC (Quade Cooper)-GC.
3. I'd start closer to home, say 2 @ Bond, 1 each @ Toowoomba & Noosa, maybe look at FNQ down the track. ABSOLUTELY NO MATCHES @ 20,000+ VENUES!!!
4. Could mean anything or nothing. If I find out I'll let you know; if you find out, please let me know.

 

[SouthernX]

It's a 9 team competition.

I have a feeling that come 2015 there will be the inclusion of another Queensland team into the competition due to the backlash of Country/Southern Suburbs folks teams crying foul that no one gives a flying f%#k about Bond University & that country folk playing on the urban sprawl of Robina is a bit rich.

I don't see the Qld Country being well supported if it's based out of the GC.. but we will see once more firmer details are announced.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

I doubt SEQ is big enough for 3 sides, IMO it's either GC-Bond OR Southside-Griffith plus Brisbane City plus a true QC (Quade Cooper) based somewhere handy to but not necessarily in the South East. Townsville seems too far away, maybe Hervey Bay?

 

[SouthernX]

I doubt SEQ is big enough for 3 sides, IMO it's either GC-Bond OR Southside-Griffith plus Brisbane City plus a true QC (Quade Cooper) based somewhere handy to but not necessarily in the South East. Townsville seems too far away, maybe Hervey Bay?

I believe SEQLD is big enough for 3x teams but that's maybe because I am a one eyed REDS/Premier Rugby aficionado

 

[Crusher]

Gents I don't think you need to fret about Bond or GCDRU having too much of a say in what will happen with the QC (Quade Cooper) side. It will be related to facilities as far as Bond are concerned but I think whoever made the connection with regards to Garrick Morgan maybe onto something. I know Garrick is highly thought of up at the QRU and has a strong working relationship with Lachlan Parkinson who will be a key player in the decision making around the QC (Quade Cooper) setup. It will be very much a QRU run setup and at least half of most franchise squad makeup will be backfilled by Super players, EPS members, U20 and 7s reps so the number of opportunities for prem players will be limited. For QC (Quade Cooper) players like Daley, Davies, Tapuai, Simmons, may be available pending Wallaby selections and it will be interesting how they view players such as Harris and Taulagi from NZ.

 

[Lindommer]

To an outsider it's a shame the SC/GU proposal didn't get up allied with an agreement both Queensland teams play a few games out of Brisbane. Heck, if the Greater Sydney Rams played one of 'em in Toowoomba I'd make a point of being there for that match.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^^^ There are some new wineries sprouting up on the Darling Downs @Lindommer.

One senses a possible ulterior motive in your desire to watch the Rams play footy in Toowoomba.

 

[Train Without a Station]

All this chat about limiting the players available is exactly why I was against country teams. A lot of those Country players listed are Breakers players.

How is the team meant to be competitive when you are already limiting the potential playing pool?

 

[Lindommer]

Nah, HJ, I'd look forward to having a beer or two (or ten) at The Spotted Cow in Toowoomba, one of Australia's great country pubs.

On the same note I'd happily travel to Tamworth or Orange or Nowra to see the Rams play the ERCountry side. So far this year I've been to Albury, Newcastle and Canberra to Tahs' games, we all should get out of Sydney to support them.

 

[SouthernX]

Jeremiah Lynch - No.6 for the West Brisbane Bulldogs. has bolter status written all over him to be attached with country team.

I believe he is from Central North Qld somewhere. Yepoon or Rocky perhaps?
I've seen some great back rowers come from the Kennel to go on & have promising professional careers (Higginbotham, McMeniman & Cottrell) I can't help but think that this kid if he keeps progressing the way he has could be the next one.

He has the size & athleticism to play at the next level.

 

[RugbyReg]

Is he? I'd have to check my season preview but I thought the Wests coach called him a Wests Jnr.

 

[RugbyReg]

@Tigers Tale put this good post together in another forum. Thought it worth a repost:

What are the two QLD NRC Squads going to look like?

Purely for discussion purposes I have compiled these lists - they are not intended to be complete or informative lists as I am not aware of every contender at the various clubs and I have tried to leave aside my Easts allegiances for once. Nor am I aware of what basis they will set the eligibility criteria for each side.

You will see once you put all the players from the various Reds squads in the mix that doesn't leave a hell of a lot of vacancies for the club toiler.

QLD Country
Player Position Squad Club
Ben Daley 1 Prop Reds BOND
Albert Anae 2 Hooker Reds SOU
Greg Holmes 3 Prop Reds SNB
Blake Enever 4 Lock ETS EAS
Jack Payne 5 Lock AUS U20s BROS
6 Backrower ???
Beau Robinson 7 Flanker Reds SOU
Tim Buchanan 8 WTS UNI
Ben Lucas 9 Flyhalf Reds SNB
Jake McIntyre 10 Flyhalf AUS U20s SNB
Rod Davies 11 Wing Reds UNI
Anthony Fainga'a 12 Centre Reds GPS
Chris Feauai-Sautia 13 Outside Centre Reds SOU
Chris Kuridrani 14 Wing ETS GPS
Aidan Toua 15 Fullback Reds EAS
R1 Prop ???
Andrew Ready R2 Hooker WTS EAS
Phil Kite R3 Prop WTS GPS
Sam Fattal R4 Lock Qld U20 EAS
R5 Lock ???
Lolo Fakaosilea R6 Backrower Qld U20 SNB
Digger McMillian R7 Backrower Qld U20 BOND
R8 Backrower ???
Scott Gale R9 Scrumhalf AUS U20s UNI
R10 Flyhalf ???
Veresa Mataitini R11 Wing WTS NOR
UJ Seuteni R12 Inside Centre WTS EAS
Kimami Sitauti R13 Outside Centre WTS BROS
R14 Wing ???
Jonah Placid R15 Fullback AUS U20s EAS



Wallabies alligned to Country
James Slipper 1 Prop Reds BOND
Saia Fainga'a 2 Hooker Reds GPS
Rob Simmons 5 Lock Reds SNB
Will Genia 9 Scrumhalf Reds ???



Other QLD U20s not included above

Props: Markus Vanzati (Souths); Aaron Pleash (University of Queensland); Tom Moloney (Brothers); Ben Tarr (Souths); Dylan Sikameti (GPS)

Hookers: Francois Postal (Brothers)

Locks: Terrin Walls (Brothers)

Backrow:; Joe Wrampling (Sunnybank); David Findlay-Henaway (Souths)

Halfbacks: Adam Deck (Easts); James Tuttle (GPS)

Flyhalves: Patrick James (Brothers)

Centres: Levi Aumua (GPS); Giles Beveridge (Brothers); Nigel Tanuvasa (Souths)

Outside Backs: Gareth Kalell (University of Queensland); Isaiah Mosese (Brothers)

 

[No4918]

Anyone else going to support QLD Country? Grew up in the country and would feel like a sell out if I suddenly started supporting the City boys. Looks like they are going to need more supporters as well if thread interest is any indication.

Greg Holmes for Captain please.

 

[Scoey]

I was very torn. I am from the country originally and identify as a country lad still but had my rugby education completed at the spiritual homeland that is Ballymore back when Test Matches were played there. Many a freezing night spent there with my Dad as a young un.
I would've struggled to go against a Ballymore based side so when I heard that the Country team is linked to the Gold Coast it was a no brainer. City for me.
Country will be my second team though without a doubt.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RugbyReg]

I will put this here, just to keep discussion going. This from the latest QRU Annual Report.

Interesting that is states that the QRU will manage the teams "This Year", perhaps opening them up for alternative management/ownership structures next year.

If so, then well done QRU. Take the risk on behalf of the Members (clubs/associates) in the first year and hope the model develops and then look at opportunities for 2015 and beyond.