QLD GPS Rugby 2017

[Garry Owens]

Ah ..........​

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The halcyon days..........................​

 

[Garry Owens]

The GPS competition is pretty maligned and defo's damned in whatever it's individual members do and damned in what they don't do.

The raising of the bar over the last 20 years - and probably the last 10 years or so in particular re : GPS Rugby has led to a better standard of schoolboy game. I don't think anyone can argue with that . Success in wins and relevancy in rep honours drives the ambitious ( both the courter and the courtee ) and drives a component of the "business" of schooling .

Then on the other hand you have the Jethro Tull crowd ( Living in the Past ) and right or wrong if you want to have a smidge of realism we all know ( yes ......even the Jethros ) that its never going back. Perhaps their beef is about how you win and the loss of what mattered to them 20 to 50 years ago or whenever......

And then on the other hand you have the Pseudo Echoes ( Intellects ) who bemoan the supply line that emanates from GPS Rugby. Their answer is growth over a wider base in the schools and clubs out in the heartlands or in new frontiers so as not be so beholden to this proven pathway that is GPS Rugby , in addition to , being thoroughly diligent in unearthing the holy nuggets to save Australian Rugby ( never mind the cost and efficiencies of this in La La Land )

The past ....the future .....what's wrong ....this .....that .....bullshit , bullshit , bullshit , blah fucking blah....

Why not just enjoy GPS Rugby in the now for what is one of two premier Schoolboy Rugby competitions in Australia ?

 

[Garry Owens]

And the best part is ........

"The Association" isn't even organised as a collective that engages externally in representing / advancing their common interests .

The increase in standards has been borne out of a good old fashioned drive of motivation to outperform the rest of the competition - which drove player recruitment and Coaching identities and standards being lifted

But don't make a mistake "The Association" knows ( or even cares ) about how to leverage its collective business better

And certainly not in the singular dimension of Rugby

 

[Garry Owens]

But yes Wobble .......

Merit before reputation

 

[Greg Adams]

My info is from the horse's mouth. Or rather, two horses mouths.

Horse 1: "[The player] will be their number 10 - he's a good player, signed with cowboys and he'll be at BGS for 2 years if he takes the scholarship

Horse 2: "Yeah he's at the Cowboys with me, I recommended him to our coach"

Apparently a good kid and very humble. My favourite ingredients to mix in with a prodigious talent. I'm hearing that he's confirmed that he'll take up the scholarship but wants to tell his family first.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Might be time to give us the YouTube link King , my mail is he has settled into the boarding house.

Blanco's comment re contact , I'm of the understanding that he comes for a highly rated league school

 

[The sage]

^^^^^^^^^

What's the tv broken at ur place Gary? What a heap of dribble.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Garry Owens]

The TV is fine

Its just that Mrs Sage hasn't swung by for a couple of days

And its drivel . Not dribble.

 

[Realist]

For a change of pace have just heard on the grapevine that TGS have no less then 6 new imports that have just started in grade 11. For a school that prides its self in having a great rugby program and say they like to develop players, I think they just proved their full of shit.

 

[Garry Owens]

Why can't you develop existing players and recruit at the same time ?

The two approaches shouldn't considered to be mutually exclusive

 

[RugbyReg]

The raising of the bar over the last 20 years - and probably the last 10 years or so in particular re : GPS Rugby has led to a better standard of schoolboy game. I don't think anyone can argue with that . Success in wins and relevancy in rep honours drives the ambitious ( both the courter and the courtee ) and drives a component of the "business" of schooling .

Is that a commonly held belief?

Any correlation between this and the same period being pretty much corresponding to the poorest in Australian rugby, at least since the woeful Wallabies of the 70s?

School kids not being 'coached' anymore, just recruited?

Players, superstars as kids, like CFS, Lolo F, Lloyd Johannson etc coming out with obvious skill deficiencies. Others, like Quade, JOC (James O'Connor), Beale etc, coming out with attitudes that they've been given it all so easy.

Bubble Boys.

 

[Garry Owens]

Bluch ?

 

[Garry Owens]

Reg,

Would you at least concede that Schoolboy Rugby is a bigger , faster , more powerful game than what it was prior to ( say ) 1995 ?

You bring up some excellent questions and observations that I would like to respond to more fully when I have a bit more time.

One thing I would say initially however is that I believe there are a range of connected reasons as to why what is - is . And it's a bit too simple to pine for the purity of "the good ol days" and infer a roll back would cure the current ills

If anything , the central thrust of your comments , to me , goes back to my original point of how maligned GPS Rugby is as a pathway.

Clearly a 17 or 18 year old talent coming out of school is going to be a long way off from being a finished product. Isn't it then the challenge ( and the responsibility ) of Australian Rugby in its structures to finish them off and add the polish ?

 

[RugbyReg]

Reg,

Would you at least concede that Schoolboy Rugby is a bigger , faster , more powerful game than what it was prior to ( say ) 1995 ?

You bring up some excellent questions and observations that I would like to respond to more fully when I have a bit more time.

One thing I would say initially however is that I believe there are a range of connected reasons as to why what is - is . And it's a bit too simple to pine for the purity of "the good ol days" and infer a roll back would cure the current ills

If anything , the central thrust of your comments , to me , goes back to my original point of how maligned GPS Rugby is as a pathway.

Clearly a 17 or 18 year old talent coming out of school is going to be a long way off from being a finished product. Isn't it then the challenge ( and the responsibility ) of Australian Rugby in its structures to finish them off and add the polish ?

Garry,

thanks for the reply. I by no means think this is the ONLY reason for the decline in Oz Rugby. I think it is a contributing factor though.

I definitely concede that schoolboy rugby is bigger, faster and more powerful than it was prior to 1995. I'm not sure this is necessarily a KPI we should have been striving for.

My concern/issue/observation that the focus seems to have gone to winning (and recruiting to win) rather than developing players.

I think one of the biggest issues in Australian Rugby is coach quality and development.

Another is that there are so many 'stakeholders' with their own desired outcomes.

GPS Rugby isn't he cause of these problems but it is a massive example of it.

 

[Garry Owens]

Australian Rugby was seduced by the dark side in the 90's and probably in reactive way that has grown over time in efforts to compete with the other codes.

Big name signings from League were clearly about big power plays between the codes and bums on seats

But as they say ....leadership starts at the top , and so , if the best nurseries of the talent that ultimately flows through do the same thing ( on their relative level ) then what's the point of pointing the oar downstream ?

Upstream is where the problem started from ( and where it needs to be fixed )

Getting better , more integrated connectivity into the schools is a good start.

It might stop the complaints about who've we've got , how limited they are , what they can't do and looking backwards with nostalgic yearning

 

[Realist]

Why can't you develop existing players and recruit at the same time ?

The two approaches shouldn't considered to be mutually exclusive

Don't disagree with what you say and don't have a issue with importing, if for the right reasons, or those 6 kids that have come into TGS this year good on them for been offered the opportunity.
Where I do take issue is when a school says to the face of their students and parents one thing (we believe we would rather develop out players and only bring in 2 maybe 3 imports to an age group. This is the official line). But then do the opposite.
To bring 6 imports in at year 11 on top of the 2 or 3 they already have in that year makes them no better then some of the other schools.
At TGS if you are not in the top 25 for your age (A Squad) then you get absolutely nothing as far as player development goes.
So how do you think a kid, that has worked his butt off for the last 3 to 4 years to maintain his position in that squad, believing in what he has been told in regards to import policy, feel finding that the school has not kept their word.
Fact is 6 kids will now find themselves with their feet cut out from under them so close to the finish line, and also possibly now not making into next years rugby tour. All because some egos need to add to their CV's.
And for those that say suck it up sunshine. I say get some "principles" something a good school should hold dearly.

 

[Scrubber2050]

Realist,
Agree with most of your post !

The "system" as it exists has been in place a long long time and won't be, in reality altered.

 

[Blanco]

Don't disagree with what you say and don't have a issue with importing, if for the right reasons, or those 6 kids that have come into TGS this year good on them for been offered the opportunity.
Where I do take issue is when a school says to the face of their students and parents one thing (we believe we would rather develop out players and only bring in 2 maybe 3 imports to an age group. This is the official line). But then do the opposite.
To bring 6 imports in at year 11 on top of the 2 or 3 they already have in that year makes them no better then some of the other schools.
At TGS if you are not in the top 25 for your age (A Squad) then you get absolutely nothing as far as player development goes.
So how do you think a kid, that has worked his butt off for the last 3 to 4 years to maintain his position in that squad, believing in what he has been told in regards to import policy, feel finding that the school has not kept their word.
Fact is 6 kids will now find themselves with their feet cut out from under them so close to the finish line, and also possibly now not making into next years rugby tour. All because some egos need to add to their CV's.
And for those that say suck it up sunshine. I say get some "principles" something a good school should hold dearly.

Very sad and heartbreaking for those boys, I am surprised it is happening at TGS, to this extent. BBC maybe. This is life however, and if not rugby then the workplace.

 

[Garry Owens]

I do get where you are coming from Realist.

You bring up valid points.

In terms of GPS Rugby throughout the age groups - yeah , the focus / developmental offering outside of the first 25 boys of the age group as you point out is non existent.

What I am hearing from you is a wish for being fair dinkum in what is said and then done . Consistency .

Unfortunately , at all schools , too many platitudes get thrown around in either aiming for things to be a certain way ( but aren't ) or from a platform of bullshit because it sounds cool and what the masses want to hear.

In TGS's case is this not Year 2 of your new Director of Rugby at the reigns ( the ex Churchie guy ? )

I ask the question as key staffing recruits will have their own ideas that may not always align with the same line that is trotted out to the faithfull

 

[Blanco]

Human nature would suggest the one you pay more for is your preference in any case. Like comparing Foie Gra to Pate, most people like them just the same, but one is expensive so you pretend you like it more. Those scholarship boys will make the squads, no question. This is life.

 

[Garry Owens]

I don't 100% agree

There are scholarship boys and then there are scholarship boys

There have been a number of cases I can think of over the last few years where some boys who were on fee discounts , ostensibly for Rugby , ended up playing B or C Rugby.

And that's fine .

That level of "scholarship" player generally is about something else as to why they are there ( IE : Revenue boosting when occupancy was at X % )

They , or more precisely , their Mum and Dad ( mostly their Dad ) don't always see it that way though