Hmmmm.
More questions than answers there is ( / end Yoda )
A lot of those points you made Nomad depends year on year
AIC , at this age group , have some pretty good talent , and , if they were to compete as an AIC Team , I reckon they would definitely beat a GPS 3 Team , would highly likely beat a GPS 2 Team ( or it would be damn close ) and would give a GPS 1 team a contest
I reckon there are at least 5 or 6 of their best 15 that genuinely deserve a berth on QLD 1 or 2 - whereas in the last few years its more like been no more than 1 or 2
Looking forward in the land of AIC the next crop look like the last few preceding years but in the current U15 Age Group there is a bit more life at Marist and Villanova in particular - so who knows
In terms of the CSS - not sure about the current Opens as to how they will shape up but there is some outstanding talent at the U16 level on the Darling Downs , on the Sunshine Coast and in Central QLD that is at least as good ( allowing for subjectivity of opinion as to where individual views lie ) whereby next year they would provide a stout challenge under the old format - similar to what last year's CSS team did who were a real surprise packet for mine - and who did have a couple of kids who I thought were very unlucky in the selection process
I am guessing that the QRSA will be charge of the thermo mix of " four even teams" where this process will be syncing into and building off a strategic alignment of under age State Champs , U15 JGC and U16 National Champs that has been fairly disparate and disconnected from Opens Schoolboys
If this is right this isn't so much of a bad thing and on one hand is commendable with a number of operational efficiencies you don't have to be Einstein to see . You just hope that it isn't harder getting off the list than it is to get on it , in that , there may be an accidental tendency to pre-ordain under such a system