A real interesting situation you have posed
Jasdec.
How it should have been handled depends on Dubbo Roos Club policy. The Club President and Committee should have been consulted. At the most simple level, three players rocked up on game day wanting to register for the club and play some footy. Why would the Club turn those players away, and deny them the ability to register with the Roos?
Some background information:
Of the three young men mentioned, I believe that two are in Sydney NGS and the other is most likely in Country NGS or JGS. Unlike previous years the JGS/NGS lists for NSW have not been publicly released.
Two of these young fellows attend their city GPS School on full fare: No Scholarship or any other fee assistance that I am aware of, even though they have certain advanced athletic skills.
One of them was registered with a Sydney club that played in the Under 16B division last year but to the best of my knowledge never played for them, although managed to be eligible to represent the District at NSW State Championships time.
This individual was selected for a SJRU Zone team, but did not play at the Zone championships which are held as a trial to select the Sydney JRU team for National Under 16's tournament.
The other city based player was apparently injured at the time of State Championships and NSW Schools RU U16 championships, but was selected for the NSW Schools U16 team.
Dubbo Roos Reds seem to be an Under 16 team playing in a combined U16/U17 competition.
The three lads mentioned are not qualified to play in an Under 16 team, but would be most welcome by any U16 team in a U16/U17 competition to "bolster" the size of the U16 team. Players of the calibre of these three (plus the other 4 country GPS boarders mentioned) playing for the Under 16 team would most likely have resulted in a victory for the Under 16 (assumed underdog) team. The Under 17 Coach clearly understood that this would be the most likely result and this may have been one of his main objections to playing a game against the U16’s and invited guests.
Conspiracy theory 1. The lads are out to qualify for NSW State Championships U17 eligibility or the NSW JRU U17 team for the AJRU “National U17 Championships”.
The NSW JRU State Champs competition rules require the player to have played at least 4 club competition matches in 2012 or 2013 (implied is that these games could comprise two games in 2012 and two games in 2013) for a junior club or country town within the District/Zone they are seeking to play for.
The rules also require the player to be a registered club player, and must have completed the requirements of ARU registration in 2013 with an affiliate of NSWJRU.
By registering with Dubbo Roos, a Central West Zone club, the three players could only rock up at State Champs for Central West if they had played 4 games for a club in the Central West Zone in 2012 or 2013. With one of the lads registered with a Sydney District in 2012, the two washouts, one forfeit and a Bye that would have qualified as “games played” in 2012 or 2013 only count if they were attempting to play for that same Sydney District. In this case being registered for Dubbo Roos, they don't count because the 2012 “games played” are not for the 2013 District/zone they would be registered for in 2013.
The other lad was not registered with a Sydney U16 Club in 2012, so would need 4 x 2013 games/washouts/forfeits/byes before the June long weekend to qualify for Central West at State Champs.
I have no comment on the eligibility criteria for NSW JRU Under 17 team, or the AJRU Under 17 National Champs as the internet seems to be silent on this.
Conspiracy Theory 2. Perhaps the attempt to register with Dubbo Roos was an attempt to prevent certain Sydney Districts from claiming “ownership” of the players for 2013 NSW State Champs. A player can not be registered with two clubs simultaneously.
Theory (non Conspiracy) 3. They have not played a 15 aside game for almost 6 months and just wanted
to “blow out the cobwebs” before the Trial games in Term 2, and GPS rep selection/NSW Schools selections. Two participated for their School in the Schoolboy 7’s at Easter at Scots.
If I was the Dubbo Roos Committee, I would be reluctant to register the City based boys unless they committed to be available for as many games as possible for the Club. Do they play Club footy in Country during School holidays? For one game – nah.
As a Zone Selector/Country Selector, if players of this calibre committed to the Country/Zone rep programme, then probably, although in selecting what is effectively a “State of Origin” team loaded with city boarders, you are denying slots and development opportunities in the Country team to kids who toil week in week out for their Country club. If you were determined to win games, rather than develop players, then a Country Selector would be foolish to overlook these players and eligibility criteria would be favourably interpreted to ensure that you could get your hands on them.