Blackers13
Syd Malcolm (24)
Parra season awards: first grade best and fairest tied between Adam Coleman and Damien Fakafanua. Laurie Goddard shield for first grade player of the year, Lani Tiatia. More details to come when my hangover subsides.
The full list of Parra's award winners has now been published on the Two Blues website.Parra season awards: first grade best and fairest tied between Adam Coleman and Damien Fakafanua. Laurie Goddard shield for first grade player of the year, Lani Tiatia. More details to come when my hangover subsides.
Uni won 51-6, which for all intents & purposes was a hiding.There is always an inordinate amount of discussion in this forum about Sydney University being a class above the other clubs, apparently for a variety of reasons - money, scholarships, s & c coaches, etc.
It may well be the case on the whole, but let's look at 1st grade in the first instance.
Eastwood were Minor Premiers above Sydney University. It was not until the Super Rugby players came back to club rugby did Sydney Uni really dominate. It is obvious that super rugby players will have a distinct advantage over club rugby players.
I suggested, what I believed to be a simple solution, a month or so ago - to qualify to play in the finals series, a player should have played in say, 6 club games throughout the season. I was told that such a rule already existed, namely, a player has had to have played 4 of the last 7 games to qualify. That clearly is not the case though because Sekope Kepu played for Randwick in one of the semis and he hadn't played for Randwick since 2010!
In the Grand Final, as we all know, Sydney Uni had more contracted Super Rugby players starting than you could poke a stick at, and they were coming off the bench as well.
I kept thinking about the players who played first grade throughout the season and got them to the position of being able to play finals football, only to be pushed down a grade or two, and likewise those players in second grade being pushed down, and so on.
To my way of thinking, they were hollow victories.
Uni won 51-6, which for all intents & purposes was a hiding.
Their team were all bona fide members of the Uni Rugby club.
In all probability their 2nd grade side would have gone close to beating Eastwoods firsts.
If all the Uni players had been available for the whole season clearly Eastwood would not have been minor premiers.
You might not like it ,but the bottom line is that Sydney Uni is far and away the best club in Australia.
The fact that they had a number of super 15 players returning at the end of the season is the only reason that another club managed to finish
minor premiers & delayed the inevitable.The guys in the lower grades are aware that they are likely to be pushed down a grade come finals time ,but they continue to play for
the University club nevertheless.
No one is suggesting that such continued dominance is good for the competition,but I don't agree that their victory is "hollow",they are simply just too good.
The full list of Parra's award winners has now been published on the Two Blues website.
There is always an inordinate amount of discussion in this forum about Sydney University being a class above the other clubs, apparently for a variety of reasons - money, scholarships, s & c coaches, etc.
It may well be the case on the whole, but let's look at 1st grade in the first instance.
Eastwood were Minor Premiers above Sydney University. It was not until the Super Rugby players came back to club rugby did Sydney Uni really dominate. It is obvious that super rugby players will have a distinct advantage over club rugby players.
I suggested, what I believed to be a simple solution, a month or so ago - to qualify to play in the finals series, a player should have played in say, 6 club games throughout the season. I was told that such a rule already existed, namely, a player has had to have played 4 of the last 7 games to qualify. That clearly is not the case though because Sekope Kepu played for Randwick in one of the semis and he hadn't played for Randwick since 2010!
In the Grand Final, as we all know, Sydney Uni had more contracted Super Rugby players starting than you could poke a stick at, and they were coming off the bench as well.
I kept thinking about the players who played first grade throughout the season and got them to the position of being able to play finals football, only to be pushed down a grade or two, and likewise those players in second grade being pushed down, and so on.
To my way of thinking, they were hollow victories.
Because only 6 of Uni's 2013 2nd grade Grand Final side started in 1st grade that day.How do you explain Warringah winning 1st grade at Uni earlier this season?
They got rattled by a very determined Rats team that dayHow do you explain Warringah winning 1st grade at Uni earlier this season?
Agree on the number of 1st graders that day plus 3 from that day played in Uni's 3rd grade GF team, but the original point being made was that Sydney Uni 2nd grade would beat all but maybe 4 of the other Shute Shield club's 1st grade teams.....you have to read back a bit.Warringah played well , but the composition of the Uni team that day in no way resembled the teams they put on the
field later in the year, such that a number of people tipped Warringah to win.
In fact there were only 4 members of their grand final team playing that day.
Yes,I was replying to #3168Agree on the number of 1st graders that day plus 3 from that day played in Uni's 3rd grade GF team, but the original point being made was that Sydney Uni 2nd grade would beat all but maybe 4 of the other Shute Shield club's 1st grade teams...you have to read back a bit.
How do you explain Warringah winning 1st grade at Uni earlier this season?
Congratulations Gibbo (I assume that was you named as Coach of the Year). Your team played very attractive Rugby (against us at least).The Gordon awards are all on our site http://gordonrugby.com.au/2013/09/25/2013-rugby-club-awards/
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I am interested in hearing of best player award winners at Eastwood and Sydney Uni (and other clubs for that matter).
Anyone have any info?