Shute Shield 2025

[teamsport]

I have heard the Two Blues have lost to other clubsover the last few seasons -

Aisea Aholelei
Potu Maake
Jerome Williams
Lachlan Pethybridge
Reece Anapu
Tevita Funa
Kurt Hetherley
Manasa Rokosuka
Riley Senior
Nik Vikena
Connor Moors
Douglas Roache
Dietrich Roache
Jay Fonokalifi
Josh Taliai
Josh Roberts
Dane Terekia
JP Sauni
Kaynan Siteine- Tua
Sam Babb
Saiyasi Ikanidrodro
Tonga Tangitau
Tristan Leffers
Pegi Slade
Faiva Faiva
McCarthy Cocker

A lot of higher grade players and upset with the coaching and management.

Barely a local at the club apparently all overseas players as you can see by social media. Quite a few of the above list were the locals. Apparently obsessed with any Kiwi even if they aren't up to standard.

 

[HarryElite]

I have heard the Two Blues have lost to other clubsover the last few seasons -

Aisea Aholelei
Potu Maake
Jerome Williams
Lachlan Pethybridge
Reece Anapu
Tevita Funa
Kurt Hetherley
Manasa Rokosuka
Riley Senior
Nik Vikena
Connor Moors
Douglas Roache
Dietrich Roache
Jay Fonokalifi
Josh Taliai
Josh Roberts
Dane Terekia
JP Sauni
Kaynan Siteine- Tua
Sam Babb
Saiyasi Ikanidrodro
Tonga Tangitau
Tristan Leffers
Pegi Slade
Faiva Faiva
McCarthy Cocker

A lot of higher grade players and upset with the coaching and management.

Barely a local at the club apparently all overseas players as you can see by social media. Quite a few of the above list were the locals. Apparently obsessed with any Kiwi even if they aren't up to standard.

Thats quite a large list of turnover too, 26 players over 3-4 seasons.

I'd say the reasons for all of them were probably all different, some disgruntled, some not, but either way its a lot of players.

Not sure how many are actually 1st grade players or standard but still would def affect their depth and probably why they were terrible last year in the lower grades.

I would def be interested in knowing from those that left and moved clubs, which are still at those clubs they went to.

There are definitely a lot of serial club hoppers in that list. They lose a lot of colts and juniors too. Surely the program needs to be looked at.

You have mentioned a couple of times now that players are upset with coaching and management, what does that actually mean.

 

[Randy@TwoBlues]

Hello everyone and happy new year to all.

My name is Randy and I'm the GM at Two Blues.

I've been watching the forum for a while. Its a great little gossip column and some fireworks sometimes.

I thought best time for me to jump in as seems to be some rumours, some disgruntlement, some facts and some fiction and blah blah

I am happy for anyone to ask me some questions or ask me to clarify anything, I will try and be honest and happy to say what I can.

Just reply here or send me a direct message. If anyone wants to talk privately and off-line, happy to do that too.

I will preface this though by saying my job is to run the club as a business and maximise club earnings whilst lowering costs - simple p&l process, whilst also assisting in and being part of driving club culture and club strategy for the next 3-5 years. I dont care about being the most popular person in the world. Some people like me, some people hate me and thats all good with me.

Happy to address some stuff straight away

 

[Randy@TwoBlues]

Some people think were spending millions of dollars on stuff. I dont know about prior seasons as I wasnt in charge, but in 2024 when I came in, I can tell you we went from a negative amount of money in our accounts and balance sheet, to ending season 2024 with a large profit.

This came off the back of increased sponsorship from multiple prior sponsors, new sponsors who joined the club, our highest membership sales in 3 years, our highest average attendance in 3 years (still a huge work on), a fantastic profit year for our food and beverage services.

Our player registration fees were $250 which was the lowest in the shute shield as we make sure that we are not making money from players (after insurances, physio tape, player kit, 2024 was around 235 per player). We also stopped charging people to park in the car park, and did not host any juniors state championships.

Our head coach and myself are not paid by a sponsor as ive heard a couple of times, we are paid via the club as per any other shute shield club.

Our 2024 player recruitment budget was lower than any other club in shute shield, whilst our staffing costs were also the lowest (both of these are shown on a report that is sent from SRU to all GM's)

 

[Randy@TwoBlues]

Player losses over the last 4 seasons - Yep we have lost players. It would be unfair of me to state the reasons why we lost them. Could some have been due to being unhappy with coaches, sure, happens in every club. Was some of the turnover due to us not paying the highest to keep players? 100% correct on some players, and that will continue. Were some player losses due to players going overseas - yup. Have players got injured and retired or taking time off, also correct.

The list that Teamsport has put above is close to being correct apart from 3 or 4 who are still with us. From that list there is also 10 players who have played at 3 or more shute shield clubs. Maybe the problem isnt the club..... 5-6 from that list mentioned above left to go and play subbies and I believe 3-4 of them now in Holland playing rugby, which is awesome for them.

We have also lost in 3 seasons and documented in a report, 88 players from our colts and junior system (u16s to u18s juniors team). Circa 35 to rugby league, around 10 who arent playing rugby anymore due to work, moving, or university, and around 35 to other shute shield teams. That is something were trying to fix and have implemented some programs to help us keep our juniors and colts and provide pathways and its a work in progress, unfortunately - at this moment in time, we just cant compete with some of the financial offers from rugby league and other shute shield teams that have signed our players.. Part of the process is us looking in as a club and realising we need to fix our own process first before we point fingers and throw our prams out though and weve worked hard on our colts program in this offseason. Baby steps.

Our 2025 grade squad consists of players from various heritage and backgrounds - Australia, NZ, England, France, Ireland, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands, USA, Japan, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa. 31 of them have played colts for Two Blues. A number we want to massively increase year on year. Buts its a starting point. 89 of our grade players in 2025 have all played rugby in Australia in the past 3 years (64 of that 89 have played at Two Blues within the last 3 seasons)

Anymore questions or info needed - give me a shout.

 

[LevitatingSocks]

Some people think were spending millions of dollars on stuff. I dont know about prior seasons as I wasnt in charge, but in 2024 when I came in, I can tell you we went from a negative amount of money in our accounts and balance sheet, to ending season 2024 with a large profit.

This came off the back of increased sponsorship from multiple prior sponsors, new sponsors who joined the club, our highest membership sales in 3 years, our highest average attendance in 3 years (still a huge work on), a fantastic profit year for our food and beverage services.

Our player registration fees were $250 which was the lowest in the shute shield as we make sure that we are not making money from players (after insurances, physio tape, player kit, 2024 was around 235 per player). We also stopped charging people to park in the car park, and did not host any juniors state championships.

Our head coach and myself are not paid by a sponsor as ive heard a couple of times, we are paid via the club as per any other shute shield club.

Our 2024 player recruitment budget was lower than any other club in shute shield, whilst our staffing costs were also the lowest (both of these are shown on a report that is sent from SRU to all GM's)

Good on you and your club for keeping rego to $250, it's around 500-600 up in QPR. Wish more clubs would take that mindset and realize those high fees scare players off and choke the growth of the game.

 

[Randy@TwoBlues]

Good on you and your club for keeping rego to $250, it's around 500-600 up in QPR. Wish more clubs would take that mindset and realize those high fees scare players off and choke the growth of the game.

Our 2025 rego has gone up to $300. This is due to us doing a player feedback form and our players asking for more kit in their registration and they were happy to pay a slightly higher price. The club has absorbed some extra cost on players behalf with an increase in insurances, drs, physios and the strapping etc to make sure it stays at the $300 mark

We have enough negative distracters trying to bring the club down already as it is, dont want rego to be an extra reason for it lol

 

[Pfitzy]

I dont care about being the most popular person in the world. Some people like me, some people hate me and thats all good with me.

I think it was Steve Jobs who said "If you want to make everyone happy, don't be a leader; sell ice cream."

Best of luck for the year ahead - it is tough running a club west of the A3 Hopefully some new appointments at Daceyville get the ball rolling in 2025.

 

[Done that]

Re recruitment. Not that long ago, to be able to play for Sydney Uni, one had to be a current student there,or have graduated in the previous 12 months. With the advent of semi professional club rugby, this restriction no longer applies, i.e. anyone can now play for Uni. & do not have to be a student there, or anywhere else. Whilst there has always been some player movement in & out of clubs, in the past,the majority of players in a club were hard core, i.e most players played all or most of their rugby at the one club.Many/most were locals. These days it's open slather. The problem then that arises, is that if a club depends heavily on recruiting principally from overseas, it should come as no surprise that those players attachment to that club is not as great as those players who are considered locals, & who have had some attachment to the club as players, juniors or simply as followers growing up, i.e "club loyalty". Depending heavily on the "fly in/ fly out" players for ongoing success, is obviously going to have its limitations , particularly in aspects of "club culture" & the important area of ongoing club attachment. Of course the opposing argument might be "Who wants the wooden spoon each year?".

 

[wamberal99]

Money makes up for "club spirit" and so on.

 

[LevitatingSocks]

Re recruitment. Not that long ago, to be able to play for Sydney Uni, one had to be a current student there,or have graduated in the previous 12 months. With the advent of semi professional club rugby, this restriction no longer applies, i.e. anyone can now play for Uni. & do not have to be a student there, or anywhere else. Whilst there has always been some player movement in & out of clubs, in the past,the majority of players in a club were hard core, i.e most players played all or most of their rugby at the one club.Many/most were locals. These days it's open slather. The problem then that arises, is that if a club depends heavily on recruiting principally from overseas, it should come as no surprise that those players attachment to that club is not as great as those players who are considered locals, & who have had some attachment to the club as players, juniors or simply as followers growing up, i.e "club loyalty". Depending heavily on the "fly in/ fly out" players for ongoing success, is obviously going to have its limitations , particularly in aspects of "club culture" & the important area of ongoing club attachment. Of course the opposing argument might be "Who wants the wooden spoon each year?".

Was that stipulation for Colts only or for the entire club?

 

[Done that]

Was that stipulation for Colts only or for the entire club?

That was for all players.

Was that stipulation for Colts only or for the entire club?

 

[LevitatingSocks]

That was for all players.

That would be quite the limitation these days.

I feel like most grade rugby players I play with or know are 2-4 years out of uni if they attended and in the age range of 22-28. At least at my club, the balance swings toward tradies as you get toward Prems and 2G.

 

[Done that]

That would be quite the limitation these days.

I feel like most grade rugby players I play with or know are 2-4 years out of uni if they attended and in the age range of 22-28. At least at my club, the balance swings toward tradies as you get toward Prems and 2G.

That's right. I wasn't recommending that it should still be the practice. Sydney Uni rugby club in the Shute Shield ,is a rugby club like any other club. They do have certain advantages however. My post was more an observation & opinion on the practice of relying heavily on overseas players to fill the playing ranks. in a club.

 

[Sideline]

Some people think were spending millions of dollars on stuff. I dont know about prior seasons as I wasnt in charge, but in 2024 when I came in, I can tell you we went from a negative amount of money in our accounts and balance sheet, to ending season 2024 with a large profit.

This came off the back of increased sponsorship from multiple prior sponsors, new sponsors who joined the club, our highest membership sales in 3 years, our highest average attendance in 3 years (still a huge work on), a fantastic profit year for our food and beverage services.

Our player registration fees were $250 which was the lowest in the shute shield as we make sure that we are not making money from players (after insurances, physio tape, player kit, 2024 was around 235 per player). We also stopped charging people to park in the car park, and did not host any juniors state championships.

Our head coach and myself are not paid by a sponsor as ive heard a couple of times, we are paid via the club as per any other shute shield club.

Our 2024 player recruitment budget was lower than any other club in shute shield, whilst our staffing costs were also the lowest (both of these are shown on a report that is sent from SRU to all GM's)

I suspect that the opening and seasonal use of "the Eric" has resulted in:

1. Increase attendance figures
2. Higher membership
3. Higher profit in food & beverage sales

All this helps your club in moving forward, even if small steps at a time.

Good luck with the season ahead

 

[Fletch]

Thats quite a large list of turnover too, 26 players over 3-4 seasons.

I'd say the reasons for all of them were probably all different, some disgruntled, some not, but either way its a lot of players.

Not sure how many are actually 1st grade players or standard but still would def affect their depth and probably why they were terrible last year in the lower grades.

I would def be interested in knowing from those that left and moved clubs, which are still at those clubs they went to.

There are definitely a lot of serial club hoppers in that list. They lose a lot of colts and juniors too. Surely the program needs to be looked at.

You have mentioned a couple of times now that players are upset with coaching and management, what does that actually mean.

I can add my boy to that list of players who left Two Blues but can't really fault the club. He played 1sts while in yr 12 and captained nswccc but couldn't crack the tahs academy which would have enabled him to be in ACU's EAP (elite athlete pathway) in turn assisting his uni schedule to make their top squad training. Spoke to a few people at NSW about acknowledging the club's development of players outside this group to keep a young local player but it was all too hard basket. It was easier to be a Colt at a uni affiliated club and access EAP.

 

[noknowledgeatall]

Re recruitment. Not that long ago, to be able to play for Sydney Uni, one had to be a current student there,or have graduated in the previous 12 months. With the advent of semi professional club rugby, this restriction no longer applies, i.e. anyone can now play for Uni. & do not have to be a student there, or anywhere else. Whilst there has always been some player movement in & out of clubs, in the past,the majority of players in a club were hard core, i.e most players played all or most of their rugby at the one club.Many/most were locals. These days it's open slather. The problem then that arises, is that if a club depends heavily on recruiting principally from overseas, it should come as no surprise that those players attachment to that club is not as great as those players who are considered locals, & who have had some attachment to the club as players, juniors or simply as followers growing up, i.e "club loyalty". Depending heavily on the "fly in/ fly out" players for ongoing success, is obviously going to have its limitations , particularly in aspects of "club culture" & the important area of ongoing club attachment. Of course the opposing argument might be "Who wants the wooden spoon each year?".

UQ in Brisbane also had a similar edict but was a little different in that all alumni could play regardless of graduation date. Lots of recruiting was done out of school to get players enrolled in a course that they never finished.

 

[Knuckles]

We have also lost in 3 seasons and documented in a report, 88 players from our colts and junior system

Been happening to that club for years. About a decade or go we all thought it'd been stopped with that huge influx of kids into Colts from Oakhill College (I think) and some junior clubs.

 

[Nuggetyflyhalf]

Buildcorp will rise in 25.

 

[Prodigy]

Been happening to that club for years. About a decade or go we all thought it'd been stopped with that huge influx of kids into Colts from Oakhill College (I think) and some junior clubs.

Unfortunately for the Two Blues that Oakhill pipeline has been diverted to TG it seems