Southern Inland Rugby 2019

[paul bristow]

The key to Waratahs success is their composure. Steamers/Aggies will be under pressure at every scrum/maul in GF. Whoever plays in the GF needs some way to stop Waratahs from settling into their usual rhythm or it will be a procession like yesterday. Looking like Whistle’s prediction of the the big dance being a no contest doesn’t it.

 

[yourmatesam]

All roads lead to Griffith this weekend at the magnificent Exies Sports Club for the following game times:

3rd Grade 11:15am Hay (2) v Deni (4)
2nd Grade 12:40pm Ag College (2) v City (3)
Women's 2:15pm CSU (1) v Griffith (4)
1st Grade 3:20pm Ag College (2) v Albury (4)

Interestingly, City are the only team ranked 3rd to make it into the second week of the finals. That seems a strange statistic. Also, Reddies are the only Minor Premiers showing up at Griffith with all the other Minor Premiers booking their ticket to the GF already.

For me, the CSU v Tahs Women's game was the best game of the day last weekend and I'm sure the Reddies will be keen to assert their dominance on the Women's competition again but will be met by a spirited Griffith Blacks team playing on their home soil. Expect a big game here!

In the 3rd Grade game, I'd expect that fitness will be an issue and in this regard Deni may have a slight edge over the Hay Cutters. But Hay may give a better showing playing closer to their home turf also?

Ag College v City in Two's should be a close contest, Aggies are a good second grade team but City have definitely been there or there abouts this season, they will also have a sprinkling of experienced players in comparison to Ag College. This game will be close.



In the 1st Grade gig, I reckon there won't be much between Aggies and Albury. Ag College are enthusiastic and passionate and have some good footballers, but they're lacking the polish that gives them the ability to turn it on when it matters. I think Albury have a more consistent style of footy, led by the likes of Sam Allen and James Devlin that settles them and that's important in finals football.

Neither Aggies, nor Albury have a strong tight five, so I'd expect to see a reasonably mobile sort of game on Saturday, likely a fairly high scoring match as there will be linebreaks made and good counter attacking opportunities will be taken - particularly by Albury. Scrums will be evenly matched with neither team having an upper hand in this area. Albury probably have an edge at the lineout with some of their tall timber.

I expect to see another strong performance from Matt Harris, Ben Brookes and Mike Van Diggelen for Aggies but they'll need to work hard to get over the Steamers Laurance Lockington, Dave Cooper-Dunn and Liam Krautz. The performance of these players will determine their backline's ability to use the ball.

Through the backline, McTaggart to Duffy is a more complete halves combination and the matchup between Devlin and Duffy will be important, the Centre pairing I'd give to Albury with Tom Wilmore playing a really good game last weekend. Hamish Pennington is handy when he's on song but can be a bit hot and cold in some instances. In the back three, the Steamers have some real quality in Sam Allen at fullback, Lochie Ramm will need to stay alert in those outside channels where Sam's pace really comes into play.

There really isn't much between these teams, maybe Albury have a bit more experience but the Aggies have been playing together for some time now also so probably should be a more settled team at this stage of the season.

This match will be tight!!

 

[Bubba]

Pretty fair assessment of the games coming up this week.

I think Albury will get home against Aggies but it will be tight again. Hopefully the runner doesnt get his melon in the way of play this time !

Its Tahs to lose now in 1's. Sadly the only teams that have beaten Tahs this year arent in the equation anymore !

 

[yourmatesam]

How good is the livestream!! Having it up on the scaffolding there at Conolly was great, a perfect vantage point and it didn't block the view like a ute etc does during the regular rounds.

 

[paul bristow]

The only trouble with our ground here at the Exies Whistle is availability. We’re 3rd on the priority list behind afl and mungos. We can’t guarantee ground availability at a week’s notice.

 

[Bandar]

Is it time to split the Major & Minor Semis on the Saturday at different venues or play on Saturday & Sunday

I get what you are suggesting here but can throw up some other problems also.

If the matches where split on Saturday you have the potential for clubs to be playing at different venues in different grades and the vast majority of players don't want to play on Sundays - It's for recovering from both the match and the pub before work on Monday.

 

[paul bristow]

Rugby finals should be all about 1st grade. One of the 2 teams playing 1st grade ie Aggies or Albury, should be hosting this weekend. Last week one set of finals should have been at Conolly, the other at Griffith. If the Exies ground was unavailable here at Griffith the second set of finals should have been at Albury. The main problem is split travel for some clubs.

 

[yourmatesam]

It's a good discussion point to be thinking about re; Finals locations.

I like the reward to the Minor Premier, but the problem with that is Waratahs have been Minor Premiers for the past umpteen seasons (bar Leeton recently).

I don't know that there is a perfect solution, the Central West do something similar where Major and Minor semi's are hosted by separate clubs on separate days at separate venues.

I do like the option of the loser of 1v2 hosting the second week of the finals, but that is a double edged sword in that the same team could host two weeks in a row.


In other news, I reckon there will be a few teams crowding round the livestream of the matches this weekend. I'd expect to see some punters wearing Blue down at Shimano's watching the big screen.

I wonder if the Blacks have the ability to stream highlights of the matches onto the big screen at the Exies? That'd be a pretty cool feature if they could pull it off.

 

[paul bristow]

The big screen Sam is run by being connected to a laptop. What you see on screen is a simple scoring program that has a version for each sport. You could run the livestream through to the big screen I assume. But to be able to switch between the scoring program and the internet is something I’m not sure of.

 

[paul bristow]

I was just wondering Whistle where I can get the team lists for the 4 games set down for tomorrow.

 

[paul bristow]

Thanks Whistle. Really appreciate that.

 

[yourmatesam]

That's an interesting point you make there Whistle re CSU. It would be a shame for that to be the case, clearly.

I hear talk of the Hay Cutters stepping in to play as Leeton's 2nd Grade but we'll see how that rumour pans out over the coming weeks.

 

[Whistle Happy]

Hay played as Griffith's 2nds a couple of years and made the GF - but Clubs would have to split when travelling- Leeton should be brining thru their Juniors ? and Leeton should be playing 2nd Grade not Hay because how will the Leeton Juniors have a pathway to the Seniors - talk about buggering up a Club - The Leeton Phantoms get 10 out of 10 for their poor leadership etc in the past few years or more- no wonder the Juniors feel alienated in their own Town- the 2017 Premiership was won with a big Price for the club

Selections for tomorrow - Albury by 10 points - at least there will be a more competyitive GF - with Men playing Men instead of Men playing Boys !
City to win 2nds - they just seem to enjoy coming up with a handy 2nd Grade when their 1sts disappear out of the Comp ??
- If they win Waratahs will destroy them in the GF

CSU Reddies to make up for their shock loss last Saturday and spank the Griffith Women - apparently they have a lot of players returning to the side tomorrow - Griffith to get ambushed on their home Ground

Hay to thrash Deni in 3rds

probably either 4 out of 4 winners or 4 out of 4 losers in those selections

 

[paul bristow]

Deni won 3rds, Aggies won 2nds, Griffith won girls and Aggies won 1sts. How did you go Whistle?

 

[Maulalltheway]

Selections for tomorrow - Albury by 10 points - at least there will be a more competyitive GF - with Men playing Men instead of Men playing Boys !

those boys did well against a team of men today!

Unbelievably insulting!

 

[DontGiveARuck]

Hear, hear Mauler!!
I’m new to the forum, but have been monitoring the thread for a few years. I have a vested interest in the local rugby, but as I live over 500k in rural NSW, have very few opportunities to watch the games. My main source of news about what is going with Siru rugby and teams is the DA, and this site. And over the past few years both have been absolutely embarrassing in their respective content.

The only one I look forward to reading is YMS as he is objective and informative, the rest of the bloggers are petty and vindictive, and as Mauler indicated, condescending, especially towards the uni teams.

I do sincerely hope that the general tone of this forum will improve, and become more positive, as I, and i’m Sure I’m not the only one, do look forward to informative opinions.

Keep up the good work YMS. And hopefully the ‘boys’ will give the men a game!

 

[paul bristow]

Come on Ruckus, are you sure you’re not a pseudonym for someone else. Are you sure you’re not a Siru secret agent working incognito as Dontgivearuck.

 

[Maulalltheway]

Hear, hear Mauler!!
I’m new to the forum, but have been monitoring the thread for a few years. I have a vested interest in the local rugby, but as I live over 500k in rural NSW, have very few opportunities to watch the games. My main source of news about what is going with Siru rugby and teams is the DA, and this site. And over the past few years both have been absolutely embarrassing in their respective content.

The only one I look forward to reading is YMS as he is objective and informative, the rest of the bloggers are petty and vindictive, and as Mauler indicated, condescending, especially towards the uni teams.

I do sincerely hope that the general tone of this forum will improve, and become more positive, as I, and i’m Sure I’m not the only one, do look forward to informative opinions.

Keep up the good work YMS. And hopefully the ‘boys’ will give the men a game!

You’ll be sadly left wanting mate. A few have made this place their public place to vent, throw accusations, suggest sackings, and call into question the integrity of people of the zone, rugby people who are actually active in running the comp and providing rugby for our teams. Most of them do this behind false names knowing there is no accountability for what they say.

It’s been a continuation to where we are now over the last few years. Constant cycle, slander, delete, slander, delete.
These keyboard warriors aren’t really rugby people in my opinion. If they were and honestly felt the zone could be better they’d put their hands up to help, rather than throw pot shots here.

Not much chat about rugby here. It is what it is and I’ll be called the problem because they’re allowed opinions and this is a forum.

 

[namtrak]

To be honest, I thought calling the Aggies out as Boys after the game v Waratahs was a fair assessment. They looked spooked on the day. However, credit where it’s due, they manned up completely yesterday. They played better, and wanted it more than the Steamers. Bring that same aggression and hose down their error rate and they are not out of it next week. All the best to Will and the boys.

 

[yourmatesam]

Deni won 3rds, Aggies won 2nds, Griffith won girls and Aggies won 1sts. How did you go Whistle?

None from four by my maffs there PB

I've got to say, the day at the Exies was a cracker yesterday. Fantastic venue, change sheds for days, most games were played in a good spirit and the beer was cold.

Rolling on to Conolly next weekend, we'll see something along the following timings and all games are live-streamed.

1045 - 3rd Grade GF - Griffith v Deni
1220 - 2nd Grade GF - Waratahs v Ag College
1405 - Women's GF - Waratahs v Griffith
1520 - 1st Grade GF - Waratahs v Ag College

How good is it to see Griffith and Deni there on the big stage, props must be given to these towns outside the "Major Centre" for their efforts this season. There is clearly a willing bunch of people in Deni particularly who are putting their hands up out there. Well done.

Also, the Griffith 3rds being in the GF is testament to the thoughts of their 1st Grade Coach wanting the club to focus on culture and building good behaviours, well done to all involved.

Bring on the game of backyard footy this weekend!!