Sydney Subbies 2019

[Ozzie Bob]

As per usual lots of things happening in subbies and plenty of points of interest in 2019:

(1) Will Blueys continue their hot streak in 2019. Its going to be great to see how they go this year.
(2) If Blueys have a strong season who's at most risk at dropping out of Div 1 for 2020?
(3) Will HH dominate in 2019 or will St Pats and Forest fight for the spoils this year?
(4) Can BOBs keep their heads above water and have a solid season if they don't have a 4th grade?
(5) Have HAC really had some player turnover?
(6) Can saints and brothers have full teams for the year?
(7) Will Campo make a difference at Briars this year?

 

[footy_footy]

I tend to think that Blueys will do OK in 2019. I don't think they'll be able to compete club wide with heavyweights like Mosman, Petersham or Colleagues for instance but do feel they will be in Div 1 in 2020. Does anyone have any news on whether Waverley or Balmain have any prospect of running a colts team in 2019. If either of those clubs can't resolve their ongoing colts issues they'd be my tip to be relegated.

Whilst 4s doesn't attract huge club championship points surrendering that grade for BOBs will be costly (although I presume they harbour no intention of winning the club championship) as they won't have anywhere near the depth of the other div 2 clubs who can run out a 5th grade from time to time. Staying on BOBs I see on Facebook they have appointed the 2018 Gordon 1st Colts coach to look after their colties. Gordon had all three colts grades in the GFs in 2018 so no doubt he will be a big addition to the BOBs setup. Surprising he'd leave Gordon after such success but obviously Gordon are onto bigger and better things.

I think div 2 will again be very competitive. Hunters Hill had their obvious struggles in div 1 and will be ready to bounce back in a big way. I'm unsure whether HH is facing the same rebuild as St Pats did in 2018 but it makes for a very interesting year. At this very early stage I'm liking Forest who came in 2nd last year and are coming off a year of strong finishes in 1s, 2s and colts. Milestone years also tend to bring the best out of clubs so Hills in the 60th and Lindfield in the 100th will be knocking on the door as well.

Heard rumours Mosman are looking to field 3 colts teams this year, u19, u20 and u21?!?

 

[Pfitzy]

Heard rumours Mosman are looking to field 3 colts teams this year, u19, u20 and u21?!?

Bloody good on them for establishing a strong youth program. But FFS I'm jealous.

I also have to question the value of all the riches being in one place. Not that I think a communist approach should be tolerated, but once again we're going to have some clubs fielding 6 Grades + 1-3 Colts and some clubs struggling to get their allocation on the park.

 

[meatpie]

I tend to think that Blueys will do OK in 2019. I don't think they'll be able to compete club wide with heavyweights like Mosman, Petersham or Colleagues for instance but do feel they will be in Div 1 in 2020. Does anyone have any news on whether Waverley or Balmain have any prospect of running a colts team in 2019. If either of those clubs can't resolve their ongoing colts issues they'd be my tip to be relegated.

Whilst 4s doesn't attract huge club championship points surrendering that grade for BOBs will be costly (although I presume they harbour no intention of winning the club championship) as they won't have anywhere near the depth of the other div 2 clubs who can run out a 5th grade from time to time. Staying on BOBs I see on Facebook they have appointed the 2018 Gordon 1st Colts coach to look after their colties. Gordon had all three colts grades in the GFs in 2018 so no doubt he will be a big addition to the BOBs setup. Surprising he'd leave Gordon after such success but obviously Gordon are onto bigger and better things.

I think div 2 will again be very competitive. Hunters Hill had their obvious struggles in div 1 and will be ready to bounce back in a big way. I'm unsure whether HH is facing the same rebuild as St Pats did in 2018 but it makes for a very interesting year. At this very early stage I'm liking Forest who came in 2nd last year and are coming off a year of strong finishes in 1s, 2s and colts. Milestone years also tend to bring the best out of clubs so Hills in the 60th and Lindfield in the 100th will be knocking on the door as well.

Heard rumours Mosman are looking to field 3 colts teams this year, u19, u20 and u21?!?

Agree with the above. I think BOBS will be some what competitive in the top grade but struggle in lower grades. Hunters Hill have installed a rugby director, no doubt a sign they want to be back in the Top Division. Lindfield 100th year will mean the club will want to perform and should see the return of some old club stalwarts. Forest will be the team to beat and not a fun travel proposition for teams.
I think HAC will continue to dominate 3rd Division and Beecroft will be in for a shock when they match up in First grade. Will be intersted to seee how the new 'Northern' Saints line up? will it be more of the same or hopefully a bit of a resurgence?

Mosman to be the powerhouse in 1st division and the envy of all, for club numbers/spirit and did I mention numbers.

 

[Heavyd]

Massive coup by BOBS. I wouldn't be ditching 4th grade this early as they will be swimming in colts looking for a run and they could underwrite all the lower grades for BOBS. Maybe the BOBS dream continues in 2019?

My gut tells me outside the powerhouse rugby areas the rest will struggle badly for numbers through the DIV's

 

[HeavyB]

Massive coup by BOBS. I wouldn't be ditching 4th grade this early as they will be swimming in colts looking for a run and they could underwrite all the lower grades for BOBS. Maybe the BOBS dream continues in 2019?

My gut tells me outside the powerhouse rugby areas the rest will struggle badly for numbers through the DIV's

Can you just drop a whole grade like that.... we might be alright if we didn't need to field a 3's

 

[Pfitzy]

First preseason touch, BBQ, and beers last night. Had about 18 show up which was good, and a few more who couldn't make it which was better.

I'm not going to put hand on heart and say it will be 2 Grades this year, but early signs are positive that we'll have a decent first Grade and maybe enough left over for the social players.

 

[cheekymonkey]

Bloody good on them for establishing a strong youth program. But FFS I'm jealous.

I also have to question the value of all the riches being in one place. Not that I think a communist approach should be tolerated, but once again we're going to have some clubs fielding 6 Grades + 1-3 Colts and some clubs struggling to get their allocation on the park.

To be fair, the Whales are one of the best run clubs in Subbies with a great culture.

 

[Pfitzy]

To be fair, the Whales are one of the best run clubs in Subbies with a great culture.

Absolutely no doubt about that, looking on wistfully from a distance. I'm sure they've worked their arses off to survive 125 years, and a natural "rugby" location, with associated affluence, would help.

Meanwhile, we've put rego up at $100 for 2019 and no doubt we'll have guys ask about payment plans

 

[Pfitzy]

Hearing rumours that 3rd Div will end up 7 clubs this year.

 

[Ozzie Bob]

Is this in relation to 'Saints'?

Hearing rumours that 3rd Div will end up 7 clubs this year.

 

[HeavyB]

Is this in relation to 'Saints'?

Very interested to hear more about where this rumour has come from.

 

[Pfitzy]

Is this in relation to 'Saints'?

St Ives is Saints now innit? I think that is who they're talking about. They had performance issues last year looking at their sheets.

Also heard that another club is looking to start up in Western Sydney and might be cutting Blacktown's lunch in terms of Colts. Blacktown are understandably unhappy with it and this new club will have to give Subbies some serious proof they're not just eating existing resources.

 

[HeavyB]

St Ives is Saints now innit? I think that is who they're talking about. They had performance issues last year looking at their sheets.

Also heard that another club is looking to start up in Western Sydney and might be cutting Blacktown's lunch in terms of Colts. Blacktown are understandably unhappy with it and this new club will have to give Subbies some serious proof they're not just eating existing resources.

Was always going to take more than a name change and a schmick new website to save them.

They approached us with a merger proposal and maybe we should have done it given where both clubs are at to be honest.

Will miss post match chookas if they go down.

 

[Pfitzy]

Was always going to take more than a name change and a schmick new website to save them.

They approached us with a merger proposal and maybe we should have done it given where both clubs are at to be honest.

Will miss post match chookas if they go down.

And they're going down into what is a fairly handy division as well - Harlequins, Canterbury, Irish, Blacktown are no mugs, and even Mac Uni finished well last year while Briars will seek to benefit from Campo's expertise. Oatley are an unknown quantity at this point - a club within a club with a successful Third Grade who won't train, and a First and Second Grade struggling because of it.

 

[southsider]

Oatley are an unknown quantity at this point - a club within a club with a successful Third Grade who won't train, and a First and Second Grade struggling because of it.

People always say this but I don’t think the premise is really true, there might be 3-4 guys who talent wise should be playing a grade up, but then again I imagine most grades would be in the same boat. Oatley always has a good base level of talent across all its grades but training numbers in general are never great regardless of the grade and the club as a whole never really has any star players to help carry the team like some other clubs do. Oatley juniors went through a golden period in the mid to late 00’s and unfortunately all those guys who would be 1st grade players now and a core for them to build around are all either playing shute shield or higher or high level league

 

[Heavyd]

Hearing rumours that 3rd Div will end up 7 clubs this year.

Early call to make before pre season kicks off. With zero knowledge Id throw the below out there around my gut feel for 2019 for player numbers.

Struggling - Saints, Brothers
On watch alert - Newport, Iggies
Should be sweet - HAC, HV, ROBs, Beecroft

St Ives and surrounding suburbs have gone through a massive transformation in the last 5 years. Until the Chinese or Jewish communities develop a taste for rugby its going to be tough for them. Rugby players are getting harder to come by outside of the heartland.

 

[Pfitzy]

People always say this but I don’t think the premise is really true,

Going off what their opponents tell me. They're the ones observing them on game day.

Looking purely at results: the last 2 years Oatley were 2017 Premiers and Minor Premiers in Third Grade, and made the final again in 2018.

Their Firsts finished dead last in 2018 and Seconds were well off the pace.

When your Thirds collect twice as many wins as your Top 2 Grades combined, that says a lot about how many good players you have down there.

 

[southsider]

Going off what their opponents tell me. They're the ones observing them on game day.

Looking purely at results: the last 2 years Oatley were 2017 Premiers and Minor Premiers in Third Grade, and made the final again in 2018.

Their Firsts finished dead last in 2018 and Seconds were well off the pace.

When your Thirds collect twice as many wins as your Top 2 Grades combined, that says a lot about how many good players you have down there.

Sorry mate but you’re just dead wrong. I don’t currently play for the club but have played a couple of hundred games for them. I know the players and again I reiterate there’s not a hell of a lot of players you’d move. The coaching is ok without being great, the attendance at training is pretty poor. Now at 3rd grade level you can get away with no training and still put in a decent performance, as you go up the grades it becomes harder and harder to become competitive without putting in the effort

 

[The Burke]

From what I have seen of Oatley in last few years was more a squad of players. There was some noticeable talent in 3s but with many of the same blokes backing up into 2s and 1s, where the level of comp is very much a step up, they struggled. However the squad approach is very common across Div 4, with many teams making finals in 3s off the back of higher grade players. Nothing new.