Sydney Subbies 2025

[footy_footy]

The question with the women’s teams is similar to colts. Are clubs not running one cause they don’t want the extra work or is it because of the fact that they aren’t able to recruit the numbers needed?
I know the game is growing rapidly, but there’s not an unlimited number of people playing.
Every club would love to have a women’s and colts side but as we see with Colts it’s not clubs being badly organised they they don’t have a side.
With Shute clubs running multiple sides and more clubs running teams we are going to hit a point where there isn’t enough numbers.
Like colts and with multiple competitions clubs will start warehousing players which takes away from other clubs getting teams.

It's a very good point as even some of the more established and successful JJC teams in 2025 had issues fielding a full squad during the middle of the year. At times Oatley, UNSW, Lindfield and St Pat's (at least that I'm aware of) all had weekends where they were scraping in a maximum of 10 players. The 2025 competitions were a great success but I think a measured and sustainable approach to growth is crucial. Lots of players are or will be very new to the game and the competition needs to accommodate this, which was done well in 2025 with the division split.

 

[Pfitzy]

I think most of us can agree that, one day, we would love to see women's XVs incorporated into Subbies in one form or another.

I believe XVs is more the domain of Premier Rugby, with a view to being a development pathway and player pool for SuperW and Wallaroos.

And Premier clubs in Sydney aren't all fielding XVs at this point.

Tens is a good blend between 7s and XVs, the latter of which I think is going to be too technical for a Subbies team to support. You're talking about resourcing it to a level of a 2nd XV men's side in a higher division IMHO, and clubs don't have that as it is.

 

[Pfitzy]

To sustain a Women's Tens program through a season, you're going to need about 20 players to ensure you can have 10 starting + 5 reserves each week, considering injuries and absences.

Div 1 therefore needs about 150 players and they're necessarily going to have different levels of experience, so the competitiveness is probably not going to be near someone like Hornsby, who have a few years in the Central Coast comp building and learning.

Like a 1-team Subbies mens club, you need to cater for a wide range of skills, abilities, and experience.

 

[Here To Do]

I believe XVs is more the domain of Premier Rugby, with a view to being a development pathway and player pool for SuperW and Wallaroos.

I disagree with this purely on principle - if we can get a couple of men's grades, why could we not also have at least a single women's?

That said, definitely not a "next season" thing but should be an aim for the future so that clubs can eventually be fully integrated across men's and women's

 

[Platypus]

DIV 1 Prelim tips - hopefully the sun is out come Saturday as there should be some good games on show at Concord.
Kentwell - Blue mountains Vs Waverley - Will be a tightly contested game to see who will be runners up in the Kentwell Cup (are either of these teams really a chance against HH?)
Burke - Waverley vs Mosman - Cracking game can see Waverley overpowering Mosman in the forwards here as they are much bigger.
Widdon Waverley vs Mosman - Waverley should get the win here pretty easily.
Judd- Colleagues vs Blue mountains - Colleagues in a close one.

 

[Pfitzy]

I disagree with this purely on principle - if we can get a couple of men's grades, why could we not also have at least a single women's?

We do: Tens.

Pretty much everyone I know of in NSW is Tens unless we're talking Shute clubs or those others enabled by the presence of Shute Clubs in Sydney.

That said, definitely not a "next season" thing but should be an aim for the future so that clubs can eventually be fully integrated across men's and women's

To do that the governance model needs to change - if we're talking about integration across clubs then SWRU is redundant.

 

[Pfitzy]

DIV 1 Prelim tips - hopefully the sun is out come Saturday as there should be some good games on show at Concord.
Kentwell - Blue mountains Vs Waverley - Will be a tightly contested game to see who will be runners up in the Kentwell Cup (are either of these teams really a chance against HH?)
Burke - Waverley vs Mosman - Cracking game can see Waverley overpowering Mosman in the forwards here as they are much bigger.
Widdon Waverley vs Mosman - Waverley should get the win here pretty easily.
Judd- Colleagues vs Blue mountains - Colleagues in a close one.

Don't forget Sutherland!

Colleague v Blueys. I reckon Colleagues have to be hot favourites with a 9-1 record this year compared to 5-5 for the goats.