The Structure of Australian Rugby

[Uncle Pete]

When you move across the threads in this forum one thing that sticks out like the proverbials is that the selection of junior representative teams suffers from the disparate competitions in which the juniors compete.
A common theme is the lack of head-to-head match ups between players playing in the same position but in different competitions. In particular a lot of criticism is levelled at the NTS (whatever that is) and it is suggested that those in charge of it stand to gain from the inclusion of players from within the NTS in rep teams.
The system needs rationalisation at all levels and I'd like to see what people have to say about how it should function.

 

[What2040]

pretty obvious that the blokes that select NTS players want to see them progress thru the ranks. That way it vindicates their initial selection of the player and they then get the kudos from the talent identification. Is true in all junior sport not only rugby. dare I say it - politics plays its own rotten part in selections as well - There will never be a trully level field and selections of juniors thru to wallabies will always be cricitised by some rightly or wrongly - To be fair to be fair the cream generally rises to the surface (eventually)

 

[Bruce Ross]

To be fair to be fair the cream generally rises to the surface (eventually)

With respect to administration, What2040, that thought is often rendered as "the turds float to the top".

 

[Uncle Pete]

So why not:
Move school rugby to Friday afternoon or Wednesday afternoon.
Kids play for local village sides on Saturday
Rep for X number of weeks on Sunday
Pick U16, U17, u 18 zone sides
Pick NSW and Aus sides from there

 

[Swarley]

So why not:
Move school rugby to Friday afternoon or Wednesday afternoon.
Kids play for local village sides on Saturday
Rep for X number of weeks on Sunday
Pick U16, U17, u 18 zone sides
Pick NSW and Aus sides from there

The biggest problem with this type of structure is burnout. I know it may sound a bit pedantic at first, but adolescent boys need as much sleep and rest as they can get. Playing a Rugby match after a 6 1/2 hour school day, not to mention after a full school week, coupled with the hormonal changes and intensive training sessions throughout the week, balanced with completing homework/job requirements before fronting up to another game less than 24 hours later Saturday morning would increase injury, lessen the quality of games and worsen school results. They aren't just Rugby playing robots, they're kids getting an education.

 

[RugbyFuture]

Australian rugby has structure?

 

[Nusadan]

Concur with you Swarley, the NSW Rams u16s AFL team physio advised all players not to play more than one game in a weekend, or even a week...and I am sure she spoke for all medico staff in junior sporting teams...

 

[DPK]

Australian rugby has structure?

M.C Escher was the chief architect.

 

[Uncle Pete]

I am sure that these issues arise....but they must already arise with adolescents playing school and club in the space of days or even hours. In a sense they have to do this to keep their selection options open.
If we really wanted to get serious we would remove the school's stranglehold on the game and have a club based competition in which the schools who wished to could compete. So you could have village clubs or district clubs, depending on strength, playing in the same comp as joeys and kings and any other gps or cas school or isa school or ccc school who wanted play. multiple divisions determined on prior season and pre-season assessment.
When a GPS school played another that could be for GPS points as well as comp points and if need be schools in different divisions could have cross divisional games to ensure all the CAS etc schools played each other
Thus a kid at a high school with no union could still get a decent game and all players could be seen within the same general competition.

 

[Slash]

I am sure that these issues arise....but they must already arise with adolescents playing school and club in the space of days or even hours. In a sense they have to do this to keep their selection options open.
If we really wanted to get serious we would remove the school's stranglehold on the game and have a club based competition in which the schools who wished to could compete. So you could have village clubs or district clubs, depending on strength, playing in the same comp as joeys and kings and any other gps or cas school or isa school or ccc school who wanted play. multiple divisions determined on prior season and pre-season assessment.
When a GPS school played another that could be for GPS points as well as comp points and if need be schools in different divisions could have cross divisional games to ensure all the CAS etc schools played each other
Thus a kid at a high school with no union could still get a decent game and all players could be seen within the same general competition.

only issue with this suggestion would be that the NSWRU would need to grow some balls to make it happen