Penrith Junior System

[Dogmonster]

A good post … yes, most of the polys play league and Union .. but this becomes difficult at 15’s when the league boys start playing Sundays .. SJRU only play on Sundays .. the president of Penrith RSL rugby team was pushing for an emerging Colts Comp (u17s) to be played on Saturday afternoons to keep the guys playing league , still playing rugby .. Penriff dominate the u12’s to U15’s at state rugby tournaments .. however they pushed these 16/17 year olds up into an under 20 1st grade Colts comp and they were getting 100 put on them every week and the Penrith Emus after being brought back .. have been excluded again..
I still keep an eye on my old junior club, St Marys, they are a massive club, their game day schedule is epic, they have 8 or 9 teams every year in the u6’s .. and it continues right up to 15’s where they are still fielding 2 or 3 teams .. most junior clubs in wests or the bulldog comps are lucky to field a 15’s side … the riff have massive numbers..
Nepotism in kids sports has been around since Dally Messenger was a boy .. the coaches son is usually the captain and always gets the best and fairest awards at the end of the year..
I also agree, that rep teams are picked before a ball is kicked at trials .. sad thing is, they pick the same connected shit players every year, get smashed at tournaments ..and the next year , it’s the shit connected players getting smashed again .. but hey, the parents and coaches are best buds and look little Johnny is a rep player …. Every year rugby pick their rep teams, the left overs form a Barbarians team .. and every year the rejects win …

Great post, everything you said is spot on true.

 

[Dogmonster]

Kyle Flanagan would not have got to were he is without his dad,
I remember Mark Gasnier when he started he was awful.
The ol flog Alexander has a son that gets picked constantly in the system and is so ordinary its not funny. I see it in Matty Johns's sons a golden ticket, all these players should be named and shamed.

 

[gbrussell]

Kyle Flanagan would not have got to were he is without his dad,
I remember Mark Gasnier when he started he was awful.
The ol flog Alexander has a son that gets picked constantly in the system and is so ordinary its not funny. I see it in Matty Johns's sons a golden ticket, all these players should be named and shamed.

A mate of mine who coached against Kyle Flanagan in juniors reckoned he was about the 3rd or 4th best halfback in that comp. Yet he was picked for Matthews and Ball. He thought Blayke Brailey was the best player in their age group.

As for Alexander, a cop who is a mate of mine booked him for speeding during his playing career. Alexander played the "don't you know who I am" card. My mates reply was "no but you now know who I am" as he wrote out the ticket.

 

[gbrussell]

A good post … yes, most of the polys play league and Union .. but this becomes difficult at 15’s when the league boys start playing Sundays .. SJRU only play on Sundays .. the president of Penrith RSL rugby team was pushing for an emerging Colts Comp (u17s) to be played on Saturday afternoons to keep the guys playing league , still playing rugby .. Penriff dominate the u12’s to U15’s at state rugby tournaments .. however they pushed these 16/17 year olds up into an under 20 1st grade Colts comp and they were getting 100 put on them every week and the Penrith Emus after being brought back .. have been excluded again..
I still keep an eye on my old junior club, St Marys, they are a massive club, their game day schedule is epic, they have 8 or 9 teams every year in the u6’s .. and it continues right up to 15’s where they are still fielding 2 or 3 teams .. most junior clubs in wests or the bulldog comps are lucky to field a 15’s side … the riff have massive numbers..
Nepotism in kids sports has been around since Dally Messenger was a boy .. the coaches son is usually the captain and always gets the best and fairest awards at the end of the year..
I also agree, that rep teams are picked before a ball is kicked at trials .. sad thing is, they pick the same connected shit players every year, get smashed at tournaments ..and the next year , it’s the shit connected players getting smashed again .. but hey, the parents and coaches are best buds and look little Johnny is a rep player …. Every year rugby pick their rep teams, the left overs form a Barbarians team .. and every year the rejects win …

Similar problems can happen in rep cricket. I coached it for 8 seasons. I never had sons, and my step sons didn't come into my life until I was well and truly finished with cricket.

One year I had 2 selectors with me from the same club. One of their sons was good enough to be in the team. The other was a keeper but the best keeper was also the obvious captain. When it came to pick the team 12 players were unanimous selections. For the last player I wanted a spinner to provide variety in attack, and give us a chance to keep up with the over rate of 60 overs in 3hrs 25 minutes. These 2 fathers totally ignored my wishes and picked the 2nd keeper who basically did nothing for the whole series as we struggled to bowl our overs in time.

Never did they admit they got it wrong.

 

[gbrussell]

I always thought Kevin Moore was an average footballer. Lots of good games in reserve grade, but did very little in 1st grade. He was like plenty of players in all sports who go well up to a certain level and the next level up they are out of their depth.

Would he have played 1st Grade at any other club?

Like a lot of average players that ended up being good coaches, eg Bellamy, Bennett, Gibson, Sheens, Moore wasn't a bad coach.