Aussie Community Rugby
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Been a trying season for our division with many sides dropping their 2nd grade here and there.
We've been short of numbers on a few occasions but never a forfeit. When opponents keep doing it to our home games it starts to fucking suck. Second grade this year:
R1 @ home we played with 12 and nearly won
R2 away we played with not many more than that and lost in sideways rain
R3 away we registered a crushing win over the likely wooden spooners
R4 at home we got run over but barely had any subs
R5 at home the opposition forfeited
R6 away (local) was a decent game - lost by a point and only had a couple of subs
R7 at home the opposition forfeited
R8 away (vs R1 opponent) we had 14 and got smashedR9 at home this Saturday we're having our major charity day, and the opposition just called me and said they had 22 confirmed. "Could we play 10s for second grade?"
Well, officially you need 11 for a match. But it's an event day so I'm unlikely to enforce that now, am I? They'd forfeit tomorrow and I'll lose a game and potentially income for us and the charity.
FFS
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@NTA damn thats rough, as you say very hard to keep momentum or the club community going if yours not actually playing games
we've been very lucky re number this year for a chance but we've definitely seen others struggling, we learnt our oppositions for tomorrow (Melbourne Uni) forfeited their 3rd grade last week and only had a couple of subs for second grade
We have a rule in melbourne where your only allowed 3 fresh subs on the bench, the other 5 have to have played in a lower grade game to try and even things between teams, im actually surprised we've kept as many players as we have, thought more would have gone to other clubs knowing they'd probably get a start in 2nd grade
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@Kiwiwomble said in Aussie Community Rugby:
thought more would have gone to other clubs knowing they'd probably get a start in 2nd grade
Depends on the individual. Maybe those guys are staying because they like Thirds - training and games are easier.
A club here in Sydney asked to be promoted to 2nd Division, after a fairly good 2023 with 2 Grades + Colts. The Board accepted as we needed to fill a hole. The club assured us they'd be able to add Third Grade to fill the requirements.
Fast forward to a month ago, and they dropped out of Third Grade officially. Someone I know there said a lot of blokes wanted to stay in Third division and stomp weaker clubs.
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@NTA said in Aussie Community Rugby:
a lot of blokes wanted to stay in Third division and stomp weaker clubs.
Which is funny because the two best clubs from 4th Division were promoted and are top 2 spots on the table in First Grade. I don't think the club I'm talking about would be happy with that
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@NTA youre right, a lot of them have to think when i ask if they'll play up a grade, a few weeks ago we had injury in front row during warm up, got someone from 3rd grade to back up....but he got a head knock in pretty much the final play of the game, he said he was fine but physio said no (justifiably by the size of the egg on his forehead), ran back to the sheds and asked around, a guy who had only been with us a few weeks got out of the shower, threw his muddy gear back on ran out to sit on the bench....thats what i want to see....i still owe him a beer
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@NTA said in Aussie Community Rugby:
@Kiwiwomble said in Aussie Community Rugby:
thought more would have gone to other clubs knowing they'd probably get a start in 2nd grade
Depends on the individual. Maybe those guys are staying because they like Thirds - training and games are easier.
A club here in Sydney asked to be promoted to 2nd Division, after a fairly good 2023 with 2 Grades + Colts. The Board accepted as we needed to fill a hole. The club assured us they'd be able to add Third Grade to fill the requirements.
Fast forward to a month ago, and they dropped out of Third Grade officially. Someone I know there said a lot of blokes wanted to stay in Third division and stomp weaker clubs.
Watching the John I Dent competition and it's amazing how young first grade is. Heaps of guys who are colt eligible are in the first two grades, meanwhile instead of being competitive and slowly going back through grades as they age, guys who were in first grade last year are dropping back to fourth so they no longer have to train as much etc.
The strength of the competition across the grades is seriously out of whack IMO.
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@antipodean yeah, two of our front row are technically colts (we couldn't field a colts team so they have been playing seniors) and the 3rd is only 23...and they are dominating more experienced front row....so good to watch
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@antipodean Hornsby are dominating our Division in Subbies, and have a very young team as well (one guy over 30, most under 25).
They came back from Central Coast because they couldn't compete in the arms race between the top 3 clubs with money.
Have you seen some of the carnage in SIRU? Riverina clubs are suffering.
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@NTA said in Aussie Community Rugby:
Have you seen some of the carnage in SIRU? Riverina clubs are suffering.
Weather or player numbers?
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@antipodean player numbers
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thats cool, how old are they respectively?
We kept rolling on this weekend, beating the only team we lost two in round one, finally made top of the table
great news for us and club culture going gang busters at the moment...but also heard at player numbers have dropped in other clubs, one of the traditionally old and strong clubs has actually had to forfeit lower grades, almost unheard of for them, the cynics are pointing out they use to use "we can get you into the rebels" as a lure...which they cant anymore
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@Kiwiwomble said in Aussie Community Rugby:
thats cool, how old are they respectively?
The kid is 18.
The koro is 47 in December - still hits hard as well. Loveliest bloke you'll ever meet. -
@NTA said in Aussie Community Rugby:
@Kiwiwomble said in Aussie Community Rugby:
thats cool, how old are they respectively?
The kid is 18.
The koro is 47 in December - still hits hard as well. Loveliest bloke you'll ever meet.i was going to say he looks in good shape for such and age and then remembered im not too many years younger and got sad
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@Kiwiwomble said in Aussie Community Rugby:
also heard at player numbers have dropped in other clubs, one of the traditionally old and strong clubs has actually had to forfeit lower grades, almost unheard of for them, the cynics are pointing out they use to use "we can get you into the rebels" as a lure...which they cant anymore
How many rounds left?
We've got 8 clubs in our division and all are meant to have 2 Grades. We're 10 rounds done with 8 forfeits in 2nd Grade.
Four of these are from the same club, which also has a Colts team (filling another division) who have also forfeited multiple games. I know they have a few league players who don't like to travel. However, one of those forfeits was at home and another only 20 minutes away.
Another team - Old Boys from a local rugby school - have forfeited 3 second grade games. I had my doubts last year when a few of their blokes announced retirements, but looks like it is worse than expected.
The last forfeit was a bunch of guys getting whacked by flu early in the season. Get your shots, boys. Jeez...
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