SO round two is here and experts are already pronouncing who is and isn’t in the running for end-of-year honours. A tad premature, but some signs were very positive for a few teams.
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Others faced the reality of first time at bat – a work in progress.
I thought the Bulldogs were the most impressive of last week’s winners, with the Cowboys, Broncos and the Bunnies assuming obvious favouritism out of the gates.
The Dogs demonstrated unequivocally to those who still wonder whether the big men can dominate in an increasingly endurance-based game. A good, mobile big man will beat a good, mobile smaller bloke most days of the week. Monstering the Bozo-built Manly outfit left rival packs sitting up to take notice.
As to our own work in progress, you’d have to say that no one disgraced themselves against the Titans. I thought the young Knights, apart from too many badly timed foot-shooting episodes, were threatening to get back in the game at different stages. Some good signs.
The debutants had a real good crack and will benefit from the experience. Tri-captain and elder statesman Jeremy Smith, Robbie Rochow and Tyler Randell all played strongly.
I’m guessing the collective concern for Knights fans may be whether the Coast are much of a team anyway. Excluding former Novocastrians Greg Bird, Zeb Taia and Tyrone Roberts, they didn’t have a great deal going for them either. But, really, you can’t take too much from the first game. So we’ll move on.
Now for the Bunnies. Our young Knights will take some comfort from a few injuries to the 2014 premiers and the potential bonus that Greg Inglis may not be risked in a game punters might expect them to dominate.
But with their halfback and maestro out with a broken jaw and his five-eighth partner new to the squad, there is a chance, with the right disruptive game plan, that their combination and kicking game might be vulnerable. My tip: a potential upset if our Knights win the enthusiasm, major on the basics and each bring something a little special to the table on Saturday.
* THOSE who follow junior rugby league might recall an announcement late last year by the NSWRL citing the season’s participation figures, which implied the game’s governing body is asleep at the wheel.
Stalwarts of the junior game will be unsurprised the numbers were down – way down – continuing a trend of the past decade at least.
As the kids prepare to kick off a new season, it begs the question, what’s to be done? If anything? At the 10s and 11s level the study shows significant loss of more than 20 per cent. In the under-13s and -14s, participation falls off a cliff and never recovers. Thankfully, courtesy of a great new freeway, Newcastle teams can far more easily access the Hunter Valley, meaning the now-combined Hunter competition has been able to buck the trend – for now.
Clearly, the magnitude of churn is unsustainable. Of concern for the senior game is, eventually, I imagine, that the absent generations of players will impact its quality potential and very survival.
And we are seeing evidence of that already.
Take the Newcastle Rugby League district competition. After contracting to an ungainly eight teams last year, there is strong mail others are struggling financially. Something tells me this competition needs a proper re-think.
At the suburban level, second-division teams are struggling to put teams together also. Work commitments and other distractions see district and suburbs engage in tug-of-wars over the dwindling pool of remaining players. This is made all the more difficult because the Real NRL insist upon an outdated three-open-age-teams criteria for inclusion. Something must give.
And it has. Last year’s second-division A-grade winners, Belmont Rabbits, are finished. Likewise, B-grade premiers Lambton are gone, and finally the C-grade premiers, Clarence River, won’t field a team this year. Gone. With others rumoured to be unable to get enough players together, there is real concern local communities will lose something they may never get back.
For those interested in the situation, my point is this: at the non-NRL level, the game is approaching a tipping point, beyond which recovery will be difficult. At this point in time it might have just enough scale, influence and community connection to retrieve the situation.
But only with the right plan, leadership and will to change for the better.
At the national level, the junior game must force a whole-of-game summit. Let’s get everything on the table. Let’s hear from the volunteer brigade who effectively sustain the game. Let’s look at the research. How can we get women more involved (and not just on the canteen)? How can we improve safety, improve coaching, nutrition, health, and support governance and fund raising?
Let’s hear from the National Rugby League; the Australian Rugby League Commission; the state leagues and the Country Rugby League. Can they help find a solution?
After the NRL cashed in recently with a $1 billion TV deal, I find it hard to swallow that the junior game has nothing but the sweat of the volunteer brow to sustain it.
Again, the call from the junior system must be sustained and loud, for though their eyes may be closed, they can’t so easily close their ears.
In closing, I thought it illustrative last week after commenting on the Mitchell Pearce case that most online responses centred on why I would support him, or whether the ultimate penalty was fair or otherwise. Not one comment questioned the wisdom (or naiveté) of my assertions relating to the encouraged illegality or immorality of spy-caming private citizens for reward. Not one.
What does that say about the modern “us”? Am I to accept that no one cares that these intrusions are now OK? Views may be different if you had to walk a mile in a victim’s shoes.
If you have an opinion on this please comment. I’m really interested.
