Palmyra -v- Kalamunda

[Darren]

A big day of Rugby is set for Tompkins Park on the 15th July, first big game on the paddock sees Palmyra -v- Kalamunda in the pernier division.

I think kick off will be around midday at Tompkins Park Attadale on the 15th July. Immediately following this match will be Force v Toshiba! Stay tuned for more news!

Place ya bets!

[Burgs]

Gee, I thought all our Paly and Kala mates would be over this like a blowie to a turd

[fulvio sammut]

We,re very careful with our vmoney at Pally and Kala, Burgs, and only bet on a sure thing. Pity the book isn't on the Soaks v Uni game. On current form there'd be a truckload of vdollars on Uni.

[Burgs]

Well seeings as there is no Kala v Paly banter, what is the go with Uni so far this year fulvio? So far all grades have really been underperforming by their normal standards haven't they? Numbers dropped or what's the go?

[fulvio sammut]

Burgs, Pally have played Uni twice this season and Uni have some very good players.They haven't had any real benefit, game time wise, from their Force player allocation, and have had to rely on their own.
Their downfall, in my perhaps overblown opinion, is that they play what I call student rugby, there doesn't appear to be any game plan or stucture and they play as individuals,which means they do some good things, but when it comes to the ball carrier being tackled they lose possession as the support doesn't have a pre determined idea of what he is doing and don't get there in time or in sufficient numbers. Add to that a fitness (or apparent deficiency in) factor and you have a team that does reasonably well early in the game, drops off noticably late in the first half, and turns over a lot of ball in the second half.They then start to rely on desperation passes (which costs them more possession) and on the individual skills of their players when rugby is a team game.Their better players get isolated and the rest is history. Their defensive skill are quite good, but you can't win on defence alone a and you get pretty tired having to defend constantly for most of the second half.
I deserve to have it pointed out to me that Palmyra have had a few pretty terrible years lately and who am I to talk, but its because of this style of play
(except for last year when we had the coaching structure and fitness but insufficient quality players) that we have been at the bottom.
Anyway, I wish Uni well for the rest of the season, and hope they can claim a few more scalps-eg Soaks!!

[Burgs]

Forgot to answer this one sorry fulvio.
Interesting theory on the "student rugby" aspect and could well have a lot of merit.
Probably more what I was looking to was why the turn around, they have been one of the stronger clubs historically, but now (at least '06) they seem to struggle across the Grades and especially Colts which I recall (perhaps wrongly, it was awhile ago ) being one of their strengths in the 80-90's.
Is it more that the standard of the other Clubs has improved or that Uni have gone backwards?

[fulvio sammut]

Burgs,I think the standard of play and the quality and number of players has gone up significantly this year through all clubs, due in a big way to the Force . However it is still not as good as it was in the mid 80s to mid 90s era when you had the likes of Bam Bam ,Mike Allen, Peter Roberts and players of that calibre in every club. From my club alone I could pick a team from that era that would touch up the current Gold side and I am sure the same could be said for Nedlands Cott and Soaks as well. (There could be the makings of a new thread here...)
I don't know what, if any, Uni's current problems are.I've said my piece on their first grade.All clubs go through cycles at the top and the bottom. Sometimes it is a coaching issue, sometimes an inefficient or overworked and overwhelmed committee, sometimes player recruitment, finances, facilities and usually a combination of all of the above. What I do know is that supporters and social players can be fickle, people like to be winners and one or two mediocre seasons can be the start of a downward spiral in all grades of a club.
Trouble is, you don't realise you are in that spiral until it is too late, hard decisions are put off to avoid rocking the boat even futher and eventually you hit the bottom. It is usually then, like an alcoholic on the metho, that you are forced to take stock of your situation and implement radical solutions.Either they work or you die.
The moral of the story is to avoid getting into that spiral in the first place.That involves vigilance,long term planning,securing the best staff you can and maximising your return for the dollar spent. A bit like life really.
I suppose at the end of the day it depends on how much collective will you have and how much you value success.
Enough philosophising. I don't think any club currently has problems that can't be fixed and it has been a fantastic season so far with plenty of suprises.

[Darren]

Paly 39 def Kala 32 (I think)

Rick Boyd / RugbyWA review here

[travelling_gerry]

fulvio......damm fine effort today....we really enjoyed ourselves.......

well done paly

[Happy]

yes thanks palmyra - put me back into positive vDollars!!