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Mid season is upon us, and with it comes a universal bye. An opportunity to reflect.
The state of the Premier Competition is disturbing. The gap between the top 3 or 4 and the rest of the comp is greater than I have seen it for several years, and I can see it getting worse.
Two clubs, Wanneroo and Perth in particular, have to take a dose of reality. They need to be looking at what is ahead for them in the next 1 to 5 years. Whatever they have been doing over the last 3 or 4 seasons hasn't been working. They need quality players to support the core of club stalwarts they still have. They need a structured approach to their coaching programs which hasn't been obvious to me these past few years.
When your club isn't travelling well you have to avoid the trap of adopting a siege mentality and bunkering down in the hope things will improve. Invariably they don't. I don't profess to know what the solution is for these particular clubs, but I have seen it happen in my own during the bad times, and we have been slow learners ourselves until recent years.
The answer for Palmyra was to seek proven experience and innovative thinking in our coaches, and to select coaches who can develop a rapport with their players to get the best out of them. Fresh blood on the committee and putting old goats like me out to pasture also helped.
We also rid ourselves of any delusion that RugbyWA would do anything for us, or that we would receive any thing like a "fair" allocation of Force players to play for us. Instead we identified the holes in our team, inquired from our own players who they knew locally and overseas who could fill those gaps, approached agents and overseas clubs, and, most importantly,over several years, developed our juniors and put time, money and coaching capital into our colts and under 18s. Our coaching and management team in colts is of a high quality, stable, and attuned to the mentality and priorities of these young men.
You may take the piss, if you are so inclined, but we have had up to 9 of our current colts take the field in premier grade this season, and 4 at one time in the same game at one stage, without skipping a beat.
Over the last couple of seasons at least 6 of our regular first grade players have been former colts and are still playing, and even more have been fixtures in second grade.
Sure, you can buy a colts team, but I can assure you that you won't get the loyalty and commitment that you get from your own home grown and developed lads.
I know it helps to have money, but you have to seriously prioritise what you do with the money available to you, if you are to have success.
I'm not making these comments to be a blowhard, but in the interests of the competition as a whole. It does no one any good to see proud clubs die the death of a thousand cuts.
We were subject to a similar post about 3 weeks ago espousing the virtues of Paly and fuck me dead here we are again.
I'm confused because in the same breath you waffle on how all your colts are getting a fair go and then you say how you approached player agents and overseas club's to fill holes so which is it.
Your club is the only premier club in the Southern corridor which correlates to half a city so if you don't have lot's of numbers someone screwed up.
Spending a truck load of money is shortsighted and as we all know only creates a rod for your own back and only works till the well dries up.
Wests Scarborough 1st Grade juggernaut has played finals rugby each and every year since its inception and continues this remarkable feat yet again this season and unbelievably it's still rolling on and as an added little circle jerk for the masses Wests actually hold the record for the current longest unbroken finals record.
Very well. As you were. Carry on.
How's the juggernaut juggering?
Not bought any Brad Lacey's lately?
Still counting on your Force player allocation?
Your colts still in the competition?
Lost any good coaches lately?
Oh, and Nedlands, Cottesloe, Associates, University and Kalamunda are geographically closer to Palmyra than they are to Wests. You've got a catchment area from Innaloo to Joondalup.
The answer for Palmyra was to seek proven experience and innovative thinking in our coaches, and to select coaches who can develop a rapport with their players to get the best out of them. Fresh blood on the committee and putting old goats like me out to pasture also helped.
Not to mention several skip loads of dollars!!!
It would appear, either deliberately, or lack of dollars, that Wanneroo are bringing their juniors through which other clubs can't as they don't have any juniors to speak of. The Dogs #9 is 19 and KK's younger son was listed as starting and he is 16 or 17, and one of WA's most promising juniors came of the bench. THis in addition to the Future Force players they have access to.
UWA also have a group of youngsters consistently starting in the 1's - Uwen, O'Sullivan, Hondros and Hardy, as do Kala - Narirube, Shortall and Wier.
Also after speaking to someone who should know Joondalup had an average age of under 22 in their game v Wests.
Was going to write a reply to Fulvio's essay on how Palmyra is succeeding in spite of everyone in Perth being against them, but why waste my time.
What a load of rubbish Fulvio.
Well, it looks like everyone's done enough, and know their own way forward.
That's excellent news.
And not one mention of that fact that nothing gets done whatsoever without a core of volunteers who'll put all that fantastic planning into place. Huge assumptions made on the resourcing of club activities, access to coaches, players and more volunteers to keep the juggernaut rolling.
Some clubs have a core of just a few and struggle to get more on board as looking in, people see the workload and thankless tasks.
Get volunteers moving and the clubs will move ... $$$, plasma's et al will always help to get success in short term, making something sustainable is the challenge. Rugby clubs will always be about the people ... somewhat assumed in the original post.
Fulvio, seems lately that you need to write an essay to provoke a response from westie.
I reckon I can still do it with a one-liner.
I am really a Palmyra troll.
Darkness, you are making a false assumption that I am a troll like yourself.
The long sobs of autumn's violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor
Wests Scarborough 1st Grade juggernaut has played finals rugby each and every year since its inception and continues this remarkable feat yet again this season and unbelievably it's still rolling on and as an added little circle jerk for the masses Wests actually hold the record for the current longest unbroken finals record.