0
After a bit of digging, watching a few trial matches, keeping tabs on club sites, and reading The Whole Force carefully, I think I've worked out where the weakness will be in the local club competition this season.
Up front.
Wanneroo haven't got a first grade front row. Or a second, third or fourth grade one. I believe Billy Watts is retrieving his boots from the attic in preparation for his swan song year, a year he thought he had celebrated in 1965. Those boots belong in a museum, but will be subject to a vigorous workout in the absence of anyone younger to fill them.
Kala have a few props and a hooker or two who in a normal season for them would pass muster, but this season, given their lack of depth in every other position, won't be noticed.
Rockingham are adequate up front, and have the support players to make them look good, but adequacy don't get you to grand finals.
Wests have a few under wraps. Don't be fooled by their pissing off a fair lump of a fellow earlier in the year. He was a money sucking dud, and they have better to draw on. Wests will be as good as anyone in that department, and, together with Uni, have to be favorites to win the premiership this year.
Uni look pretty average in the prop department at this stage, but then they always do. However this year the potato famine in Ireland is turning up trumps for them, given their leprechaun connections and their tax payer funded scholarship opportunities, and they will have a good supply of burly unemployables to draw on.
Nedlands are shitting themselves. They won't be seeing anything of Pek, Nathan Charles has higher aspirations, and apart from Travis the journeyman, whose reliability depends on his mood on the day, they ain't got nothing yet.
Soaks appear to have bought themselves an expensive prop, but one won't be enough shared among five senior grades. Or will it be only three senior grades?
Cott have lost some of their front row glamour this year, with their infant baby Huey seeking fame and fortune in the East, but can't be underestimated in their ability to drag a Force player or two into their fold. Still, I don't rate their chances of doing so very highly this year. There is only so much chook shit sensible players will endure.
Perth have the most humungous, bestest set of forwards, especially props, in the Comp. Shame is, nobody's ever heard of them except from Perth spin doctors, and they haven't done much in their trials so far, like won a game. But I'll keep an open mind. JT has done a lot with far less in past seasons.
Which leaves Palmyra. Joe Savage is pretty damn good, and Higgins and Hummer have been known to hold a line or two as well. Hooker is less certain, with a couple of newbies in the mix. We'll see.
I hope there are a few decent backs out there ...
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by fulvio sammut
