It's warming up.

[palitu]

I'd rather lose the final with the bloke i'd played with all season, than shaft a team mate for a now-worthless flag.

[jargan83]

Nope. Closer to the city and the river itself.

May I ask which grade are you referring to?

[yungfen]

3rds and 4ths on several occasions

[Bally]

I'd rather lose the final with the bloke i'd played with all season, than shaft a team mate for a now-worthless flag.

Third grade has about 50 players go through the team a year due to all sorts of reasons but when it gets closer to the end of the season injuries settle down and more players make them selves available.Coaches from all grades will sit down and try and work out who will be back and who wont be.Its not an easy job and unfortunately some players are going to miss out and thats just the nature of the beast.As sportsmen you play to win.I was in the same situation as a player in 95 as a 18 year old and over qualified for 1s and was dropped at the end of the season so i missed out on playing finals for colts.Its not a great feeling but it was best for team.Its a team game and whats best for the team not the individual so ginger nuts,maybe you just werent that good mate and to walk away from your team mates because you missed out says something about your character not the club.

[yungfen]

Well that would be fair enough Bally when players who have played in the same grade end up playing the finals and that these players have genuinely qualified to play finals in that grade.
As some of the opposing teams do not have that luxury of picking from 50 different players and will actually field the team that did qualify for the finals without having the name of someone else on the team sheet to make sure that the team is actually stacked up.

[jargan83]

3rds and 4ths on several occasions

Are you involved with Curtin?

[Buck]

Every club does it! Paly Soaks and Nedlands are "better" at it than the rest. As a former manager "just put little johny down as 16 his team wont make finals and we'llneed a Prop"

[yungfen]

Yes I have been involved with Curtin but I am not talking on behalf of the club but as an individual

[palitu]

Third grade has about 50 players go through the team a year due to all sorts of reasons but when it gets closer to the end of the season injuries settle down and more players make them selves available.Coaches from all grades will sit down and try and work out who will be back and who wont be.Its not an easy job and unfortunately some players are going to miss out and thats just the nature of the beast.As sportsmen you play to win.I was in the same situation as a player in 95 as a 18 year old and over qualified for 1s and was dropped at the end of the season so i missed out on playing finals for colts.Its not a great feeling but it was best for team.Its a team game and whats best for the team not the individual so ginger nuts,maybe you just werent that good mate and to walk away from your team mates because you missed out says something about your character not the club.

what i am saying - is i don't want to play in a stacked team for the finals.

if my mates, who i've bled with throughout a season, gets dropped for a higher up who subbed a couple of times through the season

- that is not on.

[GIGS20]

Bally, I don't think anybody on the site would have an issue with what you have suggested if that is the truth of the situation.

Yes, if the blokes who play finals are genuinely qualified and unavailable for other matches it does make some sense.

If the club are pushing players of a higher grade down to qualify them...that's not exactly cricket, but it's legal, so (despite some sour grapes from various angles) play on. If, on the other hand, the team is submitting team sheets which are blatantly fraudulent, that is an issue which needs to be dealt with.

That is the accusation, and it's a dangerous one. If it has happened (and I can't tell you whether it has) it indicates that the people who did it are short on integrity and on concern for their players. As only one example of the shit that could go down....what happens if the player who isn't listed on the team sheet gets injured? where is his insurance cover going to come from? The whole team, including the bloke whose name was wrongly placed upon the team sheet should be up in arms about it.

If OTOH it didn't happen (and I assume Bally, you'd be saying that) the accusation is tantamount to defamation, the club has been accused of being, not only cavalier with the law, but not playing the game in the spirit of which Rugby is so rightly proud.

You can't blame the members of those clubs for being passionate in their defense of these accusations, because of the severity which most rugby people would view such a lie.

Like I said, I don't know which side is telling the truth, but to whichever side isn't...Shame, just shame!

[palitu]

Bally, I don't think anybody on the site would have an issue with what you have suggested if that is the truth of the situation.

Yes, if the blokes who play finals are genuinely qualified and unavailable for other matches it does make some sense.

If the club are pushing players of a higher grade down to qualify them...that's not exactly cricket, but it's legal, so (despite some sour grapes from various angles) play on. If, on the other hand, the team is submitting team sheets which are blatantly fraudulent, that is an issue which needs to be dealt with.

That is the accusation, and it's a dangerous one. If it has happened (and I can't tell you whether it has) it indicates that the people who did it are short on integrity and on concern for their players. As only one example of the shit that could go down....what happens if the player who isn't listed on the team sheet gets injured? where is his insurance cover going to come from? The whole team, including the bloke whose name was wrongly placed upon the team sheet should be up in arms about it.

If OTOH it didn't happen (and I assume Bally, you'd be saying that) the accusation is tantamount to defamation, the club has been accused of being, not only cavalier with the law, but not playing the game in the spirit of which Rugby is so rightly proud.

You can't blame the members of those clubs for being passionate in their defense of these accusations, because of the severity which most rugby people would view such a lie.

Like I said, I don't know which side is telling the truth, but to whichever side isn't...Shame, just shame!

even if they are legitimately qualified to play for the team, if they are not the regular starter for the team - they should never replace a regular starter.

call me moral or something weird like that.

[GIGS20]

Yeah, that falls into the sour grapes thing I mentioned.

If they legitimately qualify for both teams and one team isn't playing finals what do you want the club to do?

If however they have been pushed down into the lower grade as soon as the higher grade are out of contention there's an issue.

I'm just prepared to accept that there are players out there that have abilities that are genuinely between the grades. IE they're really too good for thirds, but don't really make the seconds team regularly, they play as a fringe player in seconds but might be considered 2 and a half. In finals, that player wouldn't make the seconds team unless there was an injury, but would really help the thirds team.

I would play them...others wouldn't.

(however I would also consider that the thirds team would see them as one of their own, who plays seconds sometimes, rather than a seconds player who has been dumped into thirds)

It's a messy situation at the best of times, but I'm adamant that rorting the system is against the spirit of rugby, the issue is telling whether any one case is a genuine attempt by the club to put the best team on the part, or a rort to buy a meaningless trophy.

(ps the rorts to buy meaningless trophies affects all sport, not just rugby)

[zed]

Who really gives a fuck this has been going on as long as I can remember
All clubs are guilty of it so get over it you can't single out any particular club
The only clubs not guilty are those that haven't played finals

No, I don't think all clubs are guilty of this. How are you supposed to explain to 4 or 5 players that have busted their balls for their team all season at training and in games that they're on the bench for the Grand Final? You can't. And you'd probably lose those players. Our 3rd grade made the semis a few years ago against Southern Lions. We were the only Wanneroo side to make the finals so we could have chucked in a whole bunch of 1st and 2nd graders, but didn't because firstly we would be screwing over the guys that deserved to be there, secondly, well basically its cheating. You have to be able to look yourself in the mirror after the game, hence the reason Nedlands have removed all mirrors from their changing rooms. Anyway we lost, but pride and respect intact

[Buck]

2nd grade would be the worst the first question the player that have been around a while ask is "did there 1sts make finals" if no u know there going to be stacked

[sevenmile]

I'd rather lose the final with the bloke i'd played with all season, than shaft a team mate for a now-worthless flag.

The problem being is only 3-4 players get changed palitu and I have never seen the other 12 walk away in disgust
Fickle world we live in
Bally the heat is on neddies as your club is a regular in the finals but no different to any other club
3rd grade down should be left alone as they are more social than development but with the comp top heavy the thrill of winning everything will push people to use the system any way they can
If prems and reserves was more competitive across the comp you wouldnt have this problem