Palmyra v Wests Subiaco preview

[fulvio sammut]

With a depleted player pool due to injury and suspension Palmyra will struggle tomorrow to overcome a very powerful Weste Subiaco.

Ratu Srganiyaui, Palmyra's teenage fullback/winger is still weeks away from returning to the field following an ankle injury, no 8 Andrew Turner has his mandatory 2 weeks rest after being mildly concussed last week and second rower Elliott Stephenson is serving 2 weeks suspension. The suspension arose out of an incident against University when Stephenson was subjected to a "monkey grip" by an opponent and retaliated. Only the retaliation was made note of by touch official Freda Black in her report. Several other players are also in doubt and will undergo fitness tests prior to the game.

As a result an opportunity arises for either Scott Turnbull or Chris Rankin to break into the first grade at second row, but Turners replacement at no.8 will be interesting.

On the plus side, Palmyra's flankers Tom Ratahai and Jerry Viriki are looking sharp and James Stannard at 5/8 is distributing excellent ball to his outside backs.

Bolstered by a contingent of Eastern States players recriuted over the summer, including some dynamic backs such as David Van Kotze and Kane Allen and with rampant back rower Kiti Fulina in full flight,Wests will be the team to beat, this weekend and this season.

[Ecky]

I watched Wests v Wanneroo last weekend - in an official/officiating capacity. If that's the team to beat this year then here's how to beat them:

Keep up with them as much as you can for the first 50-60 minutes and then take it up a notch while they tire.

Nearly worked for Wanneroo, could work for you, too.

[qld supporter]

Andrew Turner will be a big loss, the pack need to lift to cover his workload this week.
Can't give penalties away in our half or we'll be punnished on the scoreboard.
This will be a good test of the teams progress so far this season, good luck all

[fulvio sammut]

I wonder if Matt Hodgson will be available? He is not in the Force 22 in today's West newspaper.He'll make up for a lot if he is, but I don't recall him being at training last night.

[qld supporter]

I heard Luke D may backup for Pally, but after just watching the game on fox he'll be pretty wasted.Hope you're right about Matt though.

[Burgs]

What are the "rules" there Fulv?
Are you obliged to play the Force Club Members if they are fit and available?
Do they have to attend trainings this season?

[fulvio sammut]

I think its pretty much (at Palmyra anyway) :

a/ does Mitchell want the player to play

b/ does the player want to play

c/ what does the club coach want

d/ is the player prepared to do the diplomatic thing and turn up to training on Thursday.

If all 4 above fall in place the player will be selected as a run on. Undeniably he will be better than the next best available.

If only a, b & d apply the player will be guaranteed a run off the bench

If only c applies the player will not turn up

If only a & b or b & d apply the player will get a run only as a replacement in the event of injury

If only b applies the player may as well stay home

The clubs have come to realise that the availability of Force players to them is a relatively rare occurrance, to be taken advantage off if required, but that team policies and cohesion comes first and what the Force wants is something to accomodate only to the extent reasonably possible. The stronger clubs can do without them and won't stuff up team morale for the sake of one or two games a season from a "star" player.

I think this attitude has been adopted by most clubs after last years experience as the closest they can come to a fair resolution.

It boils down I guess to what the club needs.We've all come a long way from the Kalumunda debacle of last year , from the Force, player and club perspective

[qld supporter]

I just heard that Chucka wont be playing today on medical advice...he's shatterred as he was really looking forward to this game....dropped to 'waterboy' today...hopefully it's only one week out.

[ARTY]

Great win by the firsts today the guys from the seconds steped up well jason bourke had a blinder tomy awesome and the next big thing Ratu touched the ball a couple of times and seemed to do as he pleased. I believe we will see a lot more of this sensation in the coming year have watched a lot of paly games i dont think i have ever seen a more imposing player put on the blue and white( including force players). Frank has been around a lot longer though and am sure he will share his thoughts.4 zip with half the side out go pally

[pruc]

Ratu is a legend!!! i dont think ive ever seen so must anitcipation from a player on the bench wanting to get on the field. and when he did.... the wests winger shat himself. he ran away from the monster of a winger. and then when bourky crossed kicked. ratu was in for his first ever try in the mighty blue brown and white and what a celebration the big man had after scoring his first and the reaction from the crowd = priceless

pally for premiers

[fulvio sammut]

Steady, steady, one swallow does not a summer make.

But the omens for Palmyra look good at the moment and the way our half dozen or more replacements stood up to the mark was very encouraging and pleasing to see. The down side was the effect this had on the second grade performance, but is still indicative of reasonable player depth within the club.

Rick McKieth, seconds captain, had an excellent game at no.8 and Junior Grieg
had a very good eye for distribution of play from 5/8. Jason Burke had a blinder at halfback and Chris Rankin added a lot of weight (he's gained 30 kilo of muscle over the summer) as well as height.

One aspect of the game that pleasantly surprised me was Palmyra's dominance of the scrum,not because of any perception of lack of talent, but because I thought West's scrummaging was one of their strengths this year. I'm begining to think that the srum may well be a Palmyra positive this year, and that our domination of Associates scrum in the first game of the season was no flash in the pan.

Getting back to player depth, Joondalup Sixths got the raw end of the stick with the arrival of a new player at Palmyra, Jerry Viriki's cousin, Ben. In his first game for the club Ben did some carving up from inside centre for which Joondalup (or I suspect, any other club) had no answer.The higher grade coach- vultures have already descended however and I doubt Sixths will see him again.

There were also two other new additions to the side, Veteran centre Gary Beams at prop and geriatric 5/8 Simmo at no.8. With the unavailability of our usual props due to work and alcohol, Regan Timu, with an injured shoulder was also obliged to play. I came close to calling for uncontested scrums, but our two props surprisingly held out, in what was certainly no fun for them, against a heavy and experienced set of Joondalup forwards.

Benny Hinder also came back to the Sixth grade fold after a year's break playing soccer, and put in a fine effort.If we can keep the bulk of Saturday's team in Sixths, we'll be well on track.

I'll tell you what did get up my nose on Saturday. After the game against Joondalup at Rosalie I sent a player with $40 in hand to buy the traditional after game team carton.
The bar staff at Wests sent him to a West's club official whose response was to the effect that Wests shouldn't have to sell us a team carton as we played againt Joondalup, not Wests. How to win friends and influence people....

[almac]

good to see the 2nd grade players step up and get a bit of recognition, lets hope this isnt the last we see of them in 1st grade.

[Darren]

I'll tell you what did get up my nose on Saturday. After the game against Joondalup at Rosalie I sent a player with $40 in hand to buy the traditional after game team carton.
The bar staff at Wests sent him to a West's club official whose response was to the effect that Wests shouldn't have to sell us a team carton as we played againt Joondalup, not Wests. How to win friends and influence people....

You're kidding?!?

Surely there must have been some miscommunication somewhere along the lines there?