Written Monday 21/05/07

UNDER 18 SCHOOLS RUGBY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS,  DALBY,  DAY 4,   SUNDAY 20/05/2007

Headed back out to the dry old town of Dalby yesterday,  Sunday 20/05/2007 for the final day,  and final playoffs for the Queensland Secondary School Rugby League Championships.  Got out there early for the Darling downs boys game against South West,  which they won easily.  Old rugby lad Sterling Keys got most of the game and looked to me to do some good things,  couple of breaks,  couple of nice offloads,  some good support work.  Dean Warren from Dalby and Lucas McKenna from Harristown also looked to have strong games.

Back to the main filed where the Sunshine Coast got a bit of a touchup,  and Met West crafted out a win.  A quarter to 12 saw the final get underway,  between competition favourites the South Coast and Metropolitan East,  which of course contains Andrew McCullough (word from all sectors was that Andrew was hot on Saturday in the game on that day) from Dalby originally,  now at Brisbane State High School.

It wasn't a bad old game of footy either,  incredibly willing defence,  plenty of venom and sting in some of those hits.  The South Coast ended up getting the money by 16 to 6,  but it was quite close,  and entertaining match.

Of most interest though was the inevitable opinions around on rugby vs rugby league.  No one could question rugby league's structure and pathways,  and just judging by the people at this carnival and listening to them,  they all know what they are doing,  what they are looking for and all seemingly have good strong systems to get young blokes into.  I like systems and structures that develop people and outcomes,  Rugby League has them hands down.

However,  and one guy dismissed "union" as annoying,  which is fine,  but my view always is that if you close your mind to any one particular thing,  the likelihood is you will miss several things.  Alot about rugby annoys me,  but for mine it is important that the contestability of possession remains and is enhanced,  that is a key concept of the game and a key differential between the games.  Rugby will still provide,  while we have contestability at scrums and lineouts,  the ability for those of us with different or not so athletic body shapes to compete in a sport.

They are both simple games in reality as far as coaching and playing them are concerned.  Rugby has some complexity in it's laws,  too many at the moment,  but still needs to maintain some of them.  The beauty of the game is in it's complexity,  for a greater part.

What rugby needs to do is decide whether or not it wants to become a mainstream sport,  which will mean significant and easy to understand by all law changes,  or remain a niche little sporting clique.  I would suggest both are impossible,  option one will see the game become rugby league,  and option two will see the same exclusivity that we see killing the game now in this country continue to choke the rest of the life out of it.

The code of rugby needs to get it's front office areas,  ie administration of the game at all levels correct,  until it does that the game will struggle to flourish and will never grow in one of the toughest sporting environments in the world,  just due to the size of the market and the number of competing entities.

It was very nice to meet Rod Reddy yesterday,  as insignificant as I am in the sporting world,  this guy was like Arthur Beetson when I was growing up,  used to enjoy watching him play.  Their commitment to their chosen code is excellent,  and while they are probably being paid to do what they do,  there are no doubt plenty of better salaries with more home time out there.

It has been an interesting few days,  and a few days again that indicated to me just how far behind rugby is in the identification and retention of talent.  The current system and pathways do not work.  Rod Reddy agreed with me on the Academy set ups shielding players from playing,  these guys want their kids playing the game,  why,  to get better at it.  I have already had my spray on academies here. 

I have some great piccies from this day, mostly the Downs game,  I will try and put them up later.

I Missed 100% of the Shots I Didn't Take,  Michael Jordan.