Ron Massey Cup / Sydney Shield 2017

[Joker44]

Have heard Asquith will be pulling out of RMC for season 2017. Watch this space, expect an announcement this week

 

[earl park riot]

Any idea why Joker? Can't imagine it would be money given the leagues club grant. Will they stay in Shield?

 

[Joker44]

I heard they have not recruited anyone, and will not be up to Massey standard. They will still be in Shield from what I have been told

 

[kbw]

An interesting thing as they really struggled in SS last year.
I have heard its a bit to do with new contract types being pushed by NSWRL

 

[rightleftin]

The key questions are:

(1) will Aaron Groom, Jack Hawkins, Joel Latham, Jeco Makatoa , Brad Wall and Mark Daoud will hang around at Asquith to belt SS sides,
(2) Will North Sydney continue to send NSW Cup squad to Asquith if the only option is SS, and
(3) does this mean 2 byes in RMC every week..

 

[Joker44]

The key questions are:

(1) will Aaron Groom, Jack Hawkins, Joel Latham, Jeco Makatoa , Brad Wall and Mark Daoud will hang around at Asquith to belt SS sides,
(2) Will North Sydney continue to send NSW Cup squad to Asquith if the only option is SS, and
(3) does this mean 2 byes in RMC every week..

From what I have been told, Aaron Groom, Adam Kalcina and Brad Wall will play. Jack Hawkins has returned to his junior club, Mark Daoud to Wenty and Joel Latham has retired

You would have to doubt Norths wanting to send their fringe Cup players back to SS

 

[kbw]

Norths also send players to Concord Burwood

 

[rightleftin]

Originally, Asquith was the only club to receive players from North Sydney but at that Wests Magpies were in NSW Cup and they had an arrangement with Concord Burwood (the, n attached to North Ryde).

When Wests Magpies dropped back to RMC, Concord Burwood linked with North Sydney on the upside and Hills District SS below, so a few Norths guys played a few games with Hills but only if not selected by Concord Burwood.

In 2016 when Hills elevated to RMC, Norths player were sent there directly and Concord Burwood's SS link became Belrose.

So Norths will have 2 RMC clubs instead of 3.

 

[rightleftin]

If the Asquith games in the draw turn into additional byes, Wests will play only 1 game in 4 weeks twice during the season.

 

[rightleftin]

Trial tomorrow:

Mounties v Hills at Aubrey Keech @ 4.30 & 6pm
Wenty v Cabramatta at Ringrose @ 4pm & 5.30

 

[Tigers1986]

I find it a little, well, harsh that Asquith just up and withdraw with the season starting in just over a month. Ruins it for the organisers and all other clubs involved, plus makes the RMC look like a joke.

 

[rightleftin]

It is hard to work out what they were doing over the summer - you either withdraw or sign up players. Asquith did neither until everything was set.

 

[rightleftin]

A West Magpies RMC/SS combination beat Wests Tigers NYC 18-12 at Camden.

Wenty put 5 tries on Cabra in the first quarter. Final score Wenty 44 Cabra 12. No conversions attempted. Among the try scorers for Wenty were Ethan Tangira, Jordan Martin, Danny Howard, Sam Gorman, Danny Barakat, Kurt Falls, Mitch Mamary, Robbie Kamoto and Jack Miller.

 

[rightleftin]

Mounties won their 2 trials against Hills by 8 tries to 1 and 7 tries to 3.

 

[rightleftin]

From Asquith Facebook dated 2 February 2017

The countdown to the 2017 season is now on. We are looking forward to a great year of rugby league for the Asquith Magpies. The Board and committee members have been busy during the off season preparing for this year. We are excited about welcoming many new families into our junior league ranks as registrations are building and hopefully we will see lots of new players at our registration day this Saturday at Magpies Waitara.

Sadly though we are also having to say goodbye to ...many players from our senior teams this year. Due to retirements, work and family commitments and moving to other districts, this has decreased our numbers for the senior squad. A decision has been made to not enter a team into the Ron Massey Cup competition this year. We are committed to developing our up and coming juniors and district representative players into a strong and competitive senior squad. We will be remaining in the NSWRL competition with a Sydney Shield side and will be recruiting for an A grade team for the North Sydney/Manly Competition. Our under 19’s side will be given great opportunities to develop their skills with mentoring from our experienced senior players and have a pathway into these senior teams.

Looking forward to some exciting football this year and seeing everyone at Storey Park cheering on the Mighty Magpies

 

[Tigers1986]

They should be kicked from the Shield competition as well. It's not as though they weren't aware of the commitments and moves to restock their roster.

 

[Timmah]

That seems a little excessive don't you think?

It's shit that they waited til now to withdraw from RMC (particularly after fixtures were released), but are we really in a spot where it's fair to drop teams from other comps as a punishment?

NSWRL has to sanction them somehow but reactionary booting from SS isn't the answer here.

 

[Tigers1986]

They need to take a very strict action to prevent teams trying to do something similar in the future.

 

[siv]

The process for including "second tier" teams seems to be a lot of hit and miss

Even from the day second division started in 1961

 

[rightleftin]

The process for including "second tier" teams seems to be a lot of hit and miss

Even from the day second division started in 1961

Very true. The winners in the first season (1963) were Kingsford (aka Souths Juniors) yet in 1965 they left the comp and were replaced by Horsnby. The two clubs that remain 54 years later are Wenty and Guildford but of course Penrith and Cronulla Sutherland have gone on to much greener pastures.