Source: AGM 29th November 2001, edited

 

This was the year that Peter James finally did as he had been threatening and stepped back from the Juniors. It was encouraging, however, to know that Jesse was only a phone-call away.
We started the year with one coach in the form of Stewie Douglas, who continued with the under 12s, and two managers in Anne Bradley who continued with the under 18s and Brian MacMahon with the under 8s.

 

Team Summaries

Under 8

The year saw a variable number of under 8 players turning up for training on Wednesday nights but eventually settled down to the delightful group of young players in Nick Bell, Noah Sadler, Darren Pinkerton, Chester Armstrong and latterly, Mackenzie Vann together with those such as the Angove clan, young Madeleine Francis, Jessica & Jade and others who turned up when they were able. My own initial efforts at coaching after Linden Gunn, our senior no. 8 and under 8 coach, who left for a new job in country NSW, were quite rightly overshadowed by the very capable coaching from Trish Abbott and a number of evenings of solid rugby from a new parent to the club, Marshall Vann.

On the Saturdays the coaching fell to Paull Francis, one of our senior players, and also to their manager Brian MacMahon who also acted as referee

Under 10

Demographics worked against us this year when all of last year's under 10s moved up to under 12s. This demographic bubble will continue to move up through the club each two years and will bring with it it's own unique difficulties of too little and too much. Together with Southern Suburbs and Brighton we were left with 4 to 5 under 10 players. An initial agreement to form a composite side of Collegians, Souths and Brighton players wearing Collegians hooped jerseys and coached by Ben Hamer came apart when Burnside absorbed, on loan, our under 10 players. Despite this, we continued to see a number of our under 10 players on Wednesday evenings, especially Cameron Burrill who gained from exposure to some of Stewart Douglas' under 12s training.

Under 12

Stewart Douglas went from coaching a depleted under 12 side of last season to a side of considerable numbers in the current season. It was a daunting task to both train and play a quantity of players that were too many for one team and too few for two teams. Stewie kept the interest of these boys by frequent interchanging throughout the season, a task disallowed by the referee only on the last match. It looked very much like the 12s would dominate for the entire season but towards the end this momentum started to falter. Ben Hamer came in to train the forwards after the under 10s joined Burnside and the combination of Stewart & Ben on the Wednesday evenings was a good one. Adrian Griffiths did well in the role of manager.

Under 14

The under 14s had a series of coaches this year. Luke Turner proved to be a good and reliable coach whose continuance in the role was qualified by his employment prospects. It was unfair to have an interest in ensuring that a coach stay unemployed and when the inevitable happened Luke's coaching was taken over by Sandy Taylor who then had an offer to go overseas with the Army but instead broke his shoulder and couldn't continue. Coaching then passed to Jeremy Allport with some occasional coaching from Mike Regler. When Jeremy took a contract job in Africa, Mike took over and dispensed a very special kind of coaching. Mike then started to decrease his coaching in line with the increased time spent interstate after a promotion to be thankfully taken up by Jeremy then safely returned from exile.

Of all the boys those in the under 14s demonstrated a unique kind of strength when after losing to a summer-trained side by a large number to nil, they all, plus others, returned the following week to be beaten once again - this time by 50 odd to nil. The following week, against Vikings, they reversed the score. Had the draw not been against them, more of which I mention later, and had a full squad been available for both training and the matches on Saturday I have no doubt that this side would have proved the one to beat. As it is, the sheer determination and heart, and enjoyment of rugby, will if the numbers can be improved next year, result in a team to watch.

The one constant in the team's year has been the more than capable presence of Anthony & Sue Larcombe who managed them for the season.

Under 16

As with the 14s there was some initial instability in the coaching. Gary Fenner ultimately took on the task of coaching a side where apathy prevailed in too many players.

Wednesday night training saw the usual hardcore of the dedicated but few too many to constitute and benefit from valuable training sessions. Had the year seen the number of players who turned up for the last game of the season and had they been available for training during the season then we may have seen a different result. As with the coaching, so with the managing. Ginny and I started off managing the 16s and ultimately finished the season managing the 16s.

Under 18

Rob Sadler took on the additional role this year of coaching the 18s thus providing a more accessible path into the seniors with a number of 18s regularly backing them up throughout the year. Numbers were also the difficulty with the 18s this year as were additional calls from state and schoolboys training. Again this year the 18s were capably and enthusiastically managed by Anne Bradley.

 

Guest coaching

During the season guest coaching was drawn from the many and varied talents of Ben Allgrove, John Bell, Michael Campion, Barry Cooper, Peter James, Terry Sheppard, Mark Shimmield and, David Warner. Ted Apted was also persuaded to talk on the offside laws. A special mention to Mick Campion for his ability to referee an under 12 game and to do so without a whistle. A very special mention to Cyril Campion for heading home for a whistle.

 

Infrastructure

The under 12 competition this year was composed of teams from Brighton, Burnside, Elizabeth, Collegians, Onkaparinga and Southern Suburbs. The under 14s had a combined Southern Suburbs and Western Districts side in the Vikings. Burnside had no under 16 team and in the under 18 side the year started with Brighton, Burnside, Collegians and Elizabeth.

The competition this year was adversely affected by a draw that saw Collegians play Onkaparinga a total of 5 times, as opposed to 2 games against Southern Suburbs, 4 against Brighton and 3 against Elizabeth - a situation that pleased no-one.

The year also saw Elizabeth's under 18s drop out thereby creating a 3 team competition in that grade. The under 16s looked to be heading in the same direction until Elizabeth successfully recruited players for both 14s and 16s primarily from the ranks of disaffected League players.

The pre-season 7-a-side competition is one that doesn't suit Collegians or Burnside but gives the other clubs, especially Onkaparinga, the chance to get going from the early training that they have instituted. Burnside declined to compete this year. As we can field few players at that time, given the requirements of both cricket and rowing, we must consider the relevance to Collegians of this kind of competition in 2002.

 

Registrar

Sue Thewlis ran this job admirably throughout the year recognising that the job of registrar is also one of ensuring the subscriptions get paid. This is a job that can remain invisible to most bystanders but tends to do so only when it is being done properly. As with Judy Morgan last year, the job appeared to be transparent.

 

Recognition

The following people need to be recognised and thanked for their contribution throughout the season;
Linden Gunn, Brian McMahon, Paull Francis, Trish Abbott and Marshall Vann.
Stewart Douglas, Ben Hamer and Adrian Griffiths.
Luke Turner, Sandy Taylor, Mad Dog, Mike (Don't-talk-to-me-while-I'm-coaching) Regler, Anthony & Sue Larcombe.
Gary Fenner and Roy Crawford.
Rob Sadler and Anne Bradley
Our junior patron, Joyce Spry
Our registrar, Sue Thewlis, & her husband Ian
The Club Committee & the Club.

 

State Representatives

A total 16 Collegians players represented South Australia in 2001. These players were:

 

 

Awards

The following players and members won the following awards presented at the Junior Presentation day.

Club Awards

 

State Awards

Sir Norman Jude Tackling Trophy -  James Pinkerton

 

Results

We failed to get into the finals this year in any grade. This was a reflection of poor player numbers, low numbers to training, timing clashes from state and schoolboys training, an initial lack of coaches, a few naïve decisions made by the coordinators and an inequitable draw - and the no doubt well deserved rumblings of discontent from senior and junior club members.

 

Conclusions

This was a year when the gutsy displays of football by those of our juniors who were determined to play and determined to train each week were compromised by the lack of numbers. It was a constant struggle in the U14s, U16s and U18s to get players out.

There was an initial loss of spirit from a lack of coaches, from the poor numbers and consequent poor performance from the pre-season debacle and from the degraded under 16s and 18s competition . There was some continuing resentment amongst some players and some parents that Jesse was no longer running the juniors which was not unexpected. This seemed to carry through the year especially in the under 16s who lacked any real motivation for most of the season.

On the positive side, we've seen a greater interest being developed in the juniors by our senior players, promises from past players that they will be returning in 2002 (although some would be too old for the junior competition) and more importantly the realisation that those of our junior players, who had over 2001 suffered the indignities of sometimes humiliating losses, came back each week, not necessarily with a smile, for more of the same, were something very special. What they lacked initially in coaching and what they lacked over the year in numbers, they made up for with heart.

For 2002 we will be able to start the year with a full complement of coaches, with the objective being two coaches per grade.

We have been contributing to the recruitment of potential new players into the under 8 to under 12 grades from the local primary schools to start building our numbers up from the earliest years.

However, this is not as successful as it should or could be because of an inability to capitalise on the interest generated amongst primary school children by the SARU development officers - this may possibly be due to discouragement by parents and some teachers and is not helped by a lack of club people to send out on all local primary school visits and primary school carnivals. At the time of the visit there are a large number of children keen to play but none or very few ever make it to the clubs; we have started linking in to the relocation units of estate agents to grab our share of the new arrivals to Adelaide.

As well, we have been encouraging our seniors to recognise, acknowledge and contribute to the junior grades of this Club.

However, we also need to further encourage our juniors and their parents to recognise, acknowledge and contribute to the Club itself. There are still junior players who haven't seen their coaches play in senior competition - at least those who still do.

As Jesse James discussed in his Annual Report for the year 2000, and nothing has changed in that regard since then, we have some considerable talent in the junior ranks but this will not continue unless we can succeed with recruitment, especially in the under 8, 10 and 14s. There is a genuine and urgent need for a club person to be dedicated to recruitment locally - this will prove to be a ‘full-time' honorary role.

As with last year, we had a good retention rate of players going up to the seniors.

With the under 8s and under 10s playing at Bailey and with the rest of the juniors playing home and away it proved impossible to give the Walla players the time and consideration they deserved. It will be necessary next year to have one person devoted to a coordination role of the under 8s and under 10s.

Once again, we continue to meet our objective in a global sense but for the junior club on the whole we could have and realistically should have done better.

The club narrowly missed securing the Eastwood Trophy for junior club champions for the third year by 65 points due to the loss of our under 10s and the higher numbers of state players put out by the winner of the trophy, Onkaparinga. Congratulations, however, to all players, members and parents, who ensured that our on-field discipline would otherwise have ensured our securing the trophy.

Ginny & I thank all those who helped during the season. We congratulate our boys on the guts and determination shown during sometimes difficult circumstances.

Ironically neither of our boys played this year and we wonder if perhaps they belong to that group within the club who prefer to see Jesse in the role.

As for us, it's not clear where our futures are headed next year and so we cannot commit to continue with this into the next year. In an ideal situation of geographic tenure we, or at least I, would commit to it regardless. In fact, though, we have not had the full support of the Club and this does make a difference when the year has not been a success. As we don't have the certainty in our futures that most others enjoy then it is only sensible and more beneficial for the club that we announce that we cannot continue next year. I do this with considerable regret - firstly because we've been actively involved with these boys for the past 4 years and secondly because we feel that next year will be a far better year for all.

To all of the junior players I say thank you. I feel humbled by you all and I have no doubt that had we the additional players and a more equitable draw, the year could easily have finished differently. But it didn't.

 

U16 Coach's Report

Although the season was not a great success with heavy losses on the pitch, a positive was that we had a nucleus of several players that turned up for training and on Saturday's, regardless of weather, week in week out.
Hopefully these players will go forward to the U18s and continue to be part of the club. When there is commitment from a number of players, however small, 1 would urge that the club responds with some commitment and interaction with the senior part of the club.
The U16 & U18 level is crucial to the club as this is the time that players tend to wander away or give up.
We also have a good representation at senior and state level and these contacts and opportunities should be used to increase and strengthen the club at the junior level.
This year the club experienced unprecedented success at senior level, but minimal or no success at junior. For the club to continue in this vein there has to be more support given to the juniors.
We should also try to rectify the balance between home and away matches as 1 noted a negative attitude from the players, as they had to travel and play at either Onkas or Elizabeth on what seemed a weekly basis.
There is a solid base of players in the juniors and as they say 'you build from the foundations up '.

... Gary Fenner, U16 Coach, 13th November 2001

Vacancies

As mentioned above we should have good support next year from existing and new coaches. They will all need to be contacted before the season starts.
In addition to the junior coordinator position, Sue Thewlis will not be continuing as junior registrar next year as Jeremy will be a senior player, although she will readily assist the new registrar to settle in.
If the U8s and U10s continue to play at Bailey next year it is essential that someone takes on the role of running them each week.
In addition, it is essential that for next year someone, again reporting to the coordinator, take on the role of liaising with the SARU development officers, liaising with the schools and assisting with carnivals and encouraging the primary school children to move to club rugby - it is a role that is not necessarily time-consuming but ideally needs someone with part of the week free during normal working hours.

Paul Horne, Ginny Bullen, 26th November 2001