It was a massive day on Saturday for Parramatta’s junior pathways with action aplenty at two venues.

The Harold Matthews, SG Ball and Tarsha Gale squads took the field against the Raiders in Goulburn. Quite a number of players were rested from the hit out across the Matts and Ball teams, and supporters would be aware that key players in the Ball were not available as they have been training with the NRL and Flegg squads.

Furthermore, only 21 Tarsha Gale players were used in their trial as compared to around 33 for the Raiders.

Despite a couple of injuries it was a very positive first run for the Tarsha Gale squad. An 8 tries to 1 victory gave coach Ryan Walker plenty to smile about.

In attack, the completion rate on yardage sets was high and the number of tries speaks for itself. In defence, the team was aiming for a strong attitude towards first contact and they delivered on that with the only Raiders try coming late in the match. My thanks to Ryan for this feedback.

In the Harold Matts, the squad dished out an injury free 12 tries to 2 thumping of the Raiders. All up, ten players were absent, with the Raiders also resting some. Those who took the field were instructed to work on their push, marker pressure, kick chase and kick pressure.

The consequence of such a comprehensive victory was some selection headaches for coach Chris Howard. Fortunately they have two more trials to sort out their round one team. My thanks to Chris for his feedback.

It was a narrow five tries to four loss for the Eels SG Ball team in the closest trial of the day. Something like 9 players were absent due to spending the pre-Christmas period training with the NRL and Jersey Flegg squads.

According to “Mark In The Stands”, the game got a bit scrappy and Parra fell behind five tries to two, before adding the final two tries.

Whilst these clashes were taking place in Goulburn, I made the much shorter drive to Westmead to catch the internal trials in the Under 14, 15 and 16 Development squads.

To give some idea of the scale of the operation, 142 players from 16 different Parramatta District Junior Clubs were involved. Each age squad had allocated coaches, trainers, equipment manager and team manager. Matches were played simultaneously throughout the morning on both of the Marist Brothers fields, with each game broken into 20 minute thirds.

Players were expected to turn up in full Eels training uniform, including caps. Teams wore different Parra jerseys from recent years, with the colours either predominantly blue or predominantly gold. Players wore the shorts and socks of their junior clubs, highlighting the multitude of Parramatta Junior Rugby League Clubs represented.

Blue vs Gold

I watched the matches on the “upper” field which involved the older age groups – 15s and 16s. Rather than naming individuals which would be unfair on the basis of one internal trial, I can report that the standard of football was actually higher than I expected.

The forward clashes that I witnessed were quite physical as the boys looked to win the ruck for their team. There are some big units coming through the pathways and the collisions were evidence that they didn’t hold back.

Trials like this are an interesting watch because young players have the temptation of wanting to impress and take as many runs as they can. However, there were enough players sticking to a team and role ethos for the staff to gauge attitudes as well as ability.

The spine have a tough job in these games. They handle the ball the most, but if they don’t give sufficient opportunities to their outside men, they won’t do themselves any favours. Fortunately the spine did quite a decent job in the teams and I thought a couple of them showed quite a bit of promise.

Consequently there were some exciting plays executed on wide shifts. My highlights both came from long range intercepts/turn overs of possession. One was shut down with an outstanding chase. The other resulted in a try with pace on display from the scorer.

My congratulations to those responsible for staging the trial given the logistics and the pathways staffing required across both Goulburn and Westmead. I’d also like to give a shout out to the players for the tough, competitive footy that was played in the right spirit, and to the families in attendance for the respectful way that they supported their boys.

Finally, given the number of players involved and the spread of junior clubs represented, I’m confident that Parra is looking to cast their net right across their catchment area. There will always be talent that goes elsewhere, but having such extensive investment in Development squads can only be a good thing. Opening up such opportunities is essential in minimising the loss of talented young players to other systems.

Eels forever!

Sixties

If you liked this article, you might consider supporting The Cumberland Throw.