Those of you who remember my bold predictions for the season ahead will recall that Drummoyne, Hunters Hill and Balmain were to come home strongly in the top three Divisions of what NSW Suburban Rugby Union is informally referred to as Subbies rugby.
How are my predictions looking as we pass the midway point of the season?
Division One – Prediction Drummoyne.
Drummoyne, known as ‘The Dirty Reds’ have been part of the Sydney rugby scene since Adam was a boy and have quickly risen to the top of Division One after being unceremoniously dumped from the then AAMI Cup amidst a furore of allegations, merger rumours and political spats.
Year on year, they have typically fielded a very strong first grade whilst their lower grades and colts have performed with mixed results.
Maybe it’s the new Greg Davis Stand due to be unveiled at a celebrity packed gala day later this July, but this year is no different in that their mighty first grade stands atop the Kentwell Cup.
More pleasing for some is that their depth down the grades this year is stronger than in living memory, so much so they are winning the Club Championship at the mid-point of the season.
As expected, Colleagues, Mosman, Campbelltown and St Patricks will push Drummoyne with Knox Old Boys surprisingly sitting mid-table.
Barker Old Boys appear set to survive the traditional tricky first season back in Division One with Lindfield and Beecroft competing strongly to avoid the drop.
Division Two – Prediction Hunters Hill.
After just missing out on promotion in 2010, I predicted that Hunters Hill would win the Club Championship and return to the big boys after 10 years in the wilderness.
Hunters Hill is a great district club with a stack of juniors, seniors, golden oldies and the odd Waratah and will rightfully fill a place in Division One.
One of my sources tells me that they should also buck the trend of newly-promoted clubs who find the promotion a tricky one, by pushing for a mid-table position.
Traditional powerhouses Forest, Briars and UNSW have been strong throughout the grades and will push hard for the chocolates with Newport going through a rebuilding phase and are left to contemplate what could have been with first grade games resulting in a loss of less than five points.
It is safe to say however that the Robbie Deans-coached Hillies will be partying hard at the HHH later this year.
Division Three – Prediction Balmain
Amongst all the divisions, competition appears to be the fiercest (some would say bitter-est!) in Division Three.
One thing that is certain is that the Petersham Shammies are set to move back to Division Two for season 2012. With or without Sam Cordingly playing halfback in their thirds, it is great to see such a stalwart club perform so well this year with daylight coming second.
Upon asking my Shammies scout what their weakness has been this year, his reply was that ‘it must have been the one loss that we had against Balmain or some draw we had in the lower grades a while back’.
Going by some previous posts on the Roar, some would seem pleased to see that Balmain are struggling to push for promotion this year, perhaps Gits heading off to France and Drewby lying prone with a busted leg has seen morale falling.
Regardless, its great to see Balmain part with the subbies fabric and also having started a juniors club in 2011.
The Lapstone boys have again made their delightfully-nicknamed ground “the Graveyard’ exactly that, but the gap appears to be wider than a Matt Dunning meat-pie and in Division Three they will remain in 2012.
Despite being an exceptionally poor punter, picking Drummoyne and Hunters Hill is looking good so far, with my ‘non-pick’ Petersham pretty much locked up for promotion.
It has been mentioned in previous posts that the Inner West of Sydney seems to be performing particularly well across Subbies and perhaps it is a sign of demographic change or maybe just blokes around there love a bit of footy as it was meant to be played.
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