Also forgetting that metro U16 were the side to beat last year winning silver, undefeated until the grand final- country U16's 5th? So, I'd still expect metro to be the team to beat

The U18 SA teams at country cup were absolutely shocking compared to the rest of the competition. Some of the girls could not even catch the ball. No chemistry there whatsoever

A bit harsh #224 as with all country teams attending there were 20 players represented so a few may fall short of the Nationals standard.
Chemistry however, or the lack of it is a coach's domain and all too often teams fail because of the personality make up of that team. If coaches paid more attention to chemistry or the lack of it they might get better results.

XYZ,
if you take twenty kids, of course some are going to be short of the talent to compete nationally, especially as many would only play country assoc bball.

Some coaches think team chemistry happens on its own and they are the ones who let everyone down including the primma donnas who whiteant teams. Other coaches place a huge importance on team harmony and make sure the ten players place team first.Guess which ones succeed?

Country 16's have better quality players than the 18's currently. But you might recall the hype that was associated with the 16's last year and how they were going to win gold and they didnt figure in the playoffs either so, when both teams are selected for the nationals they will be chosen from the 20 and no doubt will have competitive teams.

xyz if you look back over the last few years that u18 group have fallen short at every age level in Albury whereas this years u16's group have excelled particularly if you include Pt Mac, however there real test will come this year at nationals as top age 16's not last year as bottom ages

No chance of that!

Well said man of the moment!

u guys baggin the U18 SAC girls program have a short memory.... think bak 6 months to Ballarat national champs....

The U16 country and metro teams will be strong, the U18 country team is average and the U18 metro team has major unresolved issues and would be better not sending a team to the Nats.

591: i guess your as good as your last win, that team was very good, but let's see it this year....
your obviously involved in the team..(Ass. Coach/Head Coach?)...so it will be interesting this year...

I wonder if the 16's coaches would be looking to follow thru and head up to the 18's next year.

Who would want to coach girls basketball, after reading this crap from parents I can understand why the players can sometimes be so screwed up.

Who would want to coach girls basketball, after reading this crap from parents I can understand why the players can sometimes be so screwed up.

The 16's coaches may want to... doesnt mean they will. Pressure will be on this year at nationals for the 16's to medal

Blind freddy could coach the 16 girls age group this year, I don't see any rational argument about it except the fact that maybe you have some selfish loser reason to whinge like the fact you or your child missed out this year, the more you write the dumber you sound.
Perhaps facts could arrive here. The same coaches in 16 girls produced the 14 bottom age players that went to Albury this year as 18 girls.

Interesting comments from you all, as i see it the pressure is on both the U/18 girls and U16 girl. U/16 Coaches with that group would be aiming for a gold medal and yes i believe the u/16 coaches are much better than the u/18 coaches from what i saw as a parent in Albury. As for the u/18 coaches they had an easy draw last year and Kelsey Ireland played fansatic in the games i watched, so this year the pressure is on them as the group is not as good so the coaches will have to preform not just spend all night drinking.

I have been reading these comments for the past few days, seems some of you know what you are talking about and others i am not so sure. Interesting comment about the drinking, noticed my a number of people that the U/16 coaches did not smell of beer at there games and were not seen coming out of pubs at lunch times, yet the U/18 coaches seem to think they are not been noticed. From a parents view it will only take one slip up from one of the U/18 coaches and SA Country will be in a little trouble as they know of what is going on. I did here many comments from the other group so i guess it is the one group, maybe the U/16 coaches will move up due to these reasons.

224991 I hope that either English is your second language, or you are drunk. Fail.

There are more average coaches coaching good players than good coaches coaching average players which means some players will develop a lot later.
It would be more of a test to toss the existing 16 country coach into the 18 slot for the nationals because blind Freddy could take a talented group through like the metro 20 girls last year.
So rather than put the country 18 coach down, offer the 16's country coach the 18's gig and see how it goes.
I still recall the 16 country coach last year telling all and sundry they'd bring home the gold and I'm pretty sure they fell way short of that. 16 country have two outstanding players and IMO that leaves them way short of a sure thing. Country 16's have to get over metro 16's to claim a shot at gold and on balance, I don't think they can, but it would be one hell of a game.
18 country will be more competitive than most think and have a key asset missing from the metro 18 squad - harmony. 18 country will play a team game as usual and succeed, metro will be the 3 player team that has seen them fall short of expectations time and again and country should beat them head to head despite the excessive size of the metro heads.

Nice post.

I actually think the head coach of the 18 country team can coach, and will get his team going very well. I personally would like them to go very well. Obviously results from Albury were not what they wanted, but that does not mean the top 10 cant mesh and play solid team ball and win some games.


As for the drinking, i dont know what to make of that. An issue that SAC will obviously need to deal with. Like all things it's not just about on court things, but how you conduct yourself off the court..

Firstly congrats to the 16 girls teams on both making it through to the finals. Excellent job.
Some great kids in there, certainly more than just one or two.

WOW, this thread took a bit of a detour to say the least, and it looks like it has aired some dirty laundry that is in need of cleaning.


Judging by some comments, one of the coaches has come in to respond somewhat, those comments are easy to see. Which is fair enough too. Not all trafic shold be one way.

To the 'parent' of a child, i guess you can take action and address this issue to the SAC officers. Easily contactable on the SA country website, but with that may bring ramifications of your child not ever making state again (they may not wish to, or may be too old for another run anyway) but if you feel strongly enough then I suggest you do it.
JB or BB would be the people to see.

Anyways, good luck with it all. Not saying metro is better or any of that, but I think I will stay just that...metro! and yes we have our own problems to deal with.....i know that too.