Our priority is to give players the opportunity to play and train at the level they aspire to. Unfortunately, not everyone can be selected in the team or position they want every week so we’ve set some guidelines to help make this as smooth as possible:
- Premier squad members not selected for that week will train / play with Prem Reserves.
- Prem Reserve squad members not selected for that week will still get to train with Prem Reserves then play on Saturday with Righteous Pack or other reserve grade teams.
- Movements to Reserve grade teams will be coordinated by the club captain according to need.
- Movements between training teams are to be managed by the coaches of those teams to ensure clarity in what the development priorities are for that player at that point in time.
- Players released to reserve grade or colts are still invited to train with their team.
- A player released to a lower grade should start the game and get at least 40 minutes under normal circumstances (e.g. obviously this doesn’t apply if the player gets injured, red-carded or doesn’t turn up).
- If they are with the lower grade team for more than a week then continued start vs bench etc becomes on merit. The exception will be Premier squad members where any decision that the player has been superseded in the rankings on merit by a lower grade player should be discussed with the Premier coaches before it is acted on.
- The release of a Colts eligible player and which team they go to is to be decided on a case by case basis balancing what’s in the best interests of the player’s development and the needs of prem/prem reserves to have players on-hand that know the team patterns etc.
- All efforts should be made to give players and coaches enough notice for the player to attend the last practice of the week for the team they are released to (Wednesday for Colts, Thursday for Prem Reserves)
- Reserve Grade teams do not get any space on Boyd Wilson due to numbers. Reserve grade players cannot turn up to practices for fitness etc due to numbers. This may be revisited later should space become available due to lower numbers.
These may change as we find opportunities to improve them but if you have any suggestions or questions then please pass them through to pete@oburugby.com