The Dark Knight wrote:TEX07 wrote: Pleasing for us was because NH C grade would get slaughtered by their D grade
They definitely would and our president is really not happy about it. Our whole C/D grade set up has become a farce, too many guys preferring to play D's with our C's struggling to fill a side. Expecting things to change next season and I think we'll drop our D grade.
What will happen with the leftover players?
It's a double edged sword; it's good that players are electing to play but it can be annoying when lower sides have bigger numbers than the higher grade sides. At uni we've faced this for years and have accepted that it's better to have people playing rather than dictate the sides they're playing in; for example, a regular a grade player did his shoulder in 2014 and essentially retired. He then played c1 for half a year last year, regained his enthusiasm and tested his shoulder in a lower pressure environment and is back playing a grade this year. If the club dictated his playing he would still be retired. Essentially our c grade in div 7 is comprised of younger players with possible potential and desire to play higher while the lower grades are full of people playing with mates or coming to the end of their careers who have different priorities like children, work etc.
We've also found that it's easier to get people to double up or play with minimal reserves than drop a side completely as not getting selected is a much bigger turnoff than potentially having to play 2 games.