I have reviewed the player performance records and stats for 2008 with both my A and B team captains and am now in a position to announce the structure for player retention and retrials for the 2009 season.

At the start of 2008 I highlighted that player retention would be based upon player performance, whilst also taking into consideration the loyalty factor. This has been the basis for finalising the retained squad which I will post in the follow up message.

2008 players who didn't quite meet the expected thresholds for performance and loyalty in 2008 will be invited back to the second stage of re-trials.

The trials themselves will follow a two stage format:

Stage 1 will begin in the morning and follow a similar format to last season. The target is to have groups of 5-6, playing off against each other in a league format. Upon completion of the groups the bottom 2-3 will drop out. Groups will then be re-drawn on a seeded basis but this time with the re-trialists joining the groups.

The squad for 2009 will be selected from the retained players and successful trialists / retrialists. Performance statistics throughout the day will be taken into account by the team manager and the 2 team captains in order to select a squad for 2009.

The 2009 squad will be announced the day following the trial.

The A team and B teams for the first match will be announced at the Shropshire match on the 18th Jan.  

--Last edited by WildAngus on 2008-12-17 15:53:21 --

Retained A Players:

1 Liam Stanley
2 John Harvey
3 Jed Eaton
4 Ashley Radford
5 Bill Rigby
6 Clint I'Anson
7 James Hill
8 Steve Hotchkiss
9 Lee Pickard
10 Chris Rigby
11 Neil Jones
12 Ian Owen
13 Wayne Parsonage
14
15
16
17

Retained B Players

1 Ryan Hewitt
2 Jason Ward
3 Brian Gennoe
4 Matt Coates
5 Lee Mason
6 Brian Robinson
7 John Brinkworth
8 Greg Crowson
9 Andrew Hind
10 Neil Kelley
11 Ron Sharpe
12
13
14
15
16
17

Afternoon Retrialists

1 Dave Knowles
2 Jerry Brown
3 Alan Lillis
4 Stephen Finnegan
5 Lawrence Sanderson
6 Corey Blackshaw          Dropped out
7 Wayne Mayes
8 Rob Titchener
9 Curtis Bradley
10 Andy Bingham
11 Chris Bailey  
 
Morning trialists

1 Jimmy Hallam
2 Allen Shaw
3 Tony Guy
4 Matt Holt
5 Lee Thorpe
6 Dean Howitt
7 Pat Kelley
8 Andy Wilson
9 Dan Mcdonald Dropped out
10 Matt Mcdonald
11 Steve Hobster
12 Gary McLeod
13 Daz Finch
14 Martin Lovett
15 Simon Thompson
16 Ian Newton
17 Olly Brooks
18 Steve Lally
19 Dale Mellor
20 Lee Manion
21 Matt Brooks Porter
22 Colin Wilson
23 Orlando Anderson
24 Pete Sims
25 Kevin Seaman
26 Shane Robinson
27 Tim Chambers
28 Manfred Corbin
29 Graham Cliffe
30 Darren Swinton
31 Michael Peters
32 Steve Dove
33 Richard Lee
34 Martyn Rawson
35 Michael Vernon



   
Closing date for entry to team trials is Sunday 4th Jan
We will not accept trialists on the day this year and ask that anyone putting down for trials can ensure a full commitment throughout 2009.

Trials date is Sunday 11th Jan
10am start for New trialists
2pm start for Re-trialists  

--Last edited by pk1962 on 2009-01-10 21:01:13 --

will the trials be held on 2 tables per group?

Quote :

Coatesy wrote : will the trials be held on 2 tables per group?

Yes Matt.

good luck all, good luck to curtis though..you'll need it lol (Y)

what are the matches best of? is it going to be 5 like last year?

Quote :

8BallKid wrote : what are the matches best of? is it going to be 5 like last year?

This will be decided when we have a better idea of the final numbers involved, but the aim is to play the matches over more frames than last year if time permits.

With there being 24 retained players
How many places are the other 34 Triallists playing for?
kind regards

Quote :

the guru wrote : With there being 24 retained players How many places are the other 34 Triallists playing for? kind regards

A full squad is 17 players - 11 players starting for the first two sets and we can sub up to 6 players. So to answer your question Tony, we can take up to 10 more players. However I would just like to point out to everyone that with a squad of 17 there will be players on the subs bench and there will be players substituted, so we are looking for team players.

Ideally we are looking for 15 A team players and 15 B team players, so 6 places are up for grabs.

Every player will get their chance to make their mark but at the end of the day, it will be down to each player to win their games. Win and play, simple really. So any player that is not prepared to sit on the subs bench at some point in the season should not trial.

Remember County pool is all about team performance. So as you can see, it is going to be harder and harder each season for players to make the squad but at least when you do, you can truly say you are a County player and wear your shirt with pride.

Regards Pat.  

--Last edited by pk1962 on 2008-12-21 13:42:39 --

ok thanks for that Pat  

The old favoured for england trial swiss system being used would be a good idea

Quote :

baldilocks wrote : The old favoured for england trial swiss system being used would be a good idea

The Swiss system is designed to bring 64 players down to 8.

A good point though and I did in fact consider an adaptation of the Swiss system as the first option last year, but it didn't fit our requirements.

Should be a good squad this year with the standard of the trials.

The 2009 county trials registration date has now passed and we are closed for any new registrations.

The only exception to this would be if any registered trialists  did not turn up on the day, in which case we would accept substitutes on a first come first served basis if they register in person before 10:30am).

We have 35 new players registered for trials. This is much higher than anticipated, so our original intention to play matches over higher numbers of frames has had to be revisited in order to complete the trial in a timely manner.

Session 1 players will be split into 5 groups of 7 and each group will be allocated 2 tables. Each player will play all the other 6 players in the group (Matchers are likely be best of 3 legs thought this will be confirmed on the day). Players will be ranked on a league basis.

After the first session is completed, the top 3 in each group will qualify for session 2 and be seeded according to their final group placings. They will be joined by last season's retrialists for session 2.

A similar format will be followed for session 2, but this time with 5 groups of 5 playing on 2 tables. Matches at this stage will probably be best of 7 (again subject to timings).

The squad for 2009 will be selected from the retained players and successful trialists / retrialists. Performance statistics throughout the day will be taken into account by the team manager and the 2 team captains in order to select a squad for 2009.

The 2009 squad will be announced the day following the trial.

The A team and B teams for the first match will be announced at the Shropshire match on the 18th Jan.  

Projected timings:
10:30 - Session 1 start
14:30 - Session 2 start
19:30 - Close of play
20:00 - Squad selection meeting (Manager and team captains/VCs only).

Finally - As with last year there will be a £3 entry fee for all players and a buffet will be laid on for participants.      

--Last edited by WildAngus on 2009-01-05 16:54:37 --

I wouldnt agree with only playing the best of 3 matches due to the fact 1 8baller 1 clearance two nil sit down surely this has to be the best of 5 i know time is not on your side but surely you will have some funny match results.

Quote :

finleydh wrote : I wouldnt agree with only playing the best of 3 matches due to the fact 1 8baller 1 clearance two nil sit down surely this has to be the best of 5 i know time is not on your side but surely you will have some funny match results.

Good point Dean, anyone can win a best of 3 match, what you might find is some of the more favoured trialists struggling to get through if they have a couple of "bad" results, some of the lesser known players may like this format of course
Best get your prayer mats out boys  

Quote :

Al Capello wrote :   Good point Dean, anyone can win a best of 3 match, what you might find is some of the more favoured trialists struggling to get through if they have a couple of "bad" results, some of the lesser known players may like this format of course Best get your prayer mats out boys

Got to agree with both of you.
Best of 5 has surely got to be a minimum?
Even my mum has got a chance against me in a best of 3 and she can't even hold a cue.  

Quote :

finleydh wrote : I wouldnt agree with only playing the best of 3 matches due to the fact 1 8baller 1 clearance two nil sit down surely this has to be the best of 5 i know time is not on your side but surely you will have some funny match results.

All timings have been carefully calculated. For session 1:
Best of 3 will take 4 hours 22 mins
Best of 5 would take 7 hours exactly
Best of 7 would be 10 hours 3 minutes

So even if we went for best of 5, this would mean the morning session only finishing at 5:30pm, so it's clearly impractical to play this number of frames.

Also, you've got to remember, each player is playing 6 matches (ie potentially 18 frames of pool at best of 3) in session 1, so if someone has a bad start, they do have time to recover.
In addition it's good to put pressure on players to perform, because on a county day you will only be playing 4 frames maximum, so if someone needs a best of 9 to warm up, then they may not be best suited to the pressures of County pool.

Good point and thanks for the feedback, but unfortunately this one is not up for debate.  

--Last edited by WildAngus on 2009-01-05 16:33:32 --

Well put John,your either incredibly accurate with your timings or just a lucky guesser mate !!
I think most of the triallists will be pleased with the format as its a great leveller and gives everyone a fighting chance of progressing to stage 2.
The re-triallists will be at a slight disadvantage as the others will have got their "eye" in, should be interesting to say the least.
The "management" may still have some tough decisions to make at around 20:30
Good luck

Quote :

Al Capello wrote : Well put John,your either incredibly accurate with your timings or just a lucky guesser mate !! I think most of the triallists will be pleased with the format as its a great leveller and gives everyone a fighting chance of progressing to stage 2. The re-triallists will be at a slight disadvantage as the others will have got their "eye" in, should be interesting to say the least. The "management" may still have some tough decisions to make at around 20:30 Good luck

Thanks Al,

The timings last year were almost spot on, I think I got the day's finish time predicted to within 5 minutes, so the EPA official guidelines that I use must be given some credit for their accuracy.

Yes, the afternoon guys could need time to get their eyes in, but then you could say they will have the advantage of being fresher. Swings and roundabouts really, but the best of 7 format we are targetting for session 2 will help level the playing field with the reduced numbers.

As for the selection meeting. Last year took 4 hours and there were some real tough decisions and we still didn't all entirely agree on the first pass. But this year we've already agreed the retained lists, so the format should give us enough information about trialist performance to make the job easier this time around.