12s - Hills. Would be surprised if they get ambushed like they did in the Metro GF again.
14s - Illawarra. Norths look to be the best of an ordinary Metro, could be proved wrong.
16s - Illawarra. Bankstown maybe.
18s - Norths have to be favourites. Can't see Newcastle challenging without Noi. Don't write off Hills if the 3 ball starts dropping.

How is Gosford and Illawarra not favourites in the 18M, Gosford played Illawarra in the CPL Tournament finals, correct? Whilst also being stacked with majority of the U18M NSW Country State team?

Love how its always it's so often the fault of bad refereeing when a team loses.
Illawarra can ball though, especially when Cranney is in play mode not sook mode.

State men 18s should be a great tussle this weekend . Gosford, Illawarra from country & Norths & Hills from metro.Be interesting when Norths take on Illawarra on Friday night.Should be & will be a good game.

Cranney out! Illawarra will struggle

For 16 men if will either be Illawarra or Newcastle. No metro teams stand a chance

What's wrong with Cranney?

No, Illawarra did not lose CPL final due to poor refereeing nor did they deserve to win. They lost because certain players and coaches don't know how to act respectfully towards referees and they were punished accordingly. Simple as that. Newcastle and CCW both still have some talent without Noi and Hodgson but can't see them having enough to challenge Gosford, Illawarra and the Metro teams who are all unaffected by National team selection. Should be a good weekend of basketball.

Illawarra easily the best team at 18's. Too much talent. Wont be a contest unless Gosford strikes again. Metro teams don't have the country spirit/grit

Here's an upset:

Penrith to win 14 boys
Comets to win 18 girls
Gosford to win 16 girls

Get used to it - no NSWC team has EVER lost on merit, it's always the refs or injuries!

Is state champs better equipped for country teams? Having 5 games over a weekend (similar to CPL) whereas metro only used to one game a weekend...in saying that...will any metro teams win state besides the obvious, Norths girls, just base on more depth.

Yes, i think country teams have an advantage over metro as they are used to playing multiple games in a weekend.
Last year our metro team went to state cup and won the first four games, but clearly ran out of steam in the final.

Results?

Illawarra not good enough for Norths in 18M. Newcastle got up over Penrith In an upset - inconsistent team but could be ones to watch even without Noi.

News alert though, at least one Metro team has been spotted not playing zone for the whole game! Hope can report more sightings

Coach Boehiem tipped to take out the tournament for penrith!

Won't say, in case there are repercussions for them!

Results?

"For 16 men if will either be Illawarra or Newcastle. No metro teams stand a chance"

Anon #485559,

Funny you say that, Bruins won it.

Wow! That is a shock that Bruins won. What happened?

Metro dominates country overall at state champs 2014!!

So the major advantage that country teams have by playing CPL weekends as against metro playing single games sees metro win 7 out of 8 titles.
Or did the refs screw all the country teams?
Country grit not enough this year

I didn't see the 14 men final, I thought Illawarra were hot favourites! What happened? They looked unbeatable in cpl

lol, "Metro" did not dominate country overall. Norths certainly did. Rest of Metro clubs were (generally) very average. Hills, for example, have certainly slipped.

Not at all surprised that Illawarra didn't win the 14 Mens. Very surprised that it was a Metro side in 16 Mens, though.

So when one club is dominant we don't count them as "Metro" lol
When Illawarra dominates in other years we won't count them as "Country"
Hills may have "slipped" but they won as many titles as all the country teams put together ;)

I for one am very surprised that metro won the 16men final. That Illawarra team has Hargreaves coaching them and a very talented line up

So who were the best players in the age groups?

The top 10 scorers list on the BNSW website are pretty good (although not exhaustive) indicators of who stood out. Interesting that in the 18 Men at least, many of the best players were bottom aged. Should make for a good comp next season.

bootleg, not questioning the strength of Bruins as an association side. But that Illawarra team featured 5 kids from the NSW Country side that won u16 Nationals this year. It's not hard to see a matchup problem for Illawarra inside, but Bankstown have done very well to contain their guards enough to be able to take advantage.

I agree but you think with Hargreaves coaching they should have won