@Cultured Bogan said:
@Milky said:
@Cultured Bogan said:
I've said in another thread that the upshot of all this is that more money needs to be pumped into bush footy and a proper second grade competition. Seems like everything has gone by the wayside in the interest of the top flight league.
Why hasn't the NRL scrapped the NSW Cup, QLD Cup and Holden cup.
Have two competitions, first grade and second grade. Each team has a first grade and second grade side.
I wouldn't scrap NSW or QLD cup. They're competitions run by the NSWRL and QRL and not under the direct control of the NRL anyway.
There should be a legitimate reserve grade, and U20's should be U23's. 20 years old is way too early for a kid to be thrown on the scrapheap.
From a pure football point of view you are correct that a National reserve grade and an older stepping stone comp such as u/23 would provide a better pathway.
However the unintended consequences of professional football make that very difficult.
People talk about the lack of depth, there is as much depth as their always has been in terms of talent, the real issue is that the gap between professional players and part time players his huge. You can call your second tier whatever you like, but if they are part time players called into a game against full time players you get smashed. This also elongates the time it takes to be NRL ready, in 1980 the players in first grade were a bit, older, bigger and faster than the young blokes coming through, but still only doing the same training as bloke advancing through the grades. Now days Curtis Sironen comes into grade and is playing blokes that have been fulltime players for years, it takes a couple of years of being fulltime player yourself to breach that gap. (whether it be as a 20 yo or 24yo)
Currently we dont have the money to fund fulltime players in reserve grade (all the way through the squad) the same issue presents. Back in the day if Blocker was out Paul Clarke or Kerry Helmsly would come in and not much changes as the reserve grade was only a little bit less talented than first grade and they were all doing the same training, now days if you have a bloke out and have to bring in a guy who is working monday to friday he is always going to be behind, whether it is a national reserve grade or not.
With the current system of having players in or out of professional footy by 21, they can then get on with their lives, get a job or an education than a job and not fall too far behind. Half the blokes in reserve grade a full time, the others virtually know they arnt going to make it and go get jobs.
If we drag out this process, clubs will have kids chasing their dreams into their mid 20's with no real hope of making it and really putting them along way behind and really negatively impacting their lives.
The same amount of players make it whether you delay it to 24 or something or cut them at 20, which players come through would probably change, but instead you will have 20 to 30 kids in each club each year trying to make it and getting cut and having a major setback in their professional life.
You will actually turn away talented guys who arent prepared to hang around as long
I agree that the current system is not perfect for football development, but I think it is the kindest way to throw the aspiring players on the scrap heap and not screw up their lives.