I am just going off what the Wests Tigers website says and obviously misidentified some like Seyfarth - you would know better than I would. Put a better list together and why or why not players are considered Wests/Balmain/Juniors or Pathways.
For example, I'd consider Jock a Pathways player rather than a Junior, but Seyfarth is a genuine Balmain junior. However, I still see both as coming through different veins of our system that falls under a catch-all term of "Junior Development"
Why does it matter?
1. I am a bit tired of hearing the South West doesn't get any investment, is neglected or "not respected".
2. If players are not graduating from the South West, is it as big a nursery as everyone says it is?
3. If it is a big nursery, who are the players that graduated to NRL and why are they playing at other clubs? It can't be as simple as "neglect" or lack of "respect". Is it that we are sharing a region with 3 other clubs and when you split the population - we don't have access to as many kids and we think we do?
4. Is the South West "growth area" story even real outside of sheer population numbers - are kids playing rugby league? Are other clubs more attractive? If so, what attracts them to Parra/Bulldogs/Penrith. The ARLC will have you believe there are 1.1 million players in Australia - when you remove all the touch footy and female anf K-2 participation, the pool of players gets very small very quickly particularly when you consider many of those kids will NOT being playing in the South West. The 2025 report is here:
ALRC 2025 Participation Report
5. Lastly, as I said - what do we consider a local junior and a pathways player? (do we even distinguish?) - what is the criteria so we can look at what is and isn't happening based on that criteria.
We all have a theory, but it needs to be grounded on some agreed foundations.
This is a bigger discussion than my list.
