@Lauren said in [Tigers should be heavyweights](/post/1238086) said:
Caught my partner reading the following old article and decided to share because I'm genuinely interested to gain any thoughts on how the club gets back to this place(in terms of Jnr development) and to what effect the current lower grade competitions have on the long term success of a club.
I understand the collapse of the former under 20s competition makes it more difficult yet wanted to hear people's opinions (and any further knowledge or suggestions) on how the Wests Tigers can re-establish or replicate this type of achievement or feat.
I know it doesn't exactly correlate with the overall topic - and that U20s success doesn't necessarily translate to 1st grade - yet think it's important to examine for the club's future goals re:development systems and retention.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/teams/which-club-has-gotten-the-best-players-from-their-under-20s-teams/news-story/8d98380ce982d737b2524eb02e503111
WESTS TIGERS
Graduates: 38 (2nd)
Hits: Underrated with their junior development and talent identification, the Tigers have been consistent contenders in the under-20s, winning the competition in 2012 and making the grand final in 2009. James Tedesco, Luke Brooks and Mitch Moses are the most-hyped players to come through their system and Aaron Woods is the most decorated but names like Rob Lui, David Nofoaluma, Curtis Sironen, Sauaso Sue and Marika Koroibete have all become consistent first-graders. The flow of talent is still continuing to trickle through with the likes of Mania Cherrington and Kyle Lovett getting their first taste of NRL in 2015.
Misses: In seven seasons of the under-20s, nobody has ever had a year quite like Jake Mullaney in 2009. The Eaglevale-St Andrews junior swept all before him on the way to an incredible total of 29 tries and 103 goals for a ridiculous tally of 322 points as he led the Tigers to a grand final berth. Lightning quick and adept at breaking tackles, Mullaney was let go by the Tigers as the club opted to instead commit to James Tedesco. However, Mullaney made his belated NRL debut for Parramatta in 2012-13 and served ably as Jarryd Hayne’s backup before heading to England where he’s had stints with Salford and Bradford.
Taqele Naiyaravoro cut his teeth with the Waratahs.
Taqele Naiyaravoro cut his teeth with the Waratahs.
They definitely should have kept: The Tigers had a potential all-Origin front row on their hands when Andrew Fifita came through the ranks but despite his obvious promise he was allowed to leave at the end of 2011 in order to create salary cap space for Adam Blair. The Tigers also would like to still have the services of giant Fijian winger Taqele Naiyaravoro, who has since joined the Waratahs and was recently named in the Wallabies squad for the Rugby Championship ***
I feel like your're sticking the knife in and giving it a twist with this post lol...
Sorry @Aesopian wasn't my intention at all and I'm not making a dig at the club but I'm just a little perplexed to why we have a very limited number of Wests Tigers juniors at the club.
I've seen our juniors currently at other clubs, brought up often enough on here and wanted to discuss how we(the club) can change this aspect.
Was actually surprised to see the club being held in such high esteem with junior development and as someone with no knowledge of the junior competitions, I'm genuinely interested in the current pathway systems.
My post was more suggestive on how we re-establish a strong alignment and I only wished to hear people's thoughts on any key elements on maintaining success in the club's junior structures or systems.
Therefore I apologise if it comes off that way however was simply interested on other's thoughts on how we get back to that position and how we can deliver optimal development opportunities, in effort to help strengthen the quality of the club.
I don't specifically wish to include any former players in discussion but have seen many mention scouts and that sort of thing, and was hoping someone could clarify the current junior systems and other elements etc.,
Basically after the debacle that was the big 4, the club placed a focus on bringing in established players on high contracts. We had spent years on living off the hope of the word potential and no one wanted that word anymore. We had millions in cash to splash so we splashed it on all the wrong players.
Our rebuild has now been going so long we are back searching for the hope that that word potential brings, we are signing up all the best young juniors we can find and rebuilding our pathways to again bring through those juniors.
Thanks @cochise appreciate the response.
Okay I suspected something like this and tbh never felt too compelled to actually ask.
As I said I was extremely surprised to read the perception of us as being underrated in terms (of our success in) junior development and only wanted to hear other's thoughts.
As someone who lives in QLD - and the fact we no longer have a the televised U20s comp - I have zero knowledge and just wanted to know more about our current pathways systems.
I know COVID-19 has affected everything this year anyway but I am genuinely interested in our lower grades and particularly supporting them in the future.
Are there any threads or links you could possibly direct me to? I'd really love to know more about this.
You are right Covid has really knocked a hole in the ability to see what is coming through our pathways, I know the guys on next inline to debut and on development contracts but haven't had chance to see the Flegg and Ball players this year so I am little blind to what we have under that. There are some posters on here who have a bit more knowledge into the depths of the Western Suburbs and Balmain junior leagues than I do.
The players I am excited to see are the juniors we have brought in from other clubs over the last 2 years and how they transition into NRL, guys like Madden and Simpkins, an watching Blore's continued development. Then hopefully next year I can get to a few Flegg and Ball games to see how the younger players are progressing.
Aaah so that's why some are overly familiar with some of those younger players. I'll be sure to go back to read the threads I recall seeing those names you've mentioned though, so cheers for that.
I've become very interested with learning anything on our junior talent, so it's been a real bummer not to have other comps running presently.
Once again thank you @cochise.