Wests Magpies - Our last Local Junior to make it

[Goose]

spot on pedro

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Goose has hit the nail on the head, a club needs to open up a number of pathways to recruit players to ensure they are competitive. The juniors are always important and at the very least should be supported to ensure RL lives at grass roots level. There is not enough support from the league governing bodies for clubs surviving on recruiting their juniors alone, clubs with low junior bases have a vested interest in this approach, that said, **it wouldn't be fair to restrict juniors to their senior club alone as that approach limits their opportunities as well.**

Agree, and especially with the last part. It would be fantastic to have a whole team of juniors, but it's simply not feasible and restricting them to their local NRL team is restriction of trade. At the same time, it's great to have time and money invested in up and coming players but the simple reality is that there's not a team of players in the calibre of Rowdy/Benji/Farah et al graduating every season to justify their retention. You have a few (Groat, Dwyer, Woods,) but Groat and Woods were especially lucky that our recruitment policy relied heavily on accelerating a couple of especially talented juniors into the forwards.

That said, and the need for clubs to recruit already proven players from other clubs or overseas (Blair, Ellis,) is paramount due the fan's need for "instant gratification" to keep investing their hard earned in the club and the constant pressure this places on the clubs to deliver short term results.

The glaringly obvious fact is that the NRL does not do enough to reward clubs with large junior bases that essentially feed the Easts, Cronulla's and Melbourne's of the NRL.

 

[cunno]

Goose has hit the nail on the head, a club needs to open up a number of pathways to recruit players to ensure they are competitive. The juniors are always important and at the very least should be supported to ensure RL lives at grass roots level. There is not enough support from the league governing bodies for clubs surviving on recruiting their juniors alone, clubs with low junior bases have a vested interest in this approach, that said, **it wouldn't be fair to restrict juniors to their senior club alone as that approach limits their opportunities as well.**

Agree, and especially with the last part. It would be fantastic to have a whole team of juniors, but it's simply not feasible and restricting them to their local NRL team is restriction of trade. At the same time, it's great to have time and money invested in up and coming players but the simple reality is that there's not a team of players in the calibre of Rowdy/Benji/Farah et al graduating every season to justify their retention. You have a few (Groat, Dwyer, Woods,) but Groat and Woods were especially lucky that our recruitment policy relied heavily on accelerating a couple of especially talented juniors into the forwards.

That said, and the need for clubs to recruit already proven players from other clubs or overseas (Blair, Ellis,) is paramount due the fan's need for "instant gratification" to keep investing their hard earned in the club and the constant pressure this places on the clubs to deliver short term results.

The glaringly obvious fact is that the NRL does not do enough to reward clubs with large junior bases that essentially feed the Easts, Cronulla's and Melbourne's of the NRL.

Yes CB the game is a bit like politics in many ways, quick results are important so the planning cycle can be short and expertise is brought in from wherever it is available. Just an observation.