Building the third tier from what we already have

Bunyip new author

Roar Rookie

22nd February, 2013

Anyone can contribute to The Roar and have their work featured alongside some of Australia’s most prominent sports journalists.

Bunyip new author

Roar Rookie

22nd February, 2013

There have been many ideas mentioned recently in the media about how to establish a third tier in Australian rugby.

Some of the ideas included range from using Universities or academies, creating new franchises and using existing clubs.

My idea for a third tier revolves around the use of the latter two options with a little of the academy option mixed in.

I believe that a third tier could be created using a mixture of the eight current Australian Rugby Shield teams: New South Wales Country Cockatoos, Queensland Country Blue Heelers, Melbourne Axemen, Adelaide Black Falcons, Australian Capital Territory & Southern New South Wales Vikings, Darwin Mosquitos, Perth Gold and the Tasmania Jack Jumpers along with the Sydney Fleet, Western Sydney Rams, Central Coast Rays and the Ballymore Tornadoes teams being reborn.

This provides a 12-team competition with teams that already exist or have existed, colours and names already in place and teams that already have support and in some cases strong sponsor backing.

This is much more cost effective that simply starting from scratch.

Now there are people that would say that this won’t work, but it can.

All the teams mentioned above would be able to feed off existing and strong local competitions, clubs would be able to sign other players and naturally each club would be aligned with a Super Rugby franchise, so in essence this could also be somewhat of an academy solution for Super Rugby sides as well.

The fact that some sides would be based in the country areas would not be an issue as there are many strong competitions and teams like the Country Cockatoos that are already well supported and backed – it would certainly help grassroots rugby in these areas and there have been many a country kid play for Australia – and the ARU would be the only organisation with country representation in a national competition.

The country teams would have to based out of somewhere such as Toowoomba and Dubbo or Tamworth as facilities and travel requirements would necessitate this.

I understand that this is a simplistic argument but I do believe the idea has merit as I have mentioned clubs would not have to be created, rather reborn and updated and it would be a great way to connect to existing grassroots competitions throughout Australia, not just in cities.

I acknowledge that realities would maybe see some clubs mentioned excluded.

We need a third tier. And while it may never reach the heights of that found in the NRL or AFL, if rugby builds on the presence of the game and the teams in states it already has, and is patient, then the benefits of both better players and a well-supported national rugby competition third tier will come.

Join the conversation

Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.