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There has been a lot of discussion about adding a draft into the NRL as a way of distributing talent. It is interesting to look at how a draft would work in rugby league and what it would look like.
The idea of a player draft is common in North American sports and has been in place in the AFL for a number of years. Could a draft work in the NRL or would it jeopardise the important ties between local junior and club that make rugby league what it is?
Under the current set up, an NRL draft would almost certainly be counterproductive. Clubs fund the development of players from the age of 16 and even earlier in many cases. This continues through to the current Holden Cup competition for U20s players.
By adding a draft there would be no incentive for clubs to invest in the development of young players given that the rewards will mostly likely be seen by another team. We have seen this already simply through free agency.
The Canberra Raiders have long put resources into junior development, only to see young stars like Anthony Milford poached by rival clubs.
In American sports such as football and basketball, the development of players takes place at the high school and college level. Professional franchises evaluate the talent coming through these systems and take the best available player or select based on team need. There is little to no connection between the player and the franchise like we see in rugby league.
There are of course exceptions to this. Cleveland Cavaliers megastar LeBron James is a native of Akron, Ohio and was almost destined to end up with the Cavs who picked him first overall straight out of high school in the 2003 NBA draft. Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles is a Florida native, went to college at Central Florida and there was little doubt that the Jags would take him with the third pick in the 2014 NFL draft.
This is not to say the Jaguars took Bortles only because he was from Florida, and it was probably more coincidence than anything but the pick made a lot of sense.
This however is not the norm and rather than a connection that is created throughout the juniors, sports professionals in America often seem to create bonds with the city that they are drafted in. Louisiana native Peyton Manning is beloved in Indianapolis where he played from 1998 to 2010. See his retirement speech where he spoke of his love for the city of Indianapolis to know that this connection is real.
There are countless examples of this practice; long-serving players seem to ‘adopt’ their new city as their hometown. Players such as Tom Brady even take ‘hometown discounts’ for their teams. This is despite the fact that the New England Patriot Brady is actually from California and went to college at Michigan.
We see this concept in the NRL as well, Cronulla Sharks captain Paul Gallen is a Parramatta junior, but has spent his entire career at Cronulla and is beloved in the Shire.
While a draft is effective at spreading talent and fostering parity in sports leagues, the entire system of developing talent is different in America and similar style of draft would not be effective in the NRL as there is no other structure that could effectively develop large numbers of players in the way that high schools and colleges do in the States.
Closer to home, the AFL may have some clues in how a draft could work in rugby league. The AFL draft has a variety of concessions such as the father-son rule, academy picks and zone allocations.
In particular, zone allocations or academy picks could be applied to the junior catchment areas of NRL clubs so that organisations such as the Panthers with a large nursery could get first access to their developed talent.
Imagine the Wests Tigers selecting a young Mitchell Pearce under the father-son rule or the Newcastle Knights securing a fresh faced Greg Bird (a Newcastle junior) as a zone selection.
This of course doesn’t account for poor recruitment decisions by the clubs. Parramatta as an example have let many talented juniors walk out of the club only to see them become stars in another uniform – there is no guarantee that clubs will make good selections.
There are clearly some benefits to having a draft. Clubs with less of a junior base such or clubs with less resources would get access to talent they might not otherwise get.
If a draft was ever implemented it would be important to ensure that local juniors get a chance to play at their local club. It would be a shame to see Adam Reynolds, who grew up a grubber kick away from Redfern Oval, selected by the Warriors if he had aspired his whole life to play for Souths.
It is an interesting debate, the implementation of a draft and possibly an accompanying trade period and changes to free agency would no doubt create plenty of interest during the season. However, whether or not it would be good for the game is up in the air.
A great part of rugby league that is perhaps different to other sporting codes is the real connection that exists between the team and the community.
A young kid from Penrith can see locals such as Bryce Cartwright, Matt Moylan and Peter Wallace playing for the Panthers every week and be inspired to achieve his own goals in rugby league.
Would you be in favour of a draft in the NRL and what would it look like?
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