The 2010 NRL grand final was billed the ‘Sydney derby’, with the media marketing all sorts of geographical and culture divides to define and demarcate two tribes of supporters.
However, what was largely ignored was the more legitimate divide between the two clubs; the battle between junior ‘developers’ and the junior ‘poachers’.
It is a commonly held belief that the NRL salary cap provides little incentive to promote junior development among clubs. While such a statement deserves deeper consideration, given that as yet the NRL salary cap does not recognise nor give concessions based on junior development, it is difficult to suggest otherwise. This is endemic of the nature of the salary cap which has attempted to promote absolute equality seemingly at the expense of traditionally held values such as local juniors at local clubs, one club men and the notion of club loyalty.
Discussion involving clubs ‘pulling their weight’ is understandably sensitive and given that the exact definition of what constitutes a ‘local junior’ is largely up to interpretation, one must be careful in criticising individual clubs for under-performance. However, one only has to look at the Roosters 2010 grand final team to see the disparity between clubs in terms of junior development.
While an admirable total of nine of the Roosters seventeen grand final players debuted for the club, none of the seventeen players can arguably be called ‘local’ juniors based on geographical location of their junior clubs. Ironically, the Roosters fielded a starting thirteen with three St George Illawarra juniors in it. This however is not overly surprising given the Eastern Suburbs junior league is the smallest of any NRL club.
While the Roosters have perhaps received the most criticism for their lack of juniors, perhaps attributable to their success during the last decade, they are certainly not alone. One only has to look at clubs such as Manly (who themselves have benefited heavily from St George Illawarra juniors) and Cronulla to see that not all clubs are equal when it comes to junior development.
The NRL has stated that for this reason, creating greater salary cap concessions for the development of local juniors and for long serving players would create a greater playing disparity, ultimately benefiting some clubs such as the Dragons, Brisbane and Parramatta at the expense of others such as Easts, Manly and expansion clubs such as Melbourne.
While it is worth noting that often players relocate on their own volition seeking greater opportunities, one cannot help but have a sense of sympathy for clubs who have the capacity and have exerted the effort to develop local juniors only to see them moved on due to forces beyond their control.
This sense of punishment would have been particularly bitter to Dragons fans had the Roosters managed to win this year’s grand final with a team consisting of more St George Illawarra juniors than Eastern Suburbs juniors in its ranks, even after over one hundred years to develop its own junior nursery.
Luckily (for some) this was not the case and the Dragons victory was not only a win for ‘the working class’ but a win for junior development.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Former NRL star Blake Ferguson has had his contract shockingly terminated by the Kurri Kurri Bulldogs effective immediately, having played just one game for…
It might have been that simple all along. As much as the structures, coaching and roster come under pressure at the Roosters, the solution…
Zac Lomax, Ben Hunt and Jack Bird collided in a horror moment for the Dragons. Joey Manu scored off the back of it untouched.
The Roosters half was having a blinder and after a crucial tackle on Tyrell Sloan, sprayed the touchie it happened in front of. Sloan…
This just about summed up the first half for the Dragons as they trailed 30-6 at the break.
