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We must revamp rugby league's junior system. Here's how to do it

24th April, 2017
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James Tedesco (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Rob Cox)
Expert
24th April, 2017
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2193 Reads

There was a touch of irony in Wests Tigers chief executive Justin Pascoe calling for compensation, including transfer fees, for NRL clubs that develop junior players when their home-grown talent is poached by rival teams.

Pascoe’s comment was prompted by the Tigers losing three of their so-called ‘Big Four’ – James Tedesco, Aaron Woods and Mitchell Moses.

The comment evoked memories of former Tigers player, Dennis Tutty, who famously put an end to rugby league’s transfer fee system with a landmark legal case back in the late 1960s.

Rugby league was a semi-professional sport back then and the player market was a different beast to what is was today.

It seems unimaginable today, but at the time clubs were able to prevent players from playing with another team.

At the end of the 1968 Sydney season Tutty applied to the then Balmain Tigers to be placed on the transfer list, but was refused and his name was put on the ‘retain’ list.

Tutty sat out the 1969 season and commenced legal action for the right for players to transfer to another club.

After a two year legal battle the NSW Equity Court ruled rugby league’s transfer system was invalid, describing it as an “unreasonable restraint of trade.”

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On 13 December 1971 the High Court upheld the decision following an appeal and the game was changed forever.

Avagalu Seumanufagai West Tigers NRL Rugby League 2017

It is unlikely the NRL would consider re-introducing a restrictive practice such as a transfer fee, but the rugby league landscape has changed dramatically since the Tutty case.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s rugby league was a Sydney suburban competition and the clubs developed juniors in their own areas.

But the NRL has grown into a semi-national, trans-Tasman competition in which some clubs have large junior nurseries and others do not, creating an inequitable system.

Clubs such as Wests Tigers, Brisbane, Penrith, Parramatta, Canberra, Newcastle and Canterbury are producing the vast bulk of players, although it is worth pointing out that in many cases it is the local licenced club, not the football club, that actually invests in the grassroots.

Clubs with virtually no juniors such as Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters have fared better over the years than some of the clubs that develop young talent, which adds to the angst.

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But that is a testament not just to the recruitment practices, but also the retention policies, of those clubs.

Developing junior talent has more benefits for a club than just producing stars of the future.

Only a tiny fraction of junior rugby league players will play in the NRL, but most of those kids have the potential to be eyeballs either at games or watching TV.

If you are a club with a big catchment area, then that is a potential economic advantage over clubs with limited junior programs.

So there are all sorts of inequities in the current system.

NRL clubs with good relationships with their junior clubs should be able to create new fans, but it is not as easy to ensure the best kids grow up to play for your team.

Back in Tutty’s day kids grew up wanting to play for their local team, but now players as young as 15 are shopped around by player agents.

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There used to be a gentleman’s agreement between the teams that they would not poach each other’s young talent, but those days are long gone.

melbourne-storm-nrl-grand-final-rugby-league-2016

The demographics of the game have completely changed, but the club boundaries relating to junior catchment areas are virtually the same as in Tutty’s day.

Maybe those junior boundaries are not relevant anymore. Perhaps a centralised model is required to ensure a fair slice of the junior pie for everyone.

There are an estimated 120,000 registered junior players along the east coast of Australia. If you divided that number equally among the clubs, you could have academies responsible for developing groups of 8,000 kids each.

This would be a fair and equitable way of distributing juniors among the clubs, keeping in mind development and recruitment are two different things.

At the end of the day the clubs are all in the same market for the best talent. May the best club win!

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