The decline of the NSW NRC and the death of the second-tier player: Part Two

Very good read. Thanks. Being from the bush I can’t get to see Shute Shurld so love the NRC to see who the new talent is and watching the fringe super rugby players get some air time to see what they are capable of. Jake Gordon and Ned Hanigan are 2 good examples from 2016. Seeing Paddy Ryan giving back is a highlight. There are 2 bottom lines here though 1) very few signings have come from the NRC and 2) how does anyone survive living in Sydney on a pittance while training like a professional? The cost of living in a NZ city in comparison is more like say Newcastle or Toowoomba.

Matthew McPhie, are you referring to the massive waste of money where the NRC clubs visit grassroots clubs each week and run sessions with young kids. Or massive waste of money where these clubs engage with country clubs outside of Sydney, where locals get to see their stars who move to sydney to play. I strongly believe if the NRC could get televised on a free to air channel and engage with more of the public it will go a long way to increasing the following of the sport and put local clubs back on the radar.

Last article I wondered what the solution was, so its nice to see one offered here in the form of the academies, kudos. The complexities here are far beyond my input, but you've done a good job in speaking out and highlighting some issues. I hope some people are listening.

Thanks johnny football. Maybe in your next piece you could touch on the massive waste of money the NRC has been. Please let us know how many times the NRC has had to restructure and reinvent itself and what this has cost the rugby community financially.

Thanks for the insights Johnny Football. In an ideal world, this academy model would be far more effective than the systems which we currently have in place. However, I feel like if we were to shift to this model, the same people complaining that the players are being contracted at too young an age would be complaining that we are missing out on key juniors to rival codes? For example, uproar this year followed news that Angus Crichton (current NSW SOO Player) was keen to take up a contract with the Waratahs and Australian Rugby, only to be informed that he would not be given a start for the Tahs until he was around 22, which seems to be consistent with the model you are suggesting is more effective. I am not saying that the academy would not be a fantastic breeding ground for young talent, and that spots in the Waratahs squad would be better kept for seasoned Shute Shield/NRC Players, but it does seem to ignore that for the best players coming out of Sydney High Schools, there is immense competition to retain them. And offering them a place in an academy for $5000 doesn't seem to be sufficiently lucrative for them to stay in the code?

I'm not a Sydneysider. SO I didn't realize until recently that the standard of Shute Shield had gone down. The claims I saw were that it'd gone down because of the NRC. I maintained that the logic for that was facetious, that having an extra competition and providing a higher level of Rugby (because we're supposed to have the cream of the Shute Shield, plus the cream of Qld's Premier Rugby, the cream of the ACT, the Force, the Rebels, and any Super and Wallaby players not currently playing in the NRC - which is a higher standard of talent than 12 or 13 teams solely from Sydney) should actually improve the standard. This sort of thing - the dissolution of the Academies and their impact, the shambles that is NRC organization in NSW - isn't well understood by the Rugby public. I've long maintained that the problems in the NRC are pretty well exclusively located in NSW, and they're organizational. That's borne out by the quality of the rugby played by the other teams, and the fact that Qld teams have won 3 of 4 titles (because the standard argument for NSW teams not winning is, "We have to play teams that are basically Super teams!" Well, the QRU teams have to face the Spirit/Force, Rising and Vikings too!). NSW has the players and the capacity to dominate the NRC. But the organizational structures in Rugby just aren't right, and until they change, Rugby will suffer. All the best for your rugby going forward - I look forward to reading more of your insights.

"He was then, along with most of the Force team, poached by East Coast Rugby." Actually, by your own logic. The majority of the Force now over East were simply coming home after being poached by the Force.

Brilliant article and thanks for writing it. Are you going to do a Part 3 with some potential solutions and looking at who is doing it well? That list of NSW Academy graduates is outstanding. Shows the REAL depth of NSW rugby as one of the breeding ground for Aus rugby talent. Unfortunately, and for whatever reason, that seems to have gone by the wayside in recent times. For cost reasons? Shouldn't be too hard to resurrect the concept and these talented youngsters should definitely be having hit outs with old heads in club rugby. D Mac seemed to come from nowhere in NZ but he did his time in their systems and wasn't straight out of U20s. We need to be doing the same.

This is Jed Gillespie right?

Good article Johnny. One thing though. You say “Curtis Rona was poached from the Canterbury Bulldogs by the Force before winding up at the Tahs”. Actually Rona was poached from the Rugby WA Future Force Academy by the Bulldogs and simply came home to the Force. He was then, along with most of the Force team, poached by East Coast Rugby.

Hopefully it's just teething issues too.

With the changes in the NSW NRC teams this year and the Tahs being more involved, I had very high hopes for the new teams. I get the drive to develop youth but it truly does seem reading these articles that the pendulum has swung too hard in that direction. This season is already gone, with regard to Waratahs contracts and NRC team performances. Hopefully there is a reaction and this changes next year.

Is first grade shute shield inclusive?

It’s a ridiculous non inclusive Ra non funded joke. It ain’t a comp but a sadly non promoted mess. Can it ASAP .

Why in God's name is Hugh Sinclair not picked up by the Waratahs over these other jokers. He came to Norths as a 3rd Grade colt as he wasn't a rockstar schoolboy project - rather a tough grinder who does the shitters; which Aus rugby love to overlook as they prefer the one run heroes such as Dempsey with no workrate off ball. It's very strange that a 1st grade colt who in fact played fullback for their club is suddenly playing NRC 10...WTF?! I respect the kid as he has been thrown out there and he did some wonderful things last night for a young buck (fantastic cover tackle, was more like a 15)...

If it helps Johnny, it is at least two men's opinion. When you said "...take young talented 18-22 year olds and place them in a quasi-professional set up...pay them enough to get by but nothing substantial, somewhere between $5,000-15,000. While they are exposed to the characteristics of professionalism, you send them to clubland on the weekends to go toe to toe with men. You nurture the talent, but you reserve the [Waratahs] roster spots for those who are established", you described more or less exactly what I think the NRC should be. The only disagreements I would have are that a) I think the goal has to be higher in terms of money, eventually at least. Those numbers might be a good start, but the target has to be an average contract somewhere around national minimum wage; and b) the quasi-professional set up should not be associated with a given franchise, its link should be to an underlying community and group of club teams. They don't need to be involved directly, but it would be those local teams for whom the players in the "academy" will be performing club duties and playing on the weekend. But the running of the NRC teams should be entirely independent of the SR teams, as their priorities will always differ. As we've seen with the academy system. Because ultimately, you summed it up perfectly and were absolutely right when you said "There’s a reason the Rays can have eight Waratahs in their matchday 23 and get flogged. The bottom half of the Waratahs squad are relatively speaking incredibly inexperienced". And the converse is equally true when you put that inexperienced Waratahs squad up against the foreign SR teams over a season. IMO, Australia is playing SR with at least one hand behind its back.

Johnny Football this is a good insight but the question needs to be asked, are the Tahs doing something different to everybody else. And a quick look over to the signing habits of NZ Super Rugby teams appears to show that's not the case. NZ teams are signing young players straight out of 20s too. 20 players born 1997 or later were signed to NZ Super Rugby teams. Our 4 teams signed 17. Then when we look at this years Mitre 10 Cup, only a handful of this years NZ 20s aren't in squads. Maybe they are getting the wrong young players certainly, as you are taking a punt after all, but pro sport is going young across the board. On the other hand how many people want to bag the Waratahs for not signing Angus Crichton at 18 and telling him he'd need to earn his way in club rugby?

Nah. Ala'alatoa was on a full contract (possibly EPS). Cheika just didn't rate him. Not the first decent player Cheika didn't give the time of day. As for Ta'avo. Yeah he did nothing of note at the Tahs. He also spent 4 years before that at the Blues being underwhelming.

Michael Allaatoa another good example. I believe he was in that academy as well before being told he wasn't good enough for the Waratahs. He then went to NZ and is now the in the Crusaders (arguably the best club team in the world) match day 23 every week. Could also look at Angus Ta'avao. Although he isn't an Australian product he was in the Waratah program for a few seasons and did nothing of note. He then does back to NZ and is now in the All Blacks squad. In my opinion part of the problem is the powers at be believe playing at Shute shield during the year before giving the NRC a crack, is enough of a carrot to hold talented players in NSW but that is simply not enough. Good players will find their way to the top even if it means playing interstate or overseas.

Thanks for the interesting piece. I've seen through various comments on various sites people pointing out a decline in the selection standards for school rep and U20s teams as well. Basically, reports are that the NSW teams are picked before any trials have taken place. Any idea if that is actually happening? .