The salary cap was designed to bring parity to the National Rugby League.
By limiting the amount of money clubs could spent on their roster, the playing talent was to be evenly distributed across the competition. No more haves and have nots.
Many point to the maiden premiership victories by the Wests Tigers (2005) and the North Queensland Cowboys (2015) as evidence that the cap is working.
However, a closer inspection reveals that this is clearly not the case.
Since the inception of the NRL in 1998, 13 of the 23 premierships have been won by only three clubs – the Melbourne Storm, Brisbane Broncos and Sydney Roosters.
More worrying still is that 19 of the 23 grand finals since 1998 have had representation by one or more of these same three clubs.
It’s no coincidence that the most successful clubs of the modern era are also the wealthiest and most well-resourced.
Each can afford the very best when it comes to coaching, medical and team facilities, which in turn attracts the best players.
(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
One method to address this imbalance is the introduction of a rookie draft.
Now, before you scream “restraint of trade” or “Terry Hill” at your screen, let me first clarify that I am not advocating for the introduction of such a draft.
But it’s interesting to wonder what the NRL might look like if one existed.
In this hypothetical:
• A rookie draft is introduced at the start of the 2016 season
• The team that finished 16th in the previous season is awarded the first draft selection, the 15th on the ladder the second selection and so on
• The definition of a ‘rookie’ is a player’s first true taste of first grade (i.e. not just a one-off game)
• A drafted rookie is only able to sign a modest first contract with the team that drafted him – no more million-dollar teenagers.
What would the last five years have looked like in the world of this rookie draft? Who would have been the top three picks by the bottom three teams? My predictions are below.
2016
Newcastle Knights – Nathan Cleary
After being awarded the wooden spoon for the 2015 season, new coach Nathan Brown selects halfback Nathan Cleary to begin the biggest rebuild in Newcastle since the earthquake.
The prodigiously talented No.7 fills a critical need and allows the Knights to allocate significant funds to filling other holes.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Wests Tigers – Latrell Mitchell
The Tigers, who annually douse themselves in marquee signing repellent, finally have the opportunity to sign a game-changing prospect in Latrell Mitchell.
With the versatility to play at any position along the backline, plus the bonus of being an accomplished goal kicker, Mitchell is the sort of player who can alter the course of an entire organisation.
Gold Coast Titans – Cody Walker
The Gold Coast circle back on a player who debuted for the club’s NYC team way back in 2009. Cody Walker may be the rugby league equivalent of a mature-aged student, but his creativity and spontaneity have the potential to ignite a stagnant Titans attack.
2017
Newcastle Knights – Kalyn Ponga
It’s good to be bad when you’re the Newcastle Knights.
A year after securing their halfback, Newcastle double down by taking the most talked about teenager since Greta Thunberg. Pairing Cleary with Kalyn Ponga and watching them develop together is a mouth-watering proposition, for Newcastle fans, at least.
Sydney Roosters – Cameron Murray
After a rare season spent at the wrong end of the ladder, the Roosters are rewarded with the services of Cameron Murray.
The diminutive middleman represents a new breed of NRL forward – fast, enduring and skilful. Murray will slide seamlessly into the Chooks’ pack.
Parramatta Eels – Viliame Kikau
Fijian wrecking ball Viliame Kikau joins fresh recruits Nathan Brown and Mitchell Moses in a new look Parramatta side. Along with Clint Gutherson, this new fry of Eels allows the club to finally move on from the Jarryd Hayne era.
2018
Newcastle Knights – David Fifita
David Fifita becomes the final jewel in Newcastle’s crown. After a wretched run of outs, the Knights emerge from three straight wooden spoons with three generational prospects. Not a bad trade off.
Fifita is regarded as the best forward prospect since Bradley Clyde, and he went alright.
Gold Coast Titans – AJ Brimson
After the Hayne Plane crashed and burned, new coach Garth Brennan is quick to source Jarryd’s replacement. And he didn’t need to look very far.
AJ Brimson (Getty Images)
Local sensation Alexander Brimson will join Cody Walker and Ash Taylor to provide the Gold Coast with an attacking arsenal not seen since the halcyon days of Scott Prince.
Wests Tigers – Payne Haas
The Wests Tigers don’t walk, they run to select Payne Haas.
The Paddington colossus looks as though he was created in a rugby league laboratory, showcasing a dizzying blend of speed, footwork, endurance and eye-popping size.
With Mitchell at the back and Haas up front, the Tigers suddenly become a destination club for other available players.
2019
Parramatta Eels – Ryan Papenhuyzen
Being awarded the wooden spoon a year after running fourth might seem disastrous for Parramatta, but their ineptitude is rewarded with the signature of Ryan Papenhuyzen.
The mullet with wings will make fans forget about Jarryd Hayne (again) while finally permitting the Parramatta marketing department to make good on the ‘electric Eel’ pun.
Manly Sea Eagles – Dylan Brown
It’s taken the Sea Eagles four years to replace Kieran Foran, but finally Daly Cherry-Evans has a worthy halves partner.
Dylan Brown brings with him a strong running game and an air of creativity which will complement the more structured game of Cherry-Evans. Together with Tom Trbojevic and Api Koroisau, Manly’s spine is set for years to come.
Gold Coast Titans – Tino Fa’asuamaleaui
After spending previous draft picks addressing the spine, coach Garth Brennan turns his attention to the pack.
And Titans fans will be glad he did, as it allows them to sign man-mountain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.
Surprisingly quick and agile despite his monstrous dimensions, big Tino will partner other high character workhorses Ryan James, Kevin Proctor and Jai Arrow in one of the strongest forward packs in the competition.
2020
Gold Coast Titans – Matt Burton
With the Ash Taylor experiment failing to yield results, the Titans decide to move in another playmaking direction.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Popped straight out of the Brad Fittler mould, bruising five-eighth Matt Burton is the antithesis of Taylor – big, robust and boasting an equally strong kicking and running game. His combination with Cody Walker and AJ Brimson will transform the Gold Coast into contenders.
St George Illawarra Dragons – Harry Grant
Although hooker may not be a position of need, you just don’t pass on a player like Harry Grant.
Boasting rugged defence and creativity out of dummy half, signing the nuggety Queenslander allows the Dragons to shift Cameron McInnes to lock to cover for the unavailable Jack de Bellin.
North Queensland Cowboys – Bradman Best
North Queensland’s attack has looked sluggish since the retirement of Johnathan Thurston, and the glacial outside backs are largely responsible.
The introduction of Bradman Best gives the backline an instant injection of class. The hulking young centre joins new recruit Valentine Holmes in a rejuvenated Cowboys attack.
2021
Brisbane Broncos – Sam Walker
Mercifully, the Anthony Milford era is over at Red Hill.
New coach Kevin Walters immediately dispatches Milford and Brodie Croft, turning the team over to Ipswich junior Sam Walker.
The son of Queensland royalty, Walker has bigger raps on him than Ice Cube. He has the potential to be the next Broncos great.
Canterbury Bulldogs – Joseph Suaalii
For some reason, Joseph Suaalii to Canterbury just feels right. The Bulldogs are at their best when they strut around with an arrogant swagger that makes their fans unbearable.
And while Suaalii is a very humble kid by all reports, his ridiculous talent and deadpan demeanour will demand the kind of casual hatred not seen since Sonny Bill Williams.
Joseph Suaalii (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
North Queensland Cowboys – Jake Simpkin
As the first pupil to graduate from the Damien Cook school of dummy half play, Simpkin represents the new face of the hooker position.
Equally adept at scoring tries and making tackles, the Toowoomba junior has a rare combination of blistering pace and a tireless work ethic. He could be just the attacking spark needed to drag the Cowboys back into contention.
Key takeaways
The rookie draft isn’t perfect. It rips young players away from families and actively disincentives teams from investing in junior development. But it does break the vicious cycle of rugby league mediocrity.
This cycle – or business as usual, as the Wests Tigers call it – usually begins with a struggling side unable to attract marquee players. Club management panic, knowing that another losing season might cost them their jobs.
They agree to pay above market rates to secure the best available players.
But they quickly discover that these players were available for good reason. Their performances don’t match their pay packets, but due to the long-term contracts required to lure them in the first place, the clubs are stuck with them.
A rookie draft could help these teams.
Let’s first look at the Tigers.
The club has been in a state of free fall since James Tedesco left. Unable to sign big name recruits, they overspent on Moses Mbye, Russell Packer and Josh Reynolds, and their salary cap is still recovering.
The hypothetical draft allowed them to sign Latrell Mitchell and Payne Haas – both representative players within their first three years in the league and both currently rated as top-three players at their respective positions.
Their inclusion on the Tigers roster would not only provide an immediate on-field boost, but also help with future recruitment.
The Gold Coast are another struggling side lifted by the draft.
Instead of paying top dollar for an unproven Ash Taylor or an unworthy Jarryd Hayne, the draft provided them with the opportunity to sign the likes of Cody Walker, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Matt Burton on manageable salaries.
Cody Walker. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
And thanks to three straight wooden spoons, Newcastle completely transform their roster with the selections of Nathan Cleary, Kalyn Ponga and David Fifita.
Not even the return of Coach Rick Stone could keep a side featuring those three blokes out of the finals.
The one thing the draft doesn’t provide is a crystal ball.
Clubs often struggle due to poor recruitment and retention decisions, and those same people will be making draft selections.
Would the Tigers have selected Latrell Mitchell, or would he have slipped through the cracks and been snapped up by the Roosters or Storm?
At the end of the day, rugby league is about the fans.
Their willingness to support their team and engage with the code is what pays the bills.
The spate of recent blow-out scores and lopsided contests is toxic to the casual fan, who may instead be tempted to watch the AFL or, as horrifying as it sounds, engage with their loved ones.
If nothing else, the rookie player draft would bring hope to hopeless teams.
It would give frustrated fans some light at the end of the tunnel. And if you think that’s not important for our game, just go and spend a Saturday afternoon with a Tigers supporter.
So, why not give the draft another crack?
What have we got to lose?
Chris Love
Roar Guru
Sorry Tom, basket case clubs shouldn’t be rewarded with getting a free shot at talent other clubs have developed. Sure the tigers should have had an incentive to keep the stars they developed but not to take others clubs juniors.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
I must have mentioned it a dozen times already. Offer juniors that remain with the club that developed them a discount on the cap. https://www.theroar.com.au/2014/06/07/junior-cap-concessions-way-forward/ A draft will almost surely make junior development even worse than it is now.
Birthday Suit
Roar Rookie
That’s not how the NBA draft works at all. You get better odds the worse your position on the ladder is and tanking is extremely prevalent in the NBA. The odds are in tiers meaning the bottom 3 have the same odds, then the next 4 etc but there are 30 teams rather than 16 so it’s very different to the NRL. . Every year multiple teams are aiming to come last – take a look at ‘The Process’ run by the 76ers – and the only reason it’s not a bigger deal is because there is just so much talent in the game that most games are still competitive. . There are also far, far more viable rookies and a much stronger college pathway to evaluate them. There are also completely different rules are rookie contracts and contracts in general that make the comparison completely irrelevant. . Not only is the NBA a very poor comparison, if anything it’s an example of why a draft wouldn’t work in the NRL.
GregM
Roar Rookie
seems to work in the NFL / NHL
Brett Allen
Guest
I am absolutely in favour of a rookie draft, however there would have to be protections in place for clubs developing talent. I would envisage draft concessions in place for teams to retain their brightest young prospects, so that teams are still incentivised to develop from within. Under my vision, Nathan Cleary would still end up at the Panthers as a pre draft concession, however guys like Jarome Luai, Matt Burton & Charlie Staines might not, depending on where the Panthers finished at the end of season. If they get the wooden spoon for example, they might be able to pre select all their draft picks, (let's assume a draft of 5 rounds), whereby they can keep more of their best young prospects that year, however if they finish first, they would only be able to have one pre draft selection, and obviously they would have to use their highest available pick. Under that scenario, they would be able to keep Cleary, but not other promising juniors. If a team invests heavily in youth, (like the Panthers or Eels), they will still get to keep the cream of that investment, if not the whole cake, but a team that doesn't invest in youth would get little to no benefit from draft concessions since they wouldn't produce enough quality juniors to take advantage of those concessions. Those teams would have to hope for the best through the regular draft process. That all being said, a rookie draft is only one piece of a required massive overhaul of the NRL's entire labour management mechanisms. I believe the league needs the following 1) Rookie draft w/ development draft concessions 2) A Rookie salary scale for draftees based on draft position. More than the minimum salary, but less than unrestricted market value based purely on potential. 3) Restricted Free Agency for players coming off their Rookie contract. The team that drafts a player should get at least I believe 5 years of service from said draftee before another club can snatch him. Under RFA, the players current team would have the right to match any offers made to their RFA and retain their player. Only after completing his first veteran's contract would a player be then eligible for Unrestricted Free Agency. 4) A soft cap. The NRL currently has a hard cap, a soft cap is a more flexible system that encourages players to stay with their original club. Under a soft cap, a players existing club could exceed the cap to retain Player A, (assuming he has played for the club for an agreed number of seasons, let's say 3), however other clubs could not exceed the cap to recruit Player A. If a club exceeds the cap to retain Player A, then they are effectively unable to recruit until they get back under the cap. There would be specified exceptions to this rule. 5) A Luxury Tax. The argument against a soft cap is the richer clubs would just exceed the cap and dominate the competition. The fact that they are over the cap would automatically limit that ability in any event, but to further dissuade exceeding the cap too much, a Luxury Tax would be charged to teams that exceed the cap. It would operate similarly to our Income Tax system. The more a team exceeds the cap, the more tax it pays. All taxes collected by the league would be redistributed to the teams operating below the cap line. 6) Trades. It's fundamentally important for teams to have the flexibility to trade players, draft picks etc, (without having to ask their permission), so they can shape their rosters. Obviously the players association would have to agree to give up those rights, and that would be part of any CBA negotiations. There could be safeguards built in place to protect players from being traded too often. I believe the above are all necessary, amongst many other changes to the NRL, for the league to fully realize its potential.
matth
Roar Guru
Yes, let’s just let that money go to other competing sports. And let’s have other position to offer more money to great young athletes so rugby league never sees them.
matth
Roar Guru
This seems to me like a free pass for clubs who do not properly invest in their junior development pathways. Don’t want to spend to develop the code? Just steal players from Brisbane and Penrith.
Pineappleonpizza
Roar Rookie
I’m more of an AFL fan but I spent many years in QLD and loved League from the first time I saw it Most of the previous comments are correct , IMO drafts have limited value as an equalisation mechanism but what they are superb at is promoting the game by generating interest especially for the fans of poorly performing clubs but just about any full on AFL fans will be able to tell you a quick bio of all the most exciting young players about to enter the game Once you have a draft the next logical step is to couple it with a trade week which also generates massive interest , there are fans of AFL ( strange ones IMO ) that adore the team building/ list management side of the game more than watching footy itself Anyway just my 2c’s
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
I'd rather have a draft system than the proposed " conference". It would give young players an opportunity to join a club that can develop them. But when you think about it the draft system which operates in USA they have a very mature market and the big clubs over there do have wealthy backers . Every kid in NSW country and City and QRL country and City that has a bit of talent comes straight out of school and goes into a draft. When you look at the USA they graduate and then go to college before they even go into draft. We have an entirely different market place and kids are being signed up at 14-15 . A draft system is great but would it really work for rugby league. Too many selfish clubs here to make it work properly.
Mutley
Roar Rookie
With all the talk on fixing league , be it salary cap, conferences, drafts and what not. The problem is propping up poorly run clubs that would be trading insolvent in any other business environment. Until the nrl stop the gravy train it's only a matter or time until another super league rears its head or the game fades into insignificance
mushi
Roar Guru
Why do players have no rights Tom?
mushi
Roar Guru
I'd argue the tooth fairy has more chance of existing than a salary cap delivering parity.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
A draft seems to work in most sports but I'm still sitting on the fence with this one . Would like to see some sort of system where NRL clubs are allocated a country area and get to develop the juniors from that area. East's are doing it with central coast and other clubs I'm sure have involvement with country areas. Look at someone like Manly whose lower tiers are based out of Blacktown. One factor is clubs are getting lazy , they get $13 million from the NRL to cover salary cap and administration and don't spend a lot of money developing juniors . Now that NSWRL control all country NSW rugby league what is being done to develop talent. Up to 18 they get plenty of support and after that they drift off into the ether because no attention has been given to senior country league comps.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
I just can't support a draft. It rewards mediocrity. We could come at it differently and reward clubs that develop players with bigger cap discounts. This will incentivise clubs to invest in development. Before we all complain that it favours teams with big junior nurseries, I think it has nothing to do with the size of the junior nursery. The Roosters prove that. On any given Saturday afternoon, you would be lucky to find 12 kids playing rugby league in the Eastern Suburbs and even those 12 are only visiting from the west of Sydney. The Roosters spend money on recruiting and developing the best talent they can find. Why can't Manly do that? Or the Dogs? The Dogs don't even have their own NSW cup team, they use the Mounties. The Panthers had St Mary's as a feeder team until Gus got on board and stopped the arrangement. How can an amateur club build first graders is his argument? He wanted the players training at the the same place as first grade. If we at least made it an advantage to develop players maybe the likes of the Dogs and Manly would start building teams instead of trying to buy them. Better junior development is in the best interests of every NRL fan. It will improve the quality of the playing pool. I applaud you for trying to make improvements, but the draft fixes nothing. The clubs need to sort themselves out.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
TB is absolutely spot on. The reason the competition is uneven is because so many of the clubs have been very poorly run. Various poor decisions include: - Salary cap breaches when you are in line for the wooden spoon (the Eels, the Dogs); - half the players in a team signed from other clubs when you have the largest junior nursery in the NRL (the Panthers, the Eels); - no investment in junior development and reserve grade (Manly); - changing coaches every two minutes (the Tigers); - choosing inexperienced coaches (the Tigers, St George, the Titans); - no investment in training facilities (the Sharks, Manly); - internal political fights causing massive disruption to the club (Manly, the Eels, the Tigers, the Dogs, the Broncos, the Knights, the Warriors, the Sharks); - choosing completely inexperienced CEO's because they used to play league (the Panthers, the Knights); - having Boards without the right experience to manage a multi million dollar sports (entertainment) business (the Eels, the Dogs, the Panthers, the Titans, the Knights, the Tigers, the Sharks); - Merger teams confusing their fans with multiple playing locations, playing strips and management changes (the Tigers). As I write this, I shake my head at the sheer amateurish nature of the management of many of the clubs. Just awful, jobs for the boys stuff. None of that is changed by the draft and it just gives clubs another excuse not to focus on building their own players.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
It might be happening Tom, but the destination is the choice of the player and his parents, not random draft.
Short Memory
Guest
Thanks for the best laugh I've had in weeks. Jake Simpkin's blistering pace was the standout. Keep up the good work.
mushi
Roar Guru
The salary cap was not designed to bring parity. The tooth fairy is a more rational construct.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
TPA's are outside the cap. You cannot cap them
true but you can put a cap on what a collective group of 30+ players can have spent on them.....If paying one person 50% of the cap is an outcome then the club lives with that decision...