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'Tired of seeing the Storm be so dominant': Why the NRL needs a draft

Roar Guru
17th November, 2021
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Roar Guru
17th November, 2021
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We are just over a month into the NRL off-season and it’s time for the NRL to have a look over some ideas that could potentially expand their rating and excitement.

As an all-sports fan, there are not many more exciting days than draft day in sports such as the NBA and NFL.

Just in case you are unaware of what a draft is, a draft is a class full of rookies who are waiting to be picked by a team to be signed by.

It usually consists of several rounds and picks for each team, with the worse teams holding the opening picks and the best teams from the previous year holding the latest picks.

This day is not just exciting because of the new players entering the league but along with the intrigue of waiting to know which player is going where.

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A draft can turn a team’s fortunes from being in the dumps into one of the strongest teams in the league.

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For example, if we look at an NBA team such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, they were one of the poorest teams in the NBA as they were without a title before picking LeBron James at number one in the 2003 draft.

In James’ Cavaliers career, he strongly led the Cleveland franchise to five conference titles plus a championship. This defined how effective a draft can be.

This idea could have the same effect on the NRL as aren’t we all just tired of seeing the Storm be so dominant every year and seeing teams like the Tigers be near the bottom of the table every year?

uke Garner, Daine Laurie and Luke Brooks look dejected after a try by Jahrome Hughes.

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

I’m sure that if you’re a fan of the recent big teams, then you obviously wouldn’t mind not having a draft.

However, if you are a supporter of a team like the Warriors or Dragons, I’m sure that you would hope for a draft.

This could even the playing field in the junior system as teams like the Broncos won’t be getting every young star out of the Brisbane area.

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It would be up to the NRL to decide how many picks for each team and the number of rounds needed.

Obviously, it would be designed to have 16 picks in each round as that is the number of teams in the competition right now.

However, of course, we will have a 17th team being the Dolphins in 2023.

We will not be able to have seven rounds like the NFL but maybe two rounds like the NBA will be enough.

Draft lotteries will make this even more exciting as the heart of every fan of a poor team will be beating fast when they’re hoping that their struggling team will be picked out in one of the first picks.

The lottery should include the bottom eight teams being picked out randomly with the worst team having the best percentage of gaining the first pick and the team who was one spot away from the finals having the worst chance of getting the first pick.

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The remaining teams who finished in the top eight will have the identical thing happen to them but instead, the 16th pick is the best they can receive.

A draft could also evaluate the idea of trades as they could involve not only players but draft picks that teams own as well.

Overall, this would be a great path for the NRL to take, however it’s certainly too late to perform this before the start of the 2022 season.

But instead the NRL could aim for the 2024 season, which will be after the Dolphins’ first year in the league.

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