3rd Tier Competition Goals

[mattystans000]

With the National U/20s Competition coming soon as the new second tier competition, the NRL or ARL or whoever has brains should be looking to revolutionise the 3rd tier competitions to allow for the growth of local talent and fan bases in the desirable areas Gallop is talking about, like Perth and Adelaide. There should be 3 reformed 3rd tier bodies: NSWRL, QRL and WARL.

The NSWRL should have a 3rd tier system that covers NSW/ACT/VIC/NZ teams in the NRL, NSW traditional teams (Newtown, Norths etc.), Desirable locations from NSW/VIC/NZ/TAS (Central Coast, Wellington, St. Kilda, Hobart etc.) and Desirable/Viable CRL Teams (Bathurst ?)

The QRL should cover QLD/NT/PNG, it should retain all of it's current competing teams, NTRL teams (Darwin and Alice Springs) and PNG Teams (Port Moresby Vipers, Goroka ?)

The WARL should cover WA/SA, it should take teams from the current reional competitions (mainly from the Perth and Kalgoorlie regions) and from the SARL competition. It should include junior rep sides from the WA Reds (Renamed Perth) and the old Adelaide Rams.

All three major Oceanic 3rd Tier Comp's should use the conference system to reduce games and minimise travelling expenses (obviously not randomly drawn then but chosen). Using these 3 3rd tier comps desirable areas could use each as a spring board to the 2nd tier National U/20s comp and then in the years to come, into the NRL.

 

[cumberlandsashes81]

Hmmm... Lots of issues there.

I think we need to work out first what we mean by '2nd tier' and '3rd tier' because in what you have described one is not necessarily below the other in the Australian RL pyramid (to borrow a UK Soccer's term) you're suggesting. I don't see how the u/20s competition can work as a '2nd tier' in this way - or are you suggesting that JBC, QC and NSWRL PL field only u20s teams? The u20s comp is a good way to increase junior competition and player development but not to develop new clubs and new areas.

For example, how is a club playing in a senior RL competition like the NSWRL Premier League, the Queensland Cup or the Jim Beam Cup 'below' an NRL junior squad playing in a national 'Jersey Flegg Cup' competition and how does a club playing in JBC develop its organisation to move up to higher competition (as is planned by the WA Reds - who plan to move from JBC to QC or NSWRL PL)?

In 2007/08 both Premier League and the JBC (which already includes 2 CRL teams) will expand to include development areas like Perth, Central Coast and NZ. I'd like to see how these plans work out before deciding we need to reconfigure a system to include the u/20s competition as some kind of stepping stone to the NRL (which it can't possibly be - being a junior development competition) - it seems that each of the state competitions below the NRL are each expanding their influence. What we need to do is see how they can all cooperate.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

I think we need to work out first what we mean by '2nd tier' and '3rd tier' because in what you have described one is not necessarily below the other in the Australian RL pyramid (to borrow a UK Soccer's term) you're suggesting. I don't see how the u/20s competition can work as a '2nd tier' in this way - or are you suggesting that JBC, QC and NSWRL PL field only u20s teams? The u20s comp is a good way to increase junior competition and player development but not to develop new clubs and new areas.

As far as the NRL is concerned the U20's comp will be the 2nd tier RL comp in Australia. They've said this and have promoted it as such.



Personally I would rather see a Southern conference (NSW/ACT/Vic/SA/NZ) and Northern conference (QLD/WA/NT/PNG) based on the existing Queensland Cup and Premier League comps+teams. If you had a WA/SA only conference it'd be a farce.

 

[cumberlandsashes81]

As far as the NRL is concerned the U20's comp will be the 2nd tier RL comp in Australia. They've said this and have promoted it as such.

Personally I would rather see a Southern conference (NSW/ACT/Vic/SA/NZ) and Northern conference (QLD/WA/NT/PNG) based on the existing Queensland Cup and Premier League comps+teams. If you had a WA/SA only conference it'd be a farce.

Well - I don't really think we know that much about what form it will take yet.

But, how can a junior competition be a '2nd tier' to the NRL? It will only include NRL junior squads as all the juniors capable of competing in it will be signed to NRL clubs. I don't see what this will achieve that isn't already achieved through existing u20s competitions and how this will benefit the game.

I agree that the competition will be a good development ground for juniors (I guess better than what currently exists) but will not develop the game in new areas nor bring any new fans to the game that don't already support their NRL club.

In NSW I think the natural progression is for JBC to be largely merged with the Premier League depending on whether NRL clubs abandon their Prem League teams in favour of their u20s team only - with overflow players playing for another club in that competition.

I agree, a WA/SA conference would achieve absolutely nothing - these clubs should recieve support to play in an East coast competition. Any promising clubs (and there are none in SA) in these areas need to play against East coast teams in order to improve - teams who would struggle to beat a Sydney pub team need better opposition to improve.

In terms of PNG in the Queensland Cup - it has been tried and wasn't sustainable, though they may have learned the lessons from this. I don't know if there are any clubs in NT who could be developed to play in the QC.

 

[girvie]

National Under-20s won't be 2nd tier for clubs. It is being called 2nd tier because it is the 2nd tier National competition, however for clubs Premier League and Queensland Cup will continue to act as the 2nd tier and the National Under-20s will be 3rd tier for players.

NRL sides will be drawing players from Premier League or Queensland Cup sides. Based on what i have heard any Under-20s players who are in the Top 25 to 30 players are likely to play Premier League.