Fundamental problems with youth system

[hugzy]

played touch footy with a bunch of friends (very casual game) yesterday and a former toyota cup player came along; and i was shocked by his lack of overall skill and development (obviously he was the best player on park but not by a lot, and by nrl standards he was abysmal). heres hugzy's scout report:

background: got scouted for his speed after he ran 100m in 10.2s and got put in centres. 180cm-ish, 100kg (now 80). had 2 serious injuries and career cut short.

running: blinding speed, didn't see much side step/agility but i'll give him benefit of the doubt because he had serious knee injury and it was a casual game.

passing: quick and powerful, but in terms of accuracy - wayward at best. it was a windy day but every 3rd pass seemed forward or didn't hit the target.

footballing IQ (decision making, tactics etc): good, but didn't have the fundamental skills to pull off what he wanted to do

youth coaching: his toyota cup role was simple, the coach's instruction was "you have good speed, just bulk up and your role is to get into dummy half and run into the line and hopefully bend it back" - i was dumbfounded.

he excelled at scooting out of dummy half against us nobodies, but how on earth was he meant to survive in nrl with just THAT?? As we are finding out with pretty much every hulking centre that came through the ranks in recent years (eg. hurrell, sau, idris) - you can't. and with youth team coaches who simply want instant success rather than the long term development for the player, there is no light at the end of the tunnel

this problem has been touched upon in various threads such as "y centres can't pass these days" - well, yesterday went a long way explaining/confirming why

 

[aqua_duck]

I very much doubt any footballer would be running 10.2secs over the 100 especially in their teens, if he had a 10.2 PB he'd just about make our Olympic relay team

 

[Burwood]

Come on hugzy, be honest. This "former Toyota Cup player" is actually you, isn't it.

 

[RABK]

I very much doubt any footballer would be running 10.2secs over the 100 especially in their teens, if he had a 10.2 PB he'd just about make our Olympic relay team

Yeh especially at 100kg as a guy 180cm tall. Far too bulky to be running that kind of time. Uate was about 85kg when he ran his personal best of 10.6 as a teenager.

 

[Alex28]

Really good article here about the flaws in the current development system.

I think we need to be asking why some of the juniors we have developed over the last 5 years haven't progressed to the NRL squad. I think there is a fair amount of truth in that kids are aiming to get to the NYC and get their heads on TV and assume it will all just happen for them, when the reality is that the level of the game at NYC is a long way short of NRL, and probably not worthy of TV coverage.

I know a kid playing NYC (for another team) who is pretty lucky in that his father almost made it to NRL level and is going into it with his eyes wide open. He has said it is incredible how many of them are acting like they are in the big show already...

 

[Misanthrope]

The problem isn't the youth scouting program, it's the fact that they've basically phased out the old Premier League to a point that nobody cares about it anymore - clubs included.

We've got kids coming from the farce that is NYC straight into the big leagues and they're getting hammered.

Gus wrote a fairly good article about it last week that summed it up pretty well.

 

[Big Tim]

The NYC is a sub-par level of football, that does not deserve any TV coverage other than the GF.

NSW cup or QLD cup has alot more relevance to the NRL.

We should be celebrating our fringe NRL players, not let them rot in obscurity.

 

[Alex28]

They struggle from being treated like NRL players playing NYC with the match day crowds and coverage, to then playing NSW Cup being essentially treated like the reggies level which it is - no crowds, no TV, no profile, much harder football experience.

They need to go back to three grades on game day (even if it is NSW Cup playing between NYC and NRL with each club having its own feeder club in the one comp) to ensure the quality of the NRL continues to improve. It's imperative.

 

[The Showstopper]

The sooner they make reserve grade relevant again the greater chance these kids have of going on with it. I miss the old reserve grade matches. Always got the crowd revved up for the big one. The NYC is a false indicator. Beau Henry is living proof.

 

[hugzy]

hmmm interesting article. coincidentally it was a topic of discussion on the offload on triple m. both gordie and wendell basically said everything that has been said in this thread (hmmm maybe they're using this forum as their source :roll. they mentioned the real hot prospects of broncos go straight to QLD cup rather than NYC...

re cynicism over speed: he did mention he was 70kg when he was a sprinter, or maybe he exaggerated the time, not too concerned either way. i was more concerned about the standard of "coaching" he received after he got scouted

re burwood: lol yes, my real name is... george carmont

 

[Rudderriffic]

Not saying that there isn't a problem with our development program, I simply would not have enough knowledge to pass judgement, but individual examples like this do little to illustrate the relative quality of the youth program. When you have an age limited side, you are not going to have high hopes for every kid in that squad. On average it's something as low as 2 players from NYC squad can be expected to play more than 50 NRL games. The kid you have brought up may have been recruited simply to run around and play for a year or two until he was too old, or we had someone better. A placeholder if you will.

There are so many other factors that could have had an impact on this kids coaching that you have not taken into account before labeling it poor. Was he a right sided centre in a side with two right handed halves (bearing in mind that in the under 20s players would still be devloping their weak sided pass)? Was there a player they considered an attacking gun on the other side of the field, hence making this a focal point of the attack? Or was he just not seen as a prospect and as such not worth substantial time of the coaching staff beyond what would help the team win? Or were there just no better kids in that age bracket that were physically up to it?

I agree with the assertion that the path to NRL should include a reserve grade comp above the 20s comp, but you can't judge our entire development program off one kid you played touch with.

 

[Yosh]

I'm not a fan of th right sided this or left sided that or impact this when coaching juniors. I think it's vital young players learn the game and learn how to play multiple positions and roles.

Cooper Cronk is a great example of a player i love. He doesn't have all the natural talent in the world but he played multiple positions (and union as well) as a youngster and it's his attitude and commiment to the game that has made him so great.

Then again the storm are the kings of role playing players. Apart from their 3 great players, most of them play their roles so well. They are so well drilled, even Sau looked really good. We used to have Joey make our team look good but they have 3 players who can do it... Thank god for the salary cap though, imaggne they still had Inglis, Falou, Blair and co...

 

[Misanthrope]

The NYC is a sub-par level of football, that does not deserve any TV coverage other than the GF.

NSW cup or QLD cup has alot more relevance to the NRL.

We should be celebrating our fringe NRL players, not let them rot in obscurity.

Agree 100% I used to love the full day of footy, and Premier League was almost as much fun as the main attraction. Seeing the next big stars playing against names I remembered from a few years prior was a lot of fun.

 

[Hanscholo]

Yeh especially at 100kg as a guy 180cm tall. Far too bulky to be running that kind of time. Uate was about 85kg when he ran his personal best of 10.6 as a teenager.

Uate is fat. If he lost the fat and kept the muscle he would be 85kg. His pace has suffered for it too. Notably recently done over by kev in a sprint. Its nice to be over 100kg play NRL but the vast majority of players have done it by loading fat, not muscle.