NRL state of play: NRLW Magic Round, expansion and pathways

[Iamback]

NZ already has all the infrastructure in place, remember they’re actually an NRLW foundation club but had to pull out due to Covid restrictions

They are fine, They also have a national team to pick from.
Melbourne is the one that needs to start developing.

Souffs probably have the best program and aren't in.

Penrith have just started

As has Manly

That needs to be the 1st step. Start developing so there is a bigger player pool

 

[TheRam]

Those areas need development programs in place. Particularly in the womens game that isn't professional yet

Sure of course.

The Storm keep telling us that they are making great strides in this area all the time, so if that is actually true, you beaut. But if it is found to be bullocks which I suspect it is seeing that they have developed 'F' all juniors from the whole of Victoria, then I say audit them and see where and how much of their money goes into Victorian junior development. If it is deemed not enough the ARLC need to take a $2-3m of they Salary grant money and do the Victorian/Melbourne development for them for both the men and women side of the game.

Actually, does anyone know exactly how much the Storm spend on junior development in Victoria alone, not what they spend that includes the development they do in other States? Also how much do the NRL/ARLC spend currently on Victorian junior development?

It would make things a little clearer.

 

[Iamback]

Sure of course.

The Storm keep telling us that they are making great strides in this area all the time, so if that is actually true, you beaut. But if it is found to be bullocks which I suspect it is seeing that they have developed 'F' all juniors from the whole of Victoria, then I say audit them and see where and how much of their money goes into Victorian junior development. If it is deemed not enough the ARLC need to take a $2-3m of they Salary grant money and do the Victorian/Melbourne development for them for both the men and women side of the game.

Actually, does anyone know exactly how much the Storm spend on junior development in Victoria alone, not what they spend that includes the development they do in other States? Also how much do the NRL/ARLC spend currently on Victorian junior development?

It would make things a little clearer.

I have issues about the lack of Victorians in the NRL. They can atleast develop talent from QLD etc.

Like their SG Ball and Flegg side should be all Victorians but isn't

What is the ave wage in NRLW $30k?

That isn't getting people to move interst

 

[TheRam]

I have issues about the lack of Victorians in the NRL. They can atleast develop talent from QLD etc.

Like their SG Ball and Flegg side should be all Victorians but isn't

What is the ave wage in NRLW $30k?

That isn't getting people to move interst

Who said anything about getting people to move from interstate?

We should be putting most of the Storms junior development money into their Victorian systems and even expand them. The NRL/ARLC should also be adding to it and contributing substantially. The women side should be much easier to actually get numbers into and going compared to the mens.

So many women want to play professional sport at the moment and RL offers an opportunity that other sports in Australia don't from a national exposure sense and quality product that isn't so daunting at present in making it to the highest level. It is like an early gold rush period at the moment.

 

[siv]

We have 7 NRLW teams to go

They should add 4 more NRLW teams

Then the final 3 plus the 18th club

 

[The Great Dane]

I honestly think that the NRL need to stop expanding the NRLW for a while and spend a bit of time thinking about what they actually want it to be.

They need to decide what it's purpose really is and what criteria it needs to achieve to be considered a genuine success in their eyes, because at the moment it seems like they don't really have any plans for it or ideas of why it exists other than to have a competition for female players.

They need to think long and hard about if they truly want it to just be a mirror of the NRL that exists only to play openers in front of tiny crowds before the NRL. Another is that for generations every unbiased person in the game agreed that if you were starting the NRL from scratch that you wouldn't have as many teams in Sydney, yet here they are starting a competition from scratch and they're repeating the same mistakes without seemingly even realising that they're doing it.

 

[Pneuma]

Sure of course.

The Storm keep telling us that they are making great strides in this area all the time, so if that is actually true, you beaut. But if it is found to be bullocks which I suspect it is seeing that they have developed 'F' all juniors from the whole of Victoria, then I say audit them and see where and how much of their money goes into Victorian junior development. If it is deemed not enough the ARLC need to take a $2-3m of they Salary grant money and do the Victorian/Melbourne development for them for both the men and women side of the game.

Actually, does anyone know exactly how much the Storm spend on junior development in Victoria alone, not what they spend that includes the development they do in other States? Also how much do the NRL/ARLC spend currently on Victorian junior development?

It would make things a little clearer.

Storm have over 1000 female players this year with strong comps in under 12s 14s 16s and 18s. The players will come through. There are over 270 teams in Melbourne this year across all grades men and women’s. They also run academies and school comps and have teams playing in elite Sydney under age comps. The Storm brand is across every level of the game in Victoria now.

 

[Pneuma]

I have issues about the lack of Victorians in the NRL. They can atleast develop talent from QLD etc.

Like their SG Ball and Flegg side should be all Victorians but isn't

What is the ave wage in NRLW $30k?

That isn't getting people to move interst

Meet the Jersey Flegg Squad

Meet the Jersey Flegg Squad

www.melbournestorm.com.au

Pretty strong Victorian representation there. It’s not 100% but it’s a pretty good sign of the way things are developing in Victoria.

 

[Iamback]

Meet the Jersey Flegg Squad

Meet the Jersey Flegg Squad

www.melbournestorm.com.au

Pretty strong Victorian representation there. It’s not 100% but it’s a pretty good sign of the way things are developing in Victoria.

Thanks. 50/50 is trending the right way. Hopefully a few kick on

 

[Saxon]

Expand to 18 teams before exploring a 20-team competition

20? We don't have enough first grade standard talent for the 17 we have.

 

[siv]

The NRL need to get to
- full NRLW
- National RG

Then things can grow.

Until then there will ongoing in fighting between the suits

 

[Wb1234]

The NRL need to get to
- full NRLW
- National RG

Then things can grow.

Until then there will ongoing in fighting between the suits

Arlc wants National rg

qrl mainly but also nswrl want to protect their turf and associated funding

when the arlc was formed the arl and nswrl were supposed to be disbanded

 

[siv]

Arlc wants National rg

qrl mainly but also nswrl want to protect their turf and associated funding

when the arlc was formed the arl and nswrl were supposed to be disbanded

Instead we got a ARLC that has NSWRL and QRL having a veto proxy over every ARLC decision

 

[Wb1234]

Instead we got a ARLC that has NSWRL and QRL having a veto proxy over every ARLC decision

Clubs too

they can get rid of anyone on the arlc if they want

and people were complaining when arko was running the arl it wasn’t independent enough now we are stuck with far worse

the nswrl and qrl are dinosaurs who aren’t needed anymore

 

[Vee]

the nswrl and qrl are dinosaurs who aren’t needed anymore

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!!! I would not trust the ARLC in Sydney with the QRL's responsibilities far away from Sydney in regional Queensland.

 

[yakstorm]

I can understand the QRL's pushback for a National Reserve Grade, especially based upon the current makeup of the NRL competition.

If a National Reserve Grade kicked off tomorrow, the only NSW Cup teams truely impacted would be the Newtown Jets and North Sydney Bears. Sure Wests Magpies would need to be renamed Wests Tigers again, and Manly would drop their affiliation with Blacktown Workers, but that's it.

Mounties, Wentworthville, etc have all left the competition.

Compare this with Queensland, who have done a great job creating a truly statewide competition. None of their 15 teams will be represented, and will be replaced by just 4 clubs.

Personally, I'm not a fan of development pyramids being built like skyscrapers, and all the research into proper high performance structures support that. This is why the NSWRL and QRL were both encouraged to expand out to 16 teams each, and why the Junior Representative program was expanded significantly.

 

[Wb1234]

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!!! I would not trust the ARLC in Sydney with the QRL's responsibilities far away from Sydney in regional Queensland.

Qrl were against the introduction of the dolphins in the nrl

for much of its life the arlc has been qld centric

even vlandys added the dolphins

 

[Wb1234]

I can understand the QRL's pushback for a National Reserve Grade, especially based upon the current makeup of the NRL competition.

If a National Reserve Grade kicked off tomorrow, the only NSW Cup teams truely impacted would be the Newtown Jets and North Sydney Bears. Sure Wests Magpies would need to be renamed Wests Tigers again, and Manly would drop their affiliation with Blacktown Workers, but that's it.

Mounties, Wentworthville, etc have all left the competition.

Compare this with Queensland, who have done a great job creating a truly statewide competition. None of their 15 teams will be represented, and will be replaced by just 4 clubs.

Personally, I'm not a fan of development pyramids being built like skyscrapers, and all the research into proper high performance structures support that. This is why the NSWRL and QRL were both encouraged to expand out to 16 teams each, and why the Junior Representative program was expanded significantly.

Merge nswrl and qrl into a third tier

all nrl games should be nrl, reserve grade then under20s

 

[The Great Dane]

The NRL need to get to
- full NRLW
- National RG

Then things can grow.

Until then there will ongoing in fighting between the suits

Yeah lets completely destroy RL outside of the NRL club's catchments lol, and all for some games in front of empty stadiums because some arseholes in rose-tinted glasses are incapable of accepting that it's not the 1980s anymore.

I'm actually old enough to remember reserve grade, and the stories you've been told of thousands of people showing up to watch all three grades on gameday are bull shit. People wouldn't start to show up in numbers until after half time in reserve grade, in other words nobody cared about reserve grade back then, and even less will care in the modern world where there's less time and more competition for people's attention.

I guarantee that well run second grade competition/s with decent promotion that targets niche audiences will draw bigger crowds and fanbases than a reserve grade, and that will be better for the sport in the long term.

 

[TheRam]

Storm have over 1000 female players this year with strong comps in under 12s 14s 16s and 18s. The players will come through. There are over 270 teams in Melbourne this year across all grades men and women’s. They also run academies and school comps and have teams playing in elite Sydney under age comps. The Storm brand is across every level of the game in Victoria now.

That's fantastic. Imagine if it just keeps growing and we get around 3-5k women playing it over the next 10 in years Victoria? It would do wonders for the game.

When you say 270 teams in Melbourne does that mean if we multiply it by 17 for the number of players needed(just a rough estimate) we have 4590 players(hopefully mostly juniors) in Melbourne. Is that how it works? I get that some teams may have less players and some more, just a rough calculation.

Also do you know how much they spend on junior development in Victoria alone? And how long has this kind of structure and similar numbers been going on? Is this new?

I'm just curious to know because thus far the Storm haven't produced virtually any players of note or numbers really from Victoria. I hope this is all relatively new and we will start to see Melbournian kids filtering into their NRL team and not just the Maori or Islander background ones that are already traditional league playing.

We need to convert a decent percentage of non traditional league fans and other sports players to league to be truly successful. Junior development is the key. If we can get kids playing from all ethnicity and across all socio-economic backgrounds then the success of the game in Victoria and prosperity would be assured not to mention what it would do for the game via ratings and attendances and TV rights to say the least. Growing the pie in Victoria is a must. We need to be doing all we can to assure its success. The ARLC/NRL need to be involved to in a big way. The Strom at this point can't be doing it alone. It is a massive job to get it where it needs to be.