Here's my opinion on rumours,all are based on a thread of hope that the originator of the rumour might just fluke the truth and come out looking like top scoop.
Our journos and ex players on TV rarely get anything right and are usually on the take anyway from player managers to push up a players price through bullshit.
So myself pay no attention to any rumours and nothing is set in concrete until I see the players running out on the field for game 1 of the season.
IMO the NRL should move to the draft system,this would f**k up the greedy player managers and players who have an over exaggeration of their worth!
The value that great club men as Sutto and Clarky give to a team should be rewarded not the foreign legion of cut throat mercenaries that are available to the highest bidder!
A draft would never work in the NRL with its current format and to say that you want a draft and then in the same breath say that great club men should be rewarded shows that you don't really have much of an idea on how a draft works.
The only way a draft works is if junior rugby league and senior rugby league are disconnected and junior rugby league is big enough to fend for itself. Neither of those prerequisites are going to occur here any time soon.
College football and basketball in the states (where a draft works) are both completely self sufficient multi million dollar businesses. The collegiate systems in both the NFL and NBA have no affiliation with professional clubs as such and so the best talent that comes through the college system can easily go to those who have the highest picks.
In Australia, the NRL teams are generally affiliated with Junior areas and generally have to stump up some money for the Junior teams. It would be unfair to nurse a talented player all through your junior system and then have zero opportunity of picking that player up in the draft.
Same could be said for great club men. If they went into a draft every time their contract came up for renewal there is zero chance that they would stay with one club for an entire career.
So yeah, I wish it were different. I wish the Junior system had enough money in it to not need a leg up from the NRL clubs but it doesn't and probably never will. If the junior system can't stand alone then a draft is not viable.
