El Diablo
Post Whore
- Messages
- 94,107
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...019096350?nk=cbe258697c6d16a5d570fd884ebfa27d
Rebecca Wilson: NRL boss Dave Smith embarks on quest of massive reforms
Rebecca Wilson
The Daily Telegraph
August 10, 2014 12:00AM
The National Rugby Leagues head office has finally gone where no administration before it has dared to tread with the decision to explore the very real possibility of a rookie draft within three years.
NRL boss Dave Smith has signalled in no uncertain terms that the reform agenda at headquarters is about to hit its straps.
The mild-mannered former banker has sat back and assessed the league landscape in his first 18 months in the chair.
He has not liked a lot of what he has seen and found.
The draft will just be the first of many massive reforms that will change the face of the game forever.
Board reform at club level, the possible reduction or relocation of teams and a broadcast deal that reflects a better, stronger competition are among the items on Smiths agenda.
He is now determined to ensure rugby league has a long term survival strategy.
The draft, he believes, will be a symbol of the seismic shift in policy from previous administrations.
Former boss, David Gallop, resisted with dogged determination the introduction of a draft, claiming young men just out of school should not be forced to leave their home towns.
He discussed it, threw it open for debate, and then shut it down whenever it looked like becoming a genuine possibility.
So, too, several powerful rugby league club bosses.
This minority have been very, very vocal in their opposition because it did not suit their own agendas.
Those clubs accustomed to stealing other clubs young player talent and buying competitions saw the draft as something that had to be stopped at any cost.
Smith has heard their complaints and protests but still believes the only rational and fair thing to do is to develop a draft that will improve the competition across all 16 clubs.
He will undoubtedly face more pressure from this lot in coming months.
Already, several of them have begun their opposition campaign.
What they have underestimated is that Smith will not resile from something that he genuinely believes will improve the health of the code.
The days of being able to pick up the phone and call the bosss bluff over issues like the draft are over.
Smiths resolve is strong. This week, the backroom machinations began in earnest.
Already, NRL officials are in Melbourne working with the AFL to see how their hugely successful rookie draft works.
The AFL model has produced an enviable October event for Australian Rules that rivals the draft systems in the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and American baseball.
The rookie draft has become a highlight of the sporting calendar for all of these codes.
It is almost a cultural event, a reference point for sports that brings into sharp focus the sports regeneration process.
Fans see the new breed come through each season. They become part of the discussion, rating their picks and hoping the Next Big Thing is coming their clubs way.
Cities even vie for the right to play host.
Above all, Smith is determined to create equity in the long term.
The present system is a random mishmash of recruitment, secret deals and poaching.
A draft makes the recruitment process totally transparent, ensuring those who finish near the bottom can eventually find their way to the top again.
A rich club will not have any advantage over a cash-strapped one.
There are at least four clubs who are regularly appearing in the bottom half of the competition ladder.
Cronulla and Canberra, in particular, stand to benefit the most from a draft because they simply do not have the resources to buy the top picks in a free market each season.
It is game on at Moore Park.
After decades of debate, petty sniping and self interest, rugby league is finally on the brink of getting something it has desperately needed for so long.
Smith will need his hard hat on in coming months but change is coming.
There is nothing more certain.
Draft will spell wind of change as NRL commences negotiations
8 hours ago August 10, 2014 12:00AM
THE NRL has commenced negotiations to introduce one of the most sweeping reforms in the 106-year history of the code by implementing a rookie entry draft system.
In the most significant policy change since Dave Smith was appointed chief executive at Moore Park headquarters at the end of 2012, The Sunday Telegraph has learned NRL powerbrokers have been researching the concept for six months.
NRL chief executive Dave Smith is a huge supporter of the idea and confirmed the games governing body was exploring a number of different rookie draft models.
A draft is a mechanism to ensure the competition remains even in the future, Smith said.
We would want its design to reward those clubs which develop juniors, rather than having them taken away by big spending clubs which do little to foster junior talent.
One proposal currently being workshopped would allow clubs with strong junior nurseries such as Penrith, Canberra, North Queensland and New Zealand the option of hand-picking their top five juniors.
These players would be exempt from the draft, guaranteeing clubs with a history of producing strong talent get first crack at maintaining their best juniors.
The NRL previously implemented a draft system in 1991 before it was overthrown as a restraint of trade when Terry Hill successfully challenged it in the High Court.
Hill, then with Western Suburbs Magpies, had been drafted to Eastern Suburbs but successfully challenged the trade, forcing the NSWRL to throw out the system after only one year.
For the NRL to be successful with the rookie draft, they would need to garner full support from the Rugby League Players Association in order to cut a deal under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The move is guaranteed to divide some of the NRLs most powerful figures, with clubs like South Sydney, Canberra, Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra all believed to be in favour of the move.
But the premiers, Sydney Roosters, are expected to be more of a staunch opponent.
Ex-NRL CEO David Gallop was a staunch opponent of a draft due the demands of moving teenagers interstate and away from their families.
South Sydney boss Shane Richardson backs fast tracking rookie draft
8 hours ago August 10, 2014 12:00AM
IN years gone by, the mere mention of an NRL draft has been howled down as a dirty word in rugby league.
Ever since Terry Hill successfully had it thrown out as a restraint of trade in the High Court in 1991, NRL power brokers have been too frightened to revisit the concept.
Until now.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal introducing a rookie draft is firmly on the NRLs agenda for the 2017 season, the same year as the next TV broadcasting deal will be brokered.
The concept was initially raised at a salary cap review earlier this year, with the NRL since further investigating a number of different draft structures including rival code AFL.
NRL boss Dave Smith is a huge supporter of the rookie draft concept, which is designed to spread the best young talent in the game across all 16 clubs and work in conjunction with the salary cap.
South Sydney chief executive Shane Richardson has welcomed the rookie draft discussion, urging the NRL to fast-track it and make it a major event for the start of the 2016 season.
Id like to see it brought in as soon as possible, I dont see why it cant be brought in for 2016, Richardson said.
It would be good for the game. The argument against it has always been would Joey Johns have played in Newcastle if we had a draft.
I always answer with the same point. Brett Kimmorley played for Melbourne because Joey Johns was playing for the Knights and they were both Newcastle juniors.
Firstly, its been proven elsewhere in so many different competitions whether it be in the NFL in the US or the AFL closer to home.
Secondly, it enables kids to stay in the areas theyve grown up in instead of bringing them down at ridiculously young ages and then burning them out.
Thirdly, the amount of money we waste by pouring money into young players under the age of 18.
I estimate we set fire to between $4 million and $6 million a year. The only people who really win out of that are the player managers, who get six per cent of it.
Its an opportunity for the NRL to have a centrally-funded and controlled development program which benefits everybody across the board.
Its a win-win for everybody and I think its the only way forward.
One of the current NRL proposals contains a clause about strong development clubs such as Penrith, North Queensland, New Zealand, South Sydney and Canberra being allowed to cherrypick a select number of young guns, who would be exempt from the draft.
But under this model, clubs such as premiers Sydney Roosters would be severely disadvantaged.
Manly coach Geoff Toovey agreed with the concept of a rookie draft in principle but warned the devil will be in the detail from the NRL.
Its something that no doubt needs a lot of thought put into it but it is certainly a viable proposal going forward, Toovey said.
St George Illawarra and Canberra both supported the concept, with the Sydney Roosters one of a number of clubs to push the NRL for more information.
For a club like ours that spends a lot of money and a lot of energy in developing players we need to be very careful on how a draft system might operate, Dragons CEO Peter Doust said.
We already have a commitment to develop players on behalf of the overall game. In 2013, St George Illawarra produced 70-odd players that were playing the game at other clubs.
They came through our system. In saying that I do understand it gives teams at the bottom a chance to refresh their rosters.
So Im happy to consider the principle of introduction if the devil in the detail is explained as well.
Last edited:
