ARL considering return to reserve grade

[Special K]

I'd love for all 3 grades on one day but there is no way clubs could afford it. Most teams barely put any money into their NSW cup as it is. Then you factor in the travel and everything - way to much coin

 

[griffo346]

as others have said and i agree we need a national reserve grade comp

 

[BIKER_DRAGON]

I reckon the sooner the competition for all NRL clubs returns to a 3 grade comp as in 1st, reserve and under 21's the better for the game. If an NRL club can't afford to field 3 teams. It is time for them to be taken out of the NRL and replaced with a club that can.

 

[Bulldog Force]

They way they have it now is too confusing.

 

[Timmah]

It's hardly confusing, it's just unfair to fringe first-graders. One week they can play at Suncorp in front of 40,000, the next in front of barely 1,000 at Bishop Park...

 

[Dogs Of War]

It's hardly confusing, it's just unfair to fringe first-graders. One week they can play at Suncorp in front of 40,000, the next in front of barely 1,000 at Bishop Park...

I think thats a tops wake up call. Play well or get used to 1K watching you.

 

[The Engineers Room]

I think they need to go back to what they had previously in NSW. All the NSW NRL teams have a reserve grade and the Non NSW NRL teams are replaced in the reserve grade comp with teams like Newtown, Norths etc. Then when they play at home they will have all three grades. They could do a similar thing with QLD Cup if more teams join. Assign teams to the same position in the draw as an NRL counterpart but they need not be associated.

So this weekend for example we would have:

Panthers v Newtown @ CUA
Norths Bears v Raiders @ NSO
Dragons v Knights @ WIN Jubilee
Rabbitohs v Sea Eagles @ ANZ
Eels v Bulldogs @ ANZ
Auckland v Roosters @ Mt Smart
Sharks v WA Reds @ Hindmarsh
W.Tigers v CC Storm @ Leichardt

 

[The Observer]

When the poker machine tax started to bite Leagues clubs, NRL clubs needed to cut costs. It was easier to put $50K into a Toyota Cup team than $500K into a NSW Cup team. I don't see the ARL putting $500K to each of the 16 clubs to field a NSW Cup team, but the ARL have offered to subsidise travel and accomodation costs for NSW Cup teams when they travel interstate or to NZ.

However, what can be done is to reorganise the open age grades into 3 tiers:
1. NRL Telstra Premiership
2. Australian Cup/NRL 2/NRL Championship (NSW Cup rebranded)
3. NSW Bundaberg Shield & Qld Cup

A rebranded NSW Cup would be a new second tier underpinning the NRL, and this new national competition could provide a genuine pathway to teams that want to prove their credentials to play in the NRL. The 11 NSW Cup teams could be joined by the following 4 Qld Cup and 1 Metro Cup team to create a feeder team for the Broncos, Cowboys, Gold Coast, Manly and Canberra. This would be a 16 team competition, and could be played over 22 rounds:

11 NSW Cup teams
Sunshine Coast
Northern Pride (Cowboys)
Tweed Heads (Titans)
Ipswich Jets (Broncos) and
WA Reds (Canberra)

Newcastle would not have a feeder team, but at the moment they are using the Newcastle RL, and are under financial pressure, so there is room to include a feeder team for them in future.

The QLD Cup would become an 8 team competition of mostly Brisbane clubs, but they could play each other home and away, and an extra round, making up 21 rounds.

 

[TheDalek079]

like to see reserve grade again, but as others have said, the costs would probably stop it

 

[antonius]

Newcastles old Pemier League side now has the players farmed out to the local competition. This means you cannot follow the progress of the juniors through the grades unless you go to the suburban games. It also means these players can't build understandings with each other because they're at diiferent clubs.

The fans go to games now watch the NYC then these guys dissappear from view into the local comp, and the fans are left to wonder what happened to them. We should have three grades back, and it should be financed by a realistic television rights deal. With all the spin offs from the game as well as televising all games the tv excecs must be laughing all the way to the bank. The game is under selling itself to them.

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

Newcastles old Pemier League side now has the players farmed out to the local competition. This means you cannot follow the progress of the juniors through the grades unless you go to the suburban games. It also means these players can't build understandings with each other because they're at diiferent clubs.

St George used to do this, and we now have a Reserve Grade side again. That is how successful it was.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

They made it worse by putting the u20s comp as the curtain raisers. Cause the 21, 22 or even 23 year olds who havent fully developed into first grade are playing park footy in front of 100 people if not less and are driven away to England or Rugby. Meanwhile the young under 20 year olds are being watched and looked as potential first graders, they go straight into first grade.

Its still a big gap between First Grade and U20s. So they shouldve still had NSW Cup and QLD cup teams played as curtain raisers to the NRL games.

Ive got a question though, if clubs are cost cutting then what about teams like Canberra and Manly who send their players to QLD? What it cost them less to use their own teams or teams closer, eg. Belrose Eagles in the NSW Cup?

Either reintroduce a national reserve competition or extend the U20s to U23s.

 

[mono_mal]

I think a lot of people are forgetting that the current financial instability of the majority of clubs is what has created this situation. As observer stated, most clubs have outsourced as a means of cost cutting.

Realistically this is the games best interest. We are now seeing a heavier financial involvement of successful leagues clubs that have previously committed little back to the game eg. Ryde Eastwood Leagues, Wenty Leagues.

 

[Redback71]

i agree 100% we need a 3rd grade with all 16 teams but id go 1 step further and make reserve grade a 20 team comp.

the 16 teams from the nrl and toyota cup plus:

newtown jets
central coast bears
western reds
and 1 other team maybe adelade or wellington.

 

[nqcowboy87]

im watching the q cup at the moment and the way its presented with good coverage and good management and footholds in most of queensland the nswrl has to do the unthinkable and ask the qrl for help to make their comp stronger, i mean it is even some people may disagree is far superior to the nsw cup

on a side note its good to see an old teammate royston lighting in the cutters lineup

 

[RL1908]

I can't see any demand for 3 tiers of NRL club comps. Fans aren't rolling up in big numbers to see the U'20s as it is.

I think NSW needs a serious 2nd tier club competition, made up of non-NRL clubs, and those NSW & non-NSW clubs (except QLD) wanting to prove their viability to the NRL (e.g. Western Reds).

If possible it should be played on Saturday arvos (ABC tv &/or Fox) and/or Wed nights (Fox).

 

[myanonymoususername]

At least we have plenty of refs of reserve grade standard.

Oh wait, then who'd do first grade?

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Do you really think Fox will be happy with a 9am start for Toyota cup on sunday?

 

[gong_eagle]

it is really annoying when The Toyota cup game finishes and you have to wait 50minutes for the next game to start

 

[Hass]

it is really annoying when The Toyota cup game finishes and you have to wait 50minutes for the next game to start

I know, it discourages people from turning up for the earlier game.

Instead of seeing wall to wall footy you have to put up with some inane chatter from an annoying guy with a microphone spruiking whatever lame promotion the club has come up with.

As for reserve grade, could we not have a compromise run along the lines of the Presidents Cup in its dying days?

ie. Under 21s with four or five overage players allowed.

I'd even be happy to take it up to Under 23s, bringing more fringe footballers under the competition's umbrella, but I am aware that could undermine the idea of having a "youth competition" in the first place.