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http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/spo...he-playground-battleground-20100204-ng9c.html
Gloves off in the playground battleground
BRAD WALTER
February 4, 2010
FORGET about Johnathan Thurston, Berrick Barnes, Gary Ablett jnr and Simon Colosimo.
The most prized signatures in Australian sport at the moment are those of seven-year-olds from western Sydney, with the NRL, AFL and A-League sending $40 million of playing talent into the region next week as they vie for junior registrations ahead of the upcoming season.
Call it the battleground for the playground, but while the public focuses on stars coming off contract such as Thurston, Barnes, Ablett and Colosimo, sporting administrators are more focused on the future.
And western Sydney, with a population of 2 million and growing fast, is considered of strategic importance - as evidenced by the decision to establish new AFL and A-League teams in the area.
To further the cause of their codes, AFL premiers Geelong will conduct a three-day community camp in Sydney's west, while Sydney FC trained at Parramatta Stadium yesterday and will play a home game there on Sunday against Perth Glory.
The NRL is not lying back and letting the rival codes erode its heartland. It will next week conduct the biggest grassroots blitz in its history.
Starting with a coaching clinic run by the Wayne Bennett-coached NRL All Stars team at Blacktown on Monday, the four clubs based in Sydney's west - the Panthers, Eels, Tigers and Bulldogs - will ramp up the campaign on Wednesday when they combine for junior coaching sessions in Windsor, Campbelltown, Parramatta and Belmore. In a show of unity, the clubs will split their top squads into four groups so that each coaching clinic will feature players from Penrith, Parramatta, Wests Tigers and Canterbury.
''Rugby league is the dominant sport in western Sydney and our charter is to ensure we continue to be for future generations,'' Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said. ''To stamp our authority, we know we've got to use our profile and the profile of the key players at each club to promote the game to the kids, which is what the four clubs are doing with this initiative.''
Co-ordinating the clinics are officials from the NSW Rugby League's Western Sydney Academy, which was established after a discussion two years ago between Penrith chief executive Michael Leary and former Parramatta boss Denis Fitzgerald, who were concerned at the threat posed by the AFL.
The Bulldogs have joined the Panthers, Eels and Tigers as partners in the academy.
''The main reason for the academy was to protect our territory against the push from AFL and it's great to now have four clubs involved,'' Leary said. ''It started from a discussion between myself and Denis and other members of our boards because we were seeing that the AFL was starting to creep into the west and we felt we had to do something.
''Usually at this time of the year, the Panthers will do coaching clinics and things to promote the game in our area but to do it together so that the kids can meet their heroes from the four clubs will make it a massive day for them.''
Parramatta chief executive Paul Osborne said: ''I think it is a great initiative to have the four clubs working together and I'm surprised it hasn't been done before.''
Aside from the youngsters who helped bolster playing numbers in Sydney's west to 24,000 last season, the NRL views coaching clinics as an opportunity to interact with parents, who are vital to the game's grassroots development.
''We may not have $20 million to spend as some other codes are touting, but we have 20,000 volunteers and that is in many ways better than money,'' academy boss Greg Mitchell said.
''Across the board last year, we had an increase of about 3 per cent in junior registrations in western Sydney and in some areas that was more. Penrith, for example, had 20 additional teams in 2009.
''But initiatives like next week's blitz are vital and to have access to the elite players of the four clubs, which represents 25 per cent of the premiership, shows the level of importance that is placed on these regions.''