Players aged over 20 and on the fringe of playing first grade in the NRL may find themselves in no-man's land next season.
The NRL's new national youth competition, the Toyota Cup, will be the curtain-raiser for all NRL games next year, but the competition is restricted to players aged under 20.
The new system could work against forwards, in particular, who generally mature later and need a few more years than their speedier backline colleagues to gain the size to compete at the top level.
Of the current senior NRL players, 70 per cent made their debut aged 21 or younger, which leaves 30 per cent of the next generation potentially at a disadvantage when it comes to taking the first steps in their first-grade careers.
So far, the NRL has been unable to determine where these "over-age" players will compete at a reasonably senior level - but Toyota Cup competition manager Michael Buettner said they must be given the opportunity to play somewhere. "That will be determined by the NSW Rugby League," he said. "Obviously, the NRL is keen to co-operate."
NSWRL general manager Geoff Carr said the plan was to introduce a new competition of around 12 teams, which would be separate from the NRL and take over from the existing Premier League competition.
Premier League participants without NRL affiliation are keen to continue in the new competition, but NRL-affiliated Premier League teams are mainly looking for joint ventures with strong suburban teams. Parramatta are looking to form a partnership with club teams the Mounties or Wentworthville.
The Jim Beam Cup will continue to be restricted in that players are penalised points according to their level of expertise, ruling out those with NRL experience.
The Toyota Cup will mirror the structure of the NRL, with each of the 16 clubs having 20 Under-20 players in its youth team and each team having its own salary cap.
One of the competition's architects, Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald, said the new structure would save clubs money. "We see it as reducing our costs because we will just have the Toyota Cup, whereas before we had both Premier League and Jersey Flegg, so there is one less team, and with the Toyota Cup team, those travel costs are picked up by the NRL."
A percentage of the youth salary cap will be dedicated to educating the players, such as paying HECs fees and work training costs.
Buettner said the competition would be "semi-professional" and give the players a taste of a professional career. "From the start, the players will have to have training in first aid, do their level one coaching certificate and level one referee's certificate as well as attend sessions on workplace issues such as drugs, alcohol and the NRL's Play By the Rules scheme," Buettner said.
