Wests Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer warned the NRL that unless his club received compensation in the future for the juniors they developed but were signed elsewhere he'd forgo grassroots development and join the code's ranks of "cheque-book" administrators and buy a team.
Mayer expressed his frustration as speculation suggested Canterbury were vying to recruit off-contract boom fullback James Tedesco, one of eight local products named in the Wests Tigers' 17 for Friday's match against Souths.
His resolve for "something" to be done was galvanised by the statistic that showed an NRL team's roster worth of Wests Tigers juniors were playing first grade in rival colours. Mayer revealed he'd expressed his concern to the NRL and that he enjoyed the support of St George Illawarra and Canberra, two other clubs in a similar situation.
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"We're shouting [the need for a club to be compensated for developing a junior who signs with another club] from the rooftops," Mayer told Fairfax Media.
"We have 24 players currently playing for other clubs and what do we get for that? Nothing. We're going to push very hard; reward the clubs that develop [their own] or we're out. We'll stop developing club players and become a cheque-book club. It's a very clear threat, too. It's a joke that we continue to develop players for other clubs and we get no reward for it.
''I've spoken to Canberra and St George Illawarra about it and we're very keen to walk in to the NRL as a group of clubs and say, 'It's not good enough that we're bring penalised for developing players when we lose them'."
Mayer said junior players underpinned the Wests Tigers sides. He said the latest step of the club's bred-not-bought focus was retaining Tedesco [a Camden junior], David Nofoaluma [Campbelltown] and Curtis Sironen [Dundas/North Ryde].
"You can look at what we have done since I started ? we retained Aaron Woods, Luke Brooks, Mitchell Moses,Tim Simona," he said. "We retained guys like Manaia Cherrington and Delouise Hoeter at a younger level. We're ticking one box at a time; then you have guys like Robbie Farah and Chris Lawrence etcetera etcetera still there ... there's a few missing parts of the puzzle, David Nofoaluma, James Tedesco, [Sironen]. If we do that we have the core for our future and we're very open about that."
"Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some ... the way negotiations go. I realise that we've made mistakes but Tedesco, Nofoaluma and Sironen, they're our kids yet we're competing to keep them and it doesn't seem right."
Tedesco, 21, indicated earlier in the week that there were a number of issues that tied him to the Wests Tigers.
"This is my junior club; coming through the ranks, [I've] got a lot of good mates here I grew up with," he said. "We'll just see what happens."
Mayer said he understood clubs would always fight for a talent such as Tedesco, but he said it ought to be a concern it was always the same teams mentioned in speculation.
"It doesn't worry me that it was speculated Canterbury are chasing him; that's competition," he said. "At the end of the day I've been very happy to hear James has said himself he wants to stay. He's been very clear he wants to stay with his mates and that's great, I'm very excited about that. The kid has an opportunity to make the most of his career we are in negotiations right now, we're very hopeful and we'd like to think he wants to stay at the Tigers.
''But it's amusing to me how many clubs are constantly named for chasing another club's talent. It bemuses me as to how they do it, but clearly they have a plan themselves. You can't judge them, all I can do is allow the court of public opinion to judge them ? and I'm sure they are."
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http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...book-rivals-20140320-hvktz.html#ixzz2wVDEyqOB
