NRL boss Dave Smith embarks on quest of massive reforms

[BunniesMan]

As someone who follows the NBA and AFL, I'm annoyed by teams that look like tanking in both sports, I have always wanted all non finals teams to have an equal chance in the lottery. I would hope that would be the case with the NRL being able to build a system from scratch.

Take the AFL system as a starting point, but improve it by introducing a fair lottery, and replace the father-son rule with a local junior rule.

 

[Different kind of Rabbit]

The issue I have with the draft is that Rugby League is and always has been a tribal sport. Fans of a rugby league team like to follow juniors through the ranks and right up to first grade. Their is a greater connection to a player if he's born and bred in the area and has been in the one clubs system all the way through.

You lose that with a draft.

 

[Billythekid]

The issue I have with the draft is that Rugby League is and always has been a tribal sport. Fans of a rugby league team like to follow juniors through the ranks and right up to first grade. Their is a greater connection to a player if he's born and bred in the area and has been in the one clubs system all the way through.

You lose that with a draft.

Absolutely 100% agree. If anything we should be taking more measures to encourage clubs to bring through their own juniors and actually be able to keep them (yes i know this is probably not a good thing for my club in the short term).

That plus i hate that drafts tend to encourage tanking. I don't know much about NFL so can't speak for it but it's rife in both NBA and AFL bordering on farcifcal. I especially hate it in the NBA where fans will be able to write off multiple seasons just hoping for the chance to draft some big name.

I don't think this will work in the NRL and frankly i'm unsure of exactly what the benefits are supposed to be. There are just so many other issues and changes we could be looking at before bullsh*t like this.

 

[Marshall_magic]

How old are the players in the draft? If we are drafting Under 20s graduates, then the 20s needs to be completely revamped (so the teams that don't represent each club). If we are drafting the kids at 16-18 then maybe it can work, although what's the point of clubs investing in grassroots footy.

 

[supercharger]

That plus i hate that drafts tend to encourage tanking. I don't know much about NFL so can't speak for it but it's rife in both NBA and AFL bordering on farcifcal. I especially hate it in the NBA where fans will be able to write off multiple seasons just hoping for the chance to draft some big name.

not every league that uses a draft has problems with tanking, and while tanking occurs in the NHL, NBA and WNBA there are no tanks rolling through the CFL, NFL, MLB, MLS, MLL, NLL or the KHL

 

[RWB]

The issue I have with the draft is that Rugby League is and always has been a tribal sport. Fans of a rugby league team like to follow juniors through the ranks and right up to first grade. Their is a greater connection to a player if he's born and bred in the area and has been in the one clubs system all the way through.

You lose that with a draft.

Ding ding ding!

Rugby League is not the AFL, NBA or NFL.

I've been liking Smith up until now but this draft crap is nonsense. Hiding behind "it'll help clubs keep their top local juniors" is bullshit, not it wont it'll let them take a random punt at 5 who might be stars and then watch every other club pick at the rest. There's far better models that could be implemented to see clubs keep their best local juniors.

 

[Jason Maher]

Suggest some of these far better models then instead of hurling elephants.

 

[billypilgrimnz]

The draft in North American sports makes sense because of the strength of the college sport system, meaning that basically a tonne of independent organizations (the colleges) do all the recruiting and development, and this in turn is based on the strength of the main sports (e.g., football, baseball, basketball) at high schools.

The NRL doesn't have that. I would hate to see the NRL try to be more like the New Zealand Rugby union, which has become obsessed with central planning and development, meaning the provincial game is dying and in its place is the hollow, boring Super 15 competition.

Introducing transfer fees makes more sense to me than a draft, though I'm sure transfer fees have their drawbacks as well.

 

[fourplay]

An NBA or AFL style draft system for the NRL is the stupidest idea ever and only a monkey brain like Rebecca Wilson could think it's a good idea. It works in sports like the NFL and AFL because their juniors are not aligned in any way with a professional club, so every year they have hundreds of of neutral players with no alignment to any club, looking for a team.

If a draft system is in place in the NRL, then hypothetically, a player could be born and raised in Penrith, play for the Penrith Panthers from the age of 13 all the way up to 20 years old, and then be made to play for a rival club against his will and the will of his club. It makes no sense because he is already playing for an NRL club so why would you then draft them to another club?

If the purpose is solely to even out the competition, then you might aswell just have a complete NRL draft where all NRL players such as Hayne, SBW, Smith, Cronk and Slater are entered into a draft for clubs to pick from. It is just as illogical as an under 20's draft. The whole point of a draft is to divide up, in a fair manner, neutral players who don't yet have a club.

 

[pHyR3]

Few major issues with a draft.

Who funds junior development?

How can you tell an 18 or 20 year old to move to new zealand or melbourne for a pretty average salary (often under 80k if not in top 25) that is quite dependent on whether or not he can even handle FG.

The comp is already crazily even.

Tanking.

Its awesome seeing players like Brooks and Moses (for me) come up through the ranks and play FG.




Personally i dont really agree with it. It could potentially work if they really tweaked it considerably for RL. They cant just take the NBA system and put it in, it would not work whatsoever.

 

[Different kind of Rabbit]

Anyone who thinks an AFL style draft would work in Rugby League doesn't understand Rugby League in this country.

 

[insert.pause]

Won't happen, there's no need for it.

 

[adamkungl]

No to a draft, shit concept.

 

[ElectricEelMan]

I noticed the fans whose team would be greatly disadvantaged by the introduction of the rookie draft are fiercely against the idea ....

 

[tmfsd]

Draft = shit idea

 

[attila_the_gorilla]

No no no no noooo. This is absolute rubbish. No player should be told where to play, especially not 18-year-olds, having to leave their family and hometown, even if the local club would love to sign them. What the hell are these idiots smoking? Turning young, passionate players into bloody mercenaries. Typical "growth beyond all else" approach.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Very interesting to see that a lot of posters happy with the status quo are roosters fans. Because this is what the draft is about, stopping certain clubs with no junior development pillaging other clubs who put in at the junior level. The roosters like to sign players at 17 or 18 from rival clubs and pass them off as their own because they play 20s or NSW cup for them.

I'd suggest that the draft will be designed to allow players who have been identified in the junior ranks and nurtured throughout their youth playing days to choose to stay with their parent club if that club wants them whilst other players who aren't a priority will enter the draft.

 

[Noname36]

id rather see player development taken out of the hands of clubs until they reach 18(ish) and separate NRL logos from juniors (so basically, theres no Newcastle Knights team below the ages of 18

God I hate this idea. Hate, hate, hate it.

Like others have mentioned, there's a huge tribal element in RL and ideas like this here or a draft lose that. Many clubs (especially the Knights you just mentioned) get a huge kick out of bringing a kid through from a young age and watching them play FG.

What about someone like Sione Mata'utia? Only just turned 18 and in FG...under your scenario he wouldn't have been a Knight until a month ago, that's if he even ended up being one.

 

[CC_Roosters]

The draft is fine in the american market and maybe the afl but is just not an idea suited to rugby league in australia. For a start the NRL crosses international borders, how does Smith propose to integrate the warriors and new zealand into this draft; there is a fledgling national provincial tournament but it needs years of work to turn it into an elite pathway like the structures in NSW and QLD.

Also will this see an end to the relationship between sydney clubs and their districts in terms of funding? There are so many levels and intricacies in the RL pyramid that i doubt they will be able to unravel it with a rookie draft.

The only thing that needs refined is the signing of players i.e a defined free agency period instead of the current year long free for all and signing of players a season in advance!

 

[POPEYE]

Very interesting to see that a lot of posters happy with the status quo are roosters fans. Because this is what the draft is about, stopping certain clubs with no junior development pillaging other clubs who put in at the junior level. The roosters like to sign players at 17 or 18 from rival clubs and pass them off as their own because they play 20s or NSW cup for them.

I'd suggest that the draft will be designed to allow players who have been identified in the junior ranks and nurtured throughout their youth playing days to choose to stay with their parent club if that club wants them whilst other players who aren't a priority will enter the draft.

So when the Roosters lock up the Central Coast they will have preference as will Melbourne with 2 Qld areas to claim their own. Draft is fine if all coaches are f**kwits or all are Einsteins, can imagine Slater being pulled off a horse by Sticky, he would have been back riding trackwork long ago

No junior belongs to anyone, all clubs are required to partcipate in junior development, forcing youngsters to go somewhere they don't want is slavery. The NRL would be better served putting Bennett in charge of a coaching academy and its graduates drafted to coach clubs