NRL Draft back on the agenda

[T-Boon]

Enter Soni Luke.... stuck to his guns stayed at panthers and debuts at 26yo , and is one pre season away from cementing a starting spot in what might be one of the greatest sides in NRL history... but yeah draft him to the titans why dont ya.... coz all teams need stars.. fmd
Grow them yourselves.. the draft only helps prop up the clubs who dont contribute to junior pathways... and just take from the top end

We can't keep going down the spiral of housing commission sections of Penrith being the only place that NRL players come from and then those dero's drag the game through the mud with bad dero Cleary type behavior so that more and more Penrith is the only place where families let their kids play RL.
People aren't kidding when they say Penrith is the rugby league capital of the world. That is embarrassing.

 

[MugaB]

We can't keep going down the spiral of housing commission sections of Penrith being the only place that NRL players come from and then those dero's drag the game through the mud with bad dero Cleary type behavior so that more and more Penrith is the only place where families let their kids play RL.
People aren't kidding when they say Penrith is the rugby league capital of the world. That is embarrassing.

Well then every club should strive to get the kids in their local area playing and achieve that pathway to the top..... aren't too many clubs interested in development... parra are a perfect example of that...
...beside Tboon seems like your jealous again, maybe the hunters can organise another interstate cup game with penrith side that just won 2 back to back titles

 

[Smug Panther]

The difference between getting drafted to the NFL or NBA compared to the NRL.

Cade Cunningham 1st overall pick in last year's NBA draft signed a 4 year $US45 million dollar contract with the first year worth over $US10M. This is before any endorsement deals.

Travon Walker 1st overall pick in the NFL draft: $US37 million over 4 years. Again, endorsement deals not considered.

For that amount of money you'd be prepared to be drafted anywhere. For a rookie NRL player on a literal fraction of that? You'd be prepared to say f**k a draft I'll go where I'm happiest thanks.

Yeah I'd f**k off to England or Rugby for a few years before ruining my career at the Tigers

 

[T-Boon]

Yeah I'd f**k off to England or Rugby for a few years before ruining my career at the Tigers

The tigers would be aware of how you feel and trade you to Parra for Jake Arthur

 

[The Lounge Lizard]

We can't keep going down the spiral of housing commission sections of Penrith being the only place that NRL players come from and then those dero's drag the game through the mud with bad dero Cleary type behavior so that more and more Penrith is the only place where families let their kids play RL.
People aren't kidding when they say Penrith is the rugby league capital of the world. That is embarrassing.

Then again being brought up in a high class brothel in Kings Cross is on your resume?

Just f**k the f**k off you self entitled piece of shit.

 

[T-Boon]

Then again being brought up in a high class brothel in Kings Cross is on your resume?

Just f**k the f**k off you self entitled piece of shit.

A piece of shit has a thousand eyes

 

[anjado]

That’s a very very big call. League has made some absolute horrible decisions in its time

It would completely eliminate any sort of tribalism from the game. There would be no point to suburban games or teams based there everyone just becomes Sydney.

Nearly every club legend in the history of the game is a local player.

We need to expand our pool of players. A Draft won't help this what would help us teams like Newcastle, St George Illawarra, Wests Tigers, Warriors Getting there pathways and junior development right.

Expanding the game to areas of untapped potential. NZ needs another 1-2 teams. Another Brisbane team and central Qld team.

Perth 100% needs a team they have a bigger junior base than the Roosters, that's without a team for 25 years if you had a decent team that's potentially way more players to choose from.

I would chuck Adelaide in that too if we could build teams get solid junior representation and development they could start providing NRL players too.

We also have a lot of untapped international markets, instead of the NRL wasting time with a draft we should look at finding ways to get players from foreign rugby league competitions here.

There is a huge amount of untapped potential we've only really started looking in the Pacific. So many more areas we could search and improve the game

 

[Saxon]

1. A draft won't increase the total player pool. If anything it will reduce it as clubs have less incentive to support local junior leagues. Which leads to...

2. Responsibility for junior development would fall back on the State and National governing bodies. Given how well the NRL can't run an under 20's comp this is a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Mr Angry]

No.

Communist principles.

Melbourne seem to get by without producing juniors.

Free market.

 

[Marshall_magic]

Young lad grows up in Queensland, dreams of playing for the dolphins, all of a sudden he gets drafted to a backwater called Perth.

Nah, not gunna happen.

considering that nowadays players need to sulk and play the mental health card they are guaranteed a release. At least in the states where the draft happens the players can’t just fly in the face of it because they don’t like where they get drafted and the clubs have an iota of control.

 

[flippikat]

The argument against the draft is the tanking issue (automatically giving the highest draft pick to the bottom team etc). You would to have to get around that.

Also the fact that RL juniors have the option of going to rugby union (particularly in NZ) where not only would they be free to choose where they play, but have a lot of options as well.

A draft works best when the talent pool has few to zero options (especially well earning ones) outside the draft - even more so when it's a sport like NFL or AFL football where there's REALLY no other options.

 

[The Lounge Lizard]

A piece of shit has a thousand eyes

It falls out of one eye.

A brown eye.

 

[Perth Red]

in an ideal world jnr development and increasing participation would be properly funded and managed by the state bodies. Then clubs would pick up the best 17 year olds and turn them into professionals. In that scenario a draft would work well. But far too much self interest for us ever to get there.

 

[Colk]

Also the fact that RL juniors have the option of going to rugby union (particularly in NZ) where not only would they be free to choose where they play, but have a lot of options as well.

A draft works best when the talent pool has few to zero options (especially well earning ones) outside the draft - even more so when it's a sport like NFL or AFL football where there's REALLY no other

That is correct as well. I’m not staunchly anti-draft, definitely not against one individual body doing player development but the game has unique problems which makes a draft very dificult to implement

There does need to be a counterweight to the salary cap and preferably something transparent. I’d prefer a points system/cap or a marquee player allowance or something like that as opposed to a draft

One thing I’ll say is the discussion about transfer windows is welcome. Anything to get away from this idea of players signing more than a year in advance.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

That is correct as well. I’m not staunchly anti-draft, definitely not against one individual body doing player development but the game has unique problems which makes a draft very dificult to implement

There does need to be a counterweight to the salary cap and preferably something transparent. I’d prefer a points system/cap or a marquee player allowance or something like that as opposed to a draft

One thing I’ll say is the discussion about transfer windows is welcome. Anything to get away from this idea of players signing more than a year in advance.

I’d like this just to shut the brown paper bags accusations but how would you see it working? If say a player who makes it at international level is worth X points, do we award a PNG rep the same points as a NZ rep despite the class difference? We can divide nations into tiers of course but what if SualliIi sticks with a tier two Samoa? Origin players would be worth a certain level of points that other equally talent players won’t get because of their ineligibility to play Origin. Oh and yes please to transfer windows.

 

[Colk]

I’d like this just to shut the brown paper bags accusations but how would you see it working? If say a player who makes it at international level is worth X points, do we award a PNG rep the same points as a NZ rep despite the class difference? We can divide nations into tiers of course but what if SualliIi sticks with a tier two Samoa? Origin players would be worth a certain level of points that other equally talent players won’t get because of their ineligibility to play Origin. Oh and yes please to transfer windows.

Exactly, the implementation is the hardest thing. There are problems: one you have identified being how do you rate them. The other being points being too interchangeable, so for example somebody liked Sualii jumping from a rookie rating to a rep player in a year or vice versa a rep player losing his place in first grade.

On the latter you would probably have the points rated over a longer period of say three or five years - so teams could go over their points any one year but as long as you are on or below the points over that longer period you’d be fine.

There is no perfect system per se but at least with a points system it is completely transparent. You would remove all the accusations against your club and you’d remove all reason for a club to cheat the salary cap.

Transfer windows should be done. It is a joke that we have blokes signing more than a year out

 

[Billythekid]

I think a code needs to either have a rookie draft or promotion and relegation to create big interest in the lower tiers and thus become massive.
All the competitions/codes that have either of those are massive and the sports that don't are pretty small.

Kinda like how the ESL is a minnow sport in the UK and the NRL is the equal biggest sport in Australia?

This is such a hilariously dumb argument. The NRL won’t suddenly become the NFL or premier league just because it has a draft or relegation lol.

 

[marshall stalin]

The overseas drafts work as the players i understand are not affiliated with MLB/NFL/NHL/NBA teams when they are drafted from these High School/College sport programs.

Different here of course with players playing in junior league and junior rep sides in a particular NRL teams junior district.

The argument would be would clubs invest money in junior footy/junior footy players knowing any of these players could then drafted by other clubs.

Would need to look at some sort of payment system where clubs are reimbursed when other teams draft these junior players.

Would have to be an external draft only including players that are not contracted to any NRL Club.

Also how long do Draftees stay with the club that drafted them - would they go down the free agency path as well

 

[Bobby DIGital]

The RLPA wouldn't let it happen. Remember the Terry Hill situation?

How the draft legal challenge galvanised players

The 127 players who put their homes on the line to successfully challenge the draft system in court have been praised for giving the Rugby League Players Association credibility and purpose.

www.nrl.com

 

[Iamback]

Also the fact that RL juniors have the option of going to rugby union (particularly in NZ) where not only would they be free to choose where they play, but have a lot of options as well.

A draft works best when the talent pool has few to zero options (especially well earning ones) outside the draft - even more so when it's a sport like NFL or AFL football where there's REALLY no other options.

Nailed it right here,

Even if you go to Rugby or ESL for a season, The player then has choice of where to play.

Doesn't work in Rugby codes for this reason