I think some form of national under age competition is important for professional development and also prestige. First though i would introduce a state based u20 cup to run in parallel to the SG ball, HM cups and qld equivalent. Starting in february with 9 games and finals, Culminating in a championship game as the u16 and u18s do now in may. This will tie in well with the timing of the nrl rep window during which there should be u20 origin and then a u20 international a week later. The aim of the state based competition should be to capture as many playing centres as possible, so there needs to be an integration of the CRL pathways into HM and SG ball cup in nsw- newy, central coast, illawarra and canberra have a presence already but sides based around the current CRL divisions is neccessary, so that would be East coast dolphins (groups 1, 2 and 3), northern tigers (groups 4, 19 and 21), western rams (groups 10 and 11), southern redbacks(group 6,7 and 16) and bidgee bulls (groups 9 and 20). All 5 sides would be funded by grants from the ARLC distributed by the CRL.
After the rep window i would then begin the NYC with NRL branding but in a different format to now. 2 groups of 8 teams with 4 sydney and 4 interstate teams in each group to maintain travel fairness, the groups would be drawn randomly each year using these rules. 14 home and away games thrn semi finals and the GF before the state championship on nrl gf day. The age restrictrion would be lifted to u23 to remove the age pressure on the young folk in the system and keep players in the pro pathway longer therefore enhancing the depth of the player pool over time.
