On the 2 stadiums. I agree. It wouldn’t work in Sydney due to geographic lay out of the city.
Which is why NSW government had the three stadium policy of Allianz, Accor and Comm Bank stadiums. And even that has issues.
What do you do with Manly and Cronulla? they ain’t playing out of Allianz?
So I would think for it to work:
- Allianz - Easts, st George and souths
- Accor - Wests, Canterbury
- Comm Bank - Parra Penrith
- Brookvale - Manly just cause there is nothing on the north side
Cronulla and wests shift to Adelaide and Perth. Then you could shift bulldogs to either comm bank or Allianz or stay as sole tenant of Accor.
Thats 4 elite stadiums for 7 Sydney clubs. Even if you don’t shift the clubs, Cronulla should be made to move to Allianz. Do what the AFL did to Fitzroy. Make it hard for them to exist. If they keep bleeding money stop bailing them out and say “you got three options - die, merge or relocate to Perth, Adelaide or NZ2”.
NRL could also decide that both Manly and Cronulla need to go. Then you only need Allianz, Comm bank and Accor. No brookvale.
This proposal for Penrith to get a new stadium is insane when comm bank is what 40 mins away? As Peter Fitzsimmons mentioned, it’s gonna cost $600m by the time they build it. And it’s just a stunt announcement by Libs to keep Penrith seat. If they can’t grant NRL $800m they said they would - how they hell they gonna justify $600m just for Penrith for at best 15 games a year. It’s insane and won’t happen.
As for the benefits of the draft - AFL used to give clubs zones and regions to develop. So for example - Richmond Essendon Carlton and Collingwood were very dominant in the first half of 1900s. Mainly because their zones or regions grew the best players. They had access to the working class growth suburbs.
From the 1960s onwards, Richmond, Collingwood we’re still up there - but as the next generation of poor and kids moved to the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne you saw the rise of Hawthorn because that’s where the talent was. Hawks entered in 1925. Won their first premiership in 61. From 71 to 91 they won 8 premierships. They were in every grand final bar 1990 from 1983 to 1991. While they had great coaches, and secured some quality interstate talent they also had phenomenal talent from their zones.
So the old VFL system was the current NRL method. Teams are assigned regions to develop. Penrith are basically the hawks of the 80s. Out west is where the talent is. If your club has no talent in its region or lacks know how they are pretty much f**ked unless they do what the storm do with overlooked players or chuck money at it like Easts.
What the AFL did was say we need a level playing field and to take clubs out of the way of youth development. It’s the AFL system that groom kids from 12 to 18 to be drafted. Then clubs draft them and develop them from 18 on. Clubs also have access to aboriginal regions and local academies. But by and large it’s the AFL that runs youth development, which gives each club the ability to identify needs and talent and pick them if available.
There really isn’t all that much tanking anymore. Like NRL the bottom four are really just shit. To be honest, maybe Melbourne was as much a basket case as Wests ten years ago - and similarly they were a poorly run club etc. The draft gave Melbourne access to talent year after year until finally they got the administration and coaching sorted and off they went. Wests is never gonna get access to Penrith junior system. So it makes it much harder for them to turn it around.
So to me that’s the value of the draft and AFL running junior development. Greater access to more talent regardless of where your team is located. And yes, some players do get homesick and move back to Melbourne or Adelaide or perth. Just as some players don’t like the spot light of Melbourne like Franklin, Neale and Daniher who all left Melbourne and Perth to play for Brisbane and Sydney.
The difference with the AFL system is when a Munster type decides to leave, if he’s a restricted free agent (8 years at one club), you get draft compensation. If/when Munster leaves the storm - we get nothing. Under the AFL system - we’d get at least a 1st round pick. Meaning even with Munster gone we would get access to a kid we rank in the top 20 for his age.
Now obviously there are pros and cons to the draft and AFL system. But AFL worked with the model NRL use, saw little value in it for the future of the game in the 80s and moved on from it to grow the game across the nation. NSWRL/ARL tried the draft - without understanding what they were trying to achieve with it as they never gave a shit about developing youth in foreign states like the AFL Did - and it blew up in there face with Terry Hill.
But which ever model you have, money for tv rights etc need to be funnelled in to juniors in qld, nsw, nz, pacific islands, Victoria and SA and WA if they come in. There is no point giving money to Sydney clubs that have access to less talent than Penrith and Parra as they won’t use the money for youth, they’ll piss it away on buying players - to the detriment of the youth in their local area which in turn undermines the NRL with poor junior development - and so the cycle continues.
So my point about the AFL draft was more about the model they have chosen is all about growing the game, maximising all talent across Australia and allowing the poorer performing clubs access to talent so they can climb the ladder regardless of where they are located.
No club is developing its youth like Penrith has under the systems Gould set up. And part of that is because Penrith have access to superior youth and talent. The only other model you’ve got is Melbourne who have like one player from Victoria, play money ball and scout players or Easts who just pretty much outright but everyone.
Youth development is inconsistent across the NRL, as opposed to AFL where consistency reigns because the AFL run the junior system across the country. Thats the point I was trying to get at. Which then all goes back to good governance, strong leadership and vision etc.
