Rugby Australia to target top NRL talent

[Wb1234]

Rebels death means the decades the aru spent developing junior bases will now feed into the storm

Hopefully force soon go the same way leaving wa clear as well

 

[taste2taste]

Should focus their efforts on junior players that they can get into the system early. No point wasting millions on established players. Cut RA’s production line off at the knees.

League already has the best kids sewn up, our pathways are 100 years ahead of unions.

The chink in leagues armour is the Union private schools who offer scholarships to many of leagues best juniors. 99% of them come back to league but there are a handful of players that are lost to union, most recently max Jorgenson, Zach Fittler, suaallii and there is currently a tug of war over Penrith junior Lemoto who was scouted by the Scot’s college and put on a rugby scholarship and now Rugby Australia are keen to sign him.

 

[Perth Red]

League already has the best kids sewn up, our pathways are 100 years ahead of unions.

The chink in leagues armour is the Union private schools who offer scholarships to many of leagues best juniors. 99% of them come back to league but there are a handful of players that are lost to union, most recently max Jorgenson, Zach Fittler, suaallii and there is currently a tug of war over Penrith junior Lemoto who was scouted by the Scot’s college and put on a rugby scholarship and now Rugby Australia are keen to sign him.

Thing is Union are just trying to sign players for one team in effect, where as we want a whole comp full of talent. We will always lose the odd individual due to that but as long as 95% of the most talented Rugby (sic) kids are choosing RL then all good.

 

[bazza]

Thing is Union are just trying to sign players for one team in effect, where as we want a whole comp full of talent. We will always lose the odd individual due to that but as long as 95% of the most talented Rugby (sic) kids are choosing RL then all good.

yes - if you are a good junior player who plays both RU and RL - then your options after leaving school are either the 1 RU side in your area or multiple NRL clubs
If you are the second best RU player in your position or the coach doesn't rate you then you might not get a look in - however if you are the 10th best RL player or out of favour with your local team there are plenty of options.

I would also say going down pro RL path in Australia is going to be lower risk as the upside is just as good as RU with 10 times the opportunities

 

[Vlad59]

WA will be our next Union battle ground. For too long The Force and more recently Twiggy's funded academy has been hoovering up the best Rugby (sic) talent in WA. With the (hopefully) arrival of a Perth NRL club in 2027 and significantly increased grassroots funding to NRLWA we should be able to crush Unions grip on the best kids here.

This is happening in Victoria with the demise of the rebels. We should see nice growth outside QLD and NSW in the next few years. That won’t shut the whingers up though

 

[taste2taste]

Thing is Union are just trying to sign players for one team in effect, where as we want a whole comp full of talent. We will always lose the odd individual due to that but as long as 95% of the most talented Rugby (sic) kids are choosing RL then all good.

Yes, good point. Rugby Australia only need 15 good players to be successful. If the wallabies are winning then all is good in Rara land. That’s why they are throwing the kitchen sink at Lemoto and will probably win the race for his signatutue.

Having said that, it’s extremely difficult to gauge who at school boy level will end up being a star professionally. If you look through the Australian schoolboys teams over the years only about 50% of them end up in the nrl.

co captains of the 1999 ‘ greatest Australian schoolboys teams ever ‘ Rowbotham and Cunningham never made it. Moses Suli signed the highest ever contract by a school boy and has had a decent career but far from the generational talent he was tipped to be. Karl Filiga was going to be the next SBW and a bidding war between Canterbury and Cronulla made him the 2nd highest paid school boy in the games history…he played 11 minutes in the nrl, coming off the bench in 1 game.

 

[Wb1234]

This was touched on before the money isn’t high enough in league to get estabslished stars

No nrl club will risk 500k to a million on an unproven union player so the chances of getting any established union stars is nil

When the nrl clubs can afford to waste one million pa and not think it’s anything much then they will take more risks

Or salary cap exemptions but are they even worth it

 

[Jetka100]

yes - if you are a good junior player who plays both RU and RL - then your options after leaving school are either the 1 RU side in your area or multiple NRL clubs
If you are the second best RU player in your position or the coach doesn't rate you then you might not get a look in - however if you are the 10th best RL player or out of favour with your local team there are plenty of options.

I would also say going down pro RL path in Australia is going to be lower risk as the upside is just as good as RU with 10 times the opportunities

That’s why I think another NZ team will eventually help NRL become the dominant code in the Pacific by opening up the pathways for their juniors and those from the Pacific Islands. They should offer or require all players in any future u21s either free university or a trade they can do whilst playing.

 

[Perth Red]

This was touched on before the money isn’t high enough in league to get estabslished stars

No nrl club will risk 500k to a million on an unproven union player so the chances of getting any established union stars is nil

When the nrl clubs can afford to waste one million pa and not think it’s anything much then they will take more risks

Or salary cap exemptions but are they even worth it

Its a shame they havent given the expansion clubs a 5 year salary cap grace for signing union players. Perth signing a load of South Africans would possibly reduce the impact on other NRL clubs and create another competitive international team eventually.

 

[Wb1234]

Its a shame they havent given the expansion clubs a 5 year salary cap grace for signing union players.

Perth and png don’t need them. Who could Perth sign from Union who would make people watch when they don’t show up for the force

Nz2 maybe signing a few all blacks would be good for publicity

 

[Vlad59]

Perth and png don’t need them. Who could Perth sign from Union who would make people watch when they don’t show up for the force

Nz2 maybe signing a few all blacks would be good for publicity

I think you missed the point of his post tbh. Signing quality union players, particularly under 20s from other countries like SA expands the player pool and potential growth outside of Australia. Rugby union has quite a strong presence in WA by the way

 

[bazza]

That’s why I think another NZ team will eventually help NRL become the dominant code in the Pacific by opening up the pathways for their juniors and those from the Pacific Islands. They should offer or require all players in any future u21s either free university or a trade they can do whilst playing.

imagine it is the opposite in NZ at the moment if you are good at both RU/RL - with the advantage of RL that players can move to Australia. For a junior RU player in Australia there is no option to go pro overseas unless you have a UK/Ireland passport

 

[Vlad59]

Its a shame they havent given the expansion clubs a 5 year salary cap grace for signing union players. Perth signing a load of South Africans would possibly reduce the impact on other NRL clubs and create another competitive international team eventually.

Good post. Given the brutal treatment of league by union in South Africa poaching their juniors and creating nrl pathways for them in a new club like Perth is a bloody good strategy

 

[bazza]

Its a shame they havent given the expansion clubs a 5 year salary cap grace for signing union players. Perth signing a load of South Africans would possibly reduce the impact on other NRL clubs and create another competitive international team eventually.

best thing would be to keep growing the NRL salary cap sustainably so that the gap between RU and RL is large enough for players to make the switch e.g. there is no incentive for NFL teams to recruit RL/RU players - though players will give it a go because if they make it they are so much better off financially

 

[bazza]

Good post. Given the brutal treatment of league by union in South Africa poaching their juniors and creating nrl pathways for them in a new club like Perth is a bloody good strategy

I imagine that there may be visa issues - but if there were NRL scouts in SA following juniors it would probably be an opportunity most would take to live in Australia for a couple of years regardless of the sport that they are playing

 

[taste2taste]

I imagine that there may be visa issues - but if there were NRL scouts in SA following juniors it would probably be an opportunity most would take to live in Australia for a couple of years regardless of the sport that they are playing

The roosters signed 2 South African union school boys stars, Du Plusis and Skosana. Neither cracked the nrl and I believe both are playing union some where around the world.

If the NRL wants to have a crack at signing the worlds best union players it’s imperative that they introduce cap incentives.

Some of the worlds best union players ( Farell, Clarke, Barrett, Savea, Mo,unga ) have said they’d love to try playing in the nrl….what has the nrl done to try and incentivise clubs to sign them ?

Just imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and Haas, Cleary and the Hamer had said they’d love to try union ? Rugby Australia, French and Japan Union clubs would be knocking at their door.