I've never understood why this academy idea is seen as so innovative when we've always had one sinc ethe Brian Smith days, it just wasn't called that.
It's not seen as innovative; it's just something we've lacked
since Brian Smith, and has put us behind all the better organised clubs.
just as we are looking at doing to the cowboys after they have developed Jason Taumalolo.
But the Cowboys will at least get this year out of him (on peanuts) when he could well play at Origin level this season. If they'd pushed him into a longer contract before he'd gotten the chance to demolish Toyota Cup teams on national TV then they'd get this year
and next year out of him cheap, plus they'd be in the driving seat to be able to say - this year - that he could have an upgrade if he also signed an extension.
And the Eels wouldn't have any power to influence those negotiations as we currently do.
Of course, that was probably their plan anyway - Taumalolo is still eligible for NYC this year and if he hadn't been so dominant as an 18 year old they might have been able to extend his contract last year. As it was, his performances got other clubs interested meaning it would have been a no-brainer for his manager to wait and test him on the open market.
And like has already been pointed out, if he's happy at the Cowboys then they'd only have to match offers from other clubs or just come close.
I can't see how they will "lock it up". There are several salary caps that you are restricted by.
You sign him to a tiered contract so that he complies with the salary caps as he moves through the age groups.
You can not just sign every good prospect to long term contracts and the kids themselves will not short change themselves.
It comes down to who is the better - and more convincing - judge of the player's talent; the coaching staff or the player's manager. And the fact that you negotiate this contract while the player is young means that the influence of other clubs (through their own interest in the player) on negotiations is minimised.
If you can identify an SG Ball player as an almost certain future NRL player, and are able to enter into contract negotiations before other clubs have been able to get a proper look at him (as in, proper enough to be willling to commit salary cap space via a contract), then you're in the driving seat as far as contract negotiations go - 99% of the time a young player will take the first serious contract he is offered, and the managers (if any) of school-aged players never have a firm idea of what the player is worth so they are likely to encourage him to take the contract.
"A bird in the hand" and everything...
Of course, if you allow a player to come off contract at the same time as he is carving up in under 20s (e.g. Tony Williams) then of course the player's manager will be in the driving seat, and he will play the many newly interested clubs off against each other in the race for the biggest deal.
But ideally, when he is dominating the NYC and other clubs start ringing his manager to make offers, ideally his manager will have to tell those clubs "Sorry, the Eels have him locked up for another two years."
Eventually you'll have to get into a bidding war but by then he's an established first grader and you will have already planned to allocate that amount of cap space to him. With a bit of luck (and influential team mates in his ear) you can get him to sign an extension while he still has a year to run - before other clubs are making serious offers - just like we did last year with Loko, Allgood and co.
