Scouts aren't the problem, theyve just juniors everywhere a whole SEQ to draw from, and they are still letting go of the best young talents, their problems are that there is no combined lower grade for the broncos, NYC did that for every NRL club, it meant you could test out your young halves combos or whatever else BEFORE they hit 1st grade, they are only able to do that in 1st grade, and if not good enough get dropped to play reserves for numerous QRL sides, which doesn't help them as a team or those players.
I covered this largely in The Passion of the Kevin Walters thread but the NYC wouldn't have solved the Broncos issues. If anything it would have just exacerbated matters as they would have promoted even more kids into NRL positions well before they were ready.
The issue is that management chopped their nose off to spite their face and it all went horribly wrong. Once they sacked Bennett it created a divide between the playing group and management and there were at least half a dozen regulars who sought releases because they saw the writing on the wall. The few that remained did it for the money or like in the case of Pangai Jr the NRL saw through the flagrant attempt to get sacked and punished the player for it making any transfer needlessly difficult.
You can't replace the bulk of your roster with kids, there's got to be a process and the Broncos upset the apple cart when they let Bennett go. Then COVID hit and it really exposed everything because the club had to cut all these expenses around the club which removed one of the few advantages they had. It became an unhappy environment to be in with former assistant coaches and staff looking to sue the club and a head coach who clearly had no answers to a horrific injury toll and inexperienced players.
They're still feeling the ramifications now and I don't think we've seen them hit bottom yet. That will happen when they'll release Lodge to another club and pick up the tab merely because of how unbalanced the roster is. That may have hit a snag with Carrigan's season ending injury but we'll see.
There issue right now is pretty obvious, the NRL team sucks and all the best emerging talent have signed on elsewhere. That isn't going to be solved until they manage their salary cap effectively and restore the balance of their roster.
Of all the talking heads, the one who nailed it was Trent Robinson. You have your 17 starters, you have about 10 depth players who can come in and fill the void when the team needs some experienced hands. Then you have your 3 long term guns who are special but won't be thrown to the wolves like Dearden, Paix, Niu etc. were.
I disagree that the lack of NYC has been the major factor behind this, but I do think the NYC could be the solution. When I look at the Panthers as a case study, the big thing that Gus brought to the club was time. Before Penrith were always in a rush to bring players like Wade Graham, Lachlan Coote, Sam McKendry etc. into the grade. When Gus instead opted to bring in players like Clint Newton, Matt Robinson, Ryan Simpkins etc. it just gave players like Isaah Yeo, Bryce Cartwright, RCG, DWZ etc. time and confidence.
One of the issues facing the Broncos is that they're promoting a lot of these players like Cory Paix, Josh James, Tesi Niu etc. into the Magpies and they're surrounded by really inexperienced ill-disciplined players. I think Brisbane should offer their affiliates more support to help their players develop but if they actually took a hands on approach and created a stronger system they would actually see more value for money than what they currently are.