I agree, he is missing the point completely. Gallop has done okay, but i wish that he was more articulate and stroingly spoken to put Gould in his place.
That rubbish about Storm should be allowed to keep Inglis, Slater etc. cos they're home grown... Gallop was right - If this was allowed there would be a lot of clubs that wouldn't survive. Can you imagine Gus Gould's own ROOSTERS in that situation? There is no way that his roosters would be able to compete against the likes of Penrith etc. if clubs were so heavily rewarded for producing and maintaining their own juniors.
What rubbish. I can't believe that some people listed to the dribble that is coming out of Gould's mouth.
And that elderly lady - GAH, of course eveyone wants to be as sucessful as the storm. I'd love to have the kind of quality players that they have. But you know what else I'd love - I'd love to live in a mansion. I'd love to drive a VW golf, spend 3 months of the year in the bahamas and cure all poverty in the world. Unfortunately, I can't. NRL clubs can't sustain teams like the storm! There is not enough money in the game! Why is there not enough money in the game, thats another story (whether NRL are to blame for not negotiating a better tv deal, etc.). The rules are there for a reason. Bottom line is, Storm have cheated. They should be punished. And Gould should STFU!
You think clubs that can't produce any of their own juniors should be supported by those that can? Why? Perhaps in a market where we have relic clubs that don't represent rugby league areas, or put back into the game shouldn't play in the national competition? Or at least shouldn't be very successful? The only exception being a new frontier club like Melbourne who provide the benefit of growth of the code.
Think about it. You could almost draw up a map of NSW and there'd be natural fit for clubs to take care of areas and have free access to those juniors. Dragons would have the South Coast, Canberra southern NSW, Newcastle take care of Hunter / New England, Western Sydney is well covered and if it means that Easts and Cronulla fold up (or remain in the comp but aren't powerhouses) then so be it. Souths could do a good enough job of covering the South/East (provided they move back that way!)
Over time, with planning, you could see all areas covered with their own teams, Gosford, North Coast etc, with remaining areas (ie: the north west of NSW, not much population there btw) part of a common access of juniors, where clubs that use these areas must put a return into grassroots funding. Also, it's not like there wouldn't be a salary cap for purchasing outside area either - eg: St George Illawarra haven't produced a brilliant halfback in a long time (Matt Head the one and only) so clubs would still be looking around for some outside talent.
So simply, a very long term strategy like this would:
1. Reward clubs who can produce juniors
2. Provide a framework for the spread of the game.
3. Still be competitive.
Financially, big corporates would still have 16 shirts to sponsor, being in or outside of Sydney, or in the east or west of Sydney, shouldn't make a difference in getting the big sponsorship deals.
The people running the game need to plan to create frameworks that benefit the game in more than one area, instead of one dimensional concepts such as Gallop's "keeping the competition close and exciting" with the simplistic salary cap.
