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Dragons earn Carr's ire for dumping Flegg
Brad Walter
October 13, 2006
ST GEORGE Illawarra has axed its Jersey Flegg team in a move set to lead to a massive revamp of the competitions below NRL level.
The decision has angered the NSWRL, who run all tiers of the game in the state outside the NRL premiership, with general manager Geoff Carr yesterday accusing the Dragons of shortsightedness and suggesting the club had budgetary issues.
But St George Illawarra chief executive Peter Doust said the club was preparing for the introduction of an elite national under-20s competition in 2008 and would field a premier league team next season comprising of their best juniors and just a handful of older players.
The Dragons have an agreement with Shellharbour Marlins enabling them to call on players from the new Wollongong-based Jim Beam Cup club next season if necessary and that arrangement may be extended if the premier league competition is scrapped.
"In 2008 we contemplate that there will be a national youth competition and an NRL competition so we're preparing for that in 2007," Doust said. "The reason we are having a premier league team [instead of Jersey Flegg] is that we still have some players that are on contract that would be over age but the majority of our side will be under 20s, which is what we had this year anyway.
"We prefer that structure because we think it prepares them for first grade more readily than playing in a Jersey Flegg competition and in fact a number of our players that played first grade this year and a lot of our premier league players could have played Jersey Flegg."
Carr said he had not yet been formally advised the Dragons were pulling out of the Jersey Flegg and took aim at the club's management over the decision, which he suggested was a cost cutting exercise caused by paying over the odds for NRL players.
"The Dragons have got a reputation of overspending on players," Carr said. "But with the correct budget they could participate in this and not have a problem. You don't have to pay more than anyone else for every player. You can come up with a budget so I think it is a completely short-sighted option from a club that has supported NSW competitions since its inception."
Discussion about a national youth competition has been ongoing for more than a year and Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald, who is the chairman of a committee set up to investigate competition models, said he hoped the NRL partnership committee would sign off on the under-20s proposal at its next board meeting.
Under the plan, all 16 NRL teams would have an under-20s team that would play before the top grade clash each week. But there may be no premier league, with a NSW state league similar to the Queensland Cup having been mooted for some time.
It is envisaged that NRL clubs would either field sides or have feeder teams in the second tier competition, which may be an expanded Jim Beam Cup.
"I think there needs to be a restructure of NSW competitions as well, which I think will be contemplated on the back of this national youth competition being introduced," Doust said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/d...r-dumping-flegg/2006/10/12/1160246263370.html
Brad Walter
October 13, 2006
ST GEORGE Illawarra has axed its Jersey Flegg team in a move set to lead to a massive revamp of the competitions below NRL level.
The decision has angered the NSWRL, who run all tiers of the game in the state outside the NRL premiership, with general manager Geoff Carr yesterday accusing the Dragons of shortsightedness and suggesting the club had budgetary issues.
But St George Illawarra chief executive Peter Doust said the club was preparing for the introduction of an elite national under-20s competition in 2008 and would field a premier league team next season comprising of their best juniors and just a handful of older players.
The Dragons have an agreement with Shellharbour Marlins enabling them to call on players from the new Wollongong-based Jim Beam Cup club next season if necessary and that arrangement may be extended if the premier league competition is scrapped.
"In 2008 we contemplate that there will be a national youth competition and an NRL competition so we're preparing for that in 2007," Doust said. "The reason we are having a premier league team [instead of Jersey Flegg] is that we still have some players that are on contract that would be over age but the majority of our side will be under 20s, which is what we had this year anyway.
"We prefer that structure because we think it prepares them for first grade more readily than playing in a Jersey Flegg competition and in fact a number of our players that played first grade this year and a lot of our premier league players could have played Jersey Flegg."
Carr said he had not yet been formally advised the Dragons were pulling out of the Jersey Flegg and took aim at the club's management over the decision, which he suggested was a cost cutting exercise caused by paying over the odds for NRL players.
"The Dragons have got a reputation of overspending on players," Carr said. "But with the correct budget they could participate in this and not have a problem. You don't have to pay more than anyone else for every player. You can come up with a budget so I think it is a completely short-sighted option from a club that has supported NSW competitions since its inception."
Discussion about a national youth competition has been ongoing for more than a year and Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald, who is the chairman of a committee set up to investigate competition models, said he hoped the NRL partnership committee would sign off on the under-20s proposal at its next board meeting.
Under the plan, all 16 NRL teams would have an under-20s team that would play before the top grade clash each week. But there may be no premier league, with a NSW state league similar to the Queensland Cup having been mooted for some time.
It is envisaged that NRL clubs would either field sides or have feeder teams in the second tier competition, which may be an expanded Jim Beam Cup.
"I think there needs to be a restructure of NSW competitions as well, which I think will be contemplated on the back of this national youth competition being introduced," Doust said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/d...r-dumping-flegg/2006/10/12/1160246263370.html
darrr colonel i just posted that!
