In all seriousness is that how you think the Storm attracts juniors? Is it not possible that every other team had the same opportunity to grab the 'big 4 or 5'?
Um...Yes.
And yes, every club has access to the top players, and it is no great skill to identify players of the calibre of Inglis, Slater, Smith etc. Anyone who thinks these players weren't standouts in the juniors are kidding themselves. Every club was chasing them.
So, how did so many standouts finish up in Melbourne? Much has been said about how difficult it is to attract young players to move away from home. No problem in moving from Queensland to Melbourne though?
What you have to remember is that when Melbourne were systematically cheating the NRL salary cap they were also assembling an outstanding collection of under 20's. Haven't their U 20's dominated the comp for the last 3-4 years, and aren't these U20's now filling the gaps in the NRL after they had to release a lot of very overpaid, very average first graders? Widdop, Duffie, Nielson, O'Neill, Proctor, Bromwich, Kostjasyn????