theres struggling then theres struggling!
An extra year to build the systems in WA and NS and recruit better may be the difference between being bottom for 2-3 years and 10th-12th. That matters when you're trying to keep the excitement and momentum for fans and corporates of a new club.
Not sure why 2027 makes sense anyways other than to stagger it with PNG entry. Not unless they sign a tv deal with the incumbents to start a new deal a year earlier with 9 games.
End of day at this point any start date will do me!
Its more at reserve grade level than below that Im thinking. A year or two to recruit 20-22 year old talent to play reserve grade level would hopefully see the club having some talent coming through for year 1-3 and not just be reliant on picking up players from other clubs.
Yeh I get staggering with PNG, will be hard for two clubs to build rosters from scratch for same year. Even with PNG tax breaks you'd think Perth is going to be the preferred location to move to for most players?
Going to be a real arms race for talent for a few years!
Perth has the opportunity to raid England, Perth is already full of English, closer to home and time difference is better for talking with family. The weather and lifestyle wont hurt either! I hope we will have some talent scouts employed over there.
norths system must not be too bad if theyve made 2 gfs in a row in cup with different squads. the gap where they suffer is after sg ball theres no current j flegg. so best kids in harold matts age go elsewhere as pathway doesnt lead to nrl.
also like
@BuffaloRules says west aussie juniors are gonna take ages to get right. didnt storm and warrior only introduce junior sides not long ago after how much years of existence? the $120m gov cash is suppose to be funneled towards local west aussie juniors to assist in developing them to grade quicker. its a big job. bigger than a single nrl team can do especially when there's no historical set up like panthers etc who even then needed assistance to streamline the whole thing.
likewise the poach to english super league doesnt make much sense. a couple players sure but its not like historically in nrl era englishmen have come here and ripped in with great success. its getting better for sure but the overall sample size still reads as majority dont reach expectations and quickly move back to ESL.
it'll be nsw and qld supplying the quality juniors who have potential to get into grade for foreseeable future as thats where overwhelming majority of player resource exists.
papua is different. i think their side will be made up of majority pasifika heritage and papuan natives players. they might be competing with west aussie bears for players as negotiating but lets be real thats what it'll mostly be, negotiating and not actual signatures on paper. west aussie bears biggest threat will be the lower placed nrl sides who need to get off bottom of table and have fixed their caps up.