Great thread.
I guess one of the points is that most of our greatest players who came through our ranks don't appear too often in this thread - Kenny, Hindmarsh, Ella, Grothe etc.
The main reason is that they impressed enough for coaches to know they were too good to play much lower grade stuff. They were juniors when they played first grade, and still dominated.
Maybe we shouldn't get too focused on bringing players up the grades.
TBH the two sides which have produced the most juniors in the NRL the last few years have been Dragons and Eels.
But the salary cap doesn;t help clubs develop these kids, because you have to maintain them firstly in the lower grades, then when they hit top grade they demand massive increases which usually requires the club to let go seasoned players.
At the end of the day Titans and Melbourne almost have an advantage under the salary cap in that they virtually just buy their top sides and bring who they need in from outside to supplement them.
The other clubs have to manage their top 25 and what they pay them has to be done with one eye on the players coming through, and the club and fan expectations to keep them.
Sometimes I wonder whether we should just let some of the juniors go and but seasoned ready to play first graders. Tough call I know, but is our wealth of lower grade and junior talent actually holding us back?
