Would a "Designated Player" system be beneficial for the NRL?

[T-Boon]

Also the designated defender who can defend anywhere they want (on the defensive side of the play the ball). Eg does not have to be back 10. M.

 

[Saxon]

You could make the argument having 2 marquee players ( similar to the Super League, 2 players contracts don't count towards the cap ) would even the comp.

For example if the Broncos made Haas and Walsh thier marquee players, the Tigers could make Reynolds or Mann thier marquee players.

Having said that, it doesn't seem to work well in the Super League, while it stops thier top 24 players going to Union it hasn't made the comp even with the same 2 clubs winning every season

Teams like the Tigpies would still have to pay massive overs to get a legitimate superstar, whether it's inside or outside the cap.
Do you seriously think that Mann would go to Wests for the same money he would get at the Broncos who at least have a chance to play finals?

 

[Perth Red]

With clubs cashed up now they should look at a marquee signing allowance like SL. Every club gets one or two players where cap space is $750k but they can pay them whatever they like. If they have made their nrl debut for that club the cap cost drops to $500k. Would mean every club has a quality franchise player or two.

 

[Marshall_magic]

With clubs cashed up now they should look at a marquee signing allowance like SL. Every club gets one or two players where cap space is $750k but they can pay them whatever they like. If they have made their nrl debut for that club the cap cost drops to $500k. Would mean every club has a quality franchise player or two.

IMO it would just lead to more star players getting poached.

 

[Sans Souci Saint]

 

[Cheese sandwich]

We could schedule games to be played being big bash innings. 40 second halves, fireworks and fast paced football.

 

[This Year?]

The scary thing is the gap is widening so far between the best and the worst clubs that threads like this are being made with ideas to try to close the gap.
If someone could find a solution to creating an even talent spread it would help alot, but I don't think a draft is the answer. Clubs need to be better and it's partly the NRL's responsibility too. How they could approve a shit player getting over half a mil is beyond me.
I have no problem with players making as much money as they can, but that should be done through rep games and 3rd party, not the cap.

 

[Mike Oxbigg]

Does he mean the designated attacker must have a DV conviction?

 

[Captain Apollo]

The Designated player is the one that bakes the sub-standard cookies that crumble.

Do they also squeeze the oranges for the juice to be drunk by the players at half time too?

 

[Trifili13]

Do they also squeeze the oranges for the juice to be drunk by the players at half time too?

They also bring the jelly snakes, so must be able to multi-task.

 

[MKCS]

The scary thing is the gap is widening so far between the best and the worst clubs that threads like this are being made with ideas to try to close the gap.
If someone could find a solution to creating an even talent spread it would help alot, but I don't think a draft is the answer. Clubs need to be better and it's partly the NRL's responsibility too. How they could approve a shit player getting over half a mil is beyond me.
I have no problem with players making as much money as they can, but that should be done through rep games and 3rd party, not the cap.

The reason the best and worst clubs are so different is usually due to mismanagement, how is the NRL going to help that?

Take the Tigers for example, we all know about their misfortunes but instead of retaining a good coach (Such as Madge) or going to market for a good one they hired a 72 year old Tim Sheens then got rid of him prematurely to bring in a very inexperienced Benji who is backed by an equally as inexperienced coaching staff. Not many players want to go and play for Benji and his inexperienced coaching staff so the Tigers struggle.

The NRL can't help the Tigers if they want to live in 2005 and pray that Benji, Farah, Sheens and Heighington will deliver them a premiership.

However, I do think the draft would help, if you look at the rookie players that would've likely been drafted first and the teams that finished last since 2020 it would've been a pretty big help for those teams.

Harry Grant would've gone to the Titans instead of the Storm.

Sam Walker would've gone to the Broncos instead of the Roosters

Jeremiah Nanai would've gone to the Bulldogs instead of the Cowboys

Sunia Turuva would've gone to the Tigers instead of the Panthers.

---

Three of those four great young players who went onto be rookie of the year went to very strong star studded sides.

 

[ACTPanthers]

They also bring the jelly snakes, so must be able to multi-task.

Damn... I'm out

 

[Perth Red]

The reason the best and worst clubs are so different is usually due to mismanagement, how is the NRL going to help that?

Take the Tigers for example, we all know about their misfortunes but instead of retaining a good coach (Such as Madge) or going to market for a good one they hired a 72 year old Tim Sheens then got rid of him prematurely to bring in a very inexperienced Benji who is backed by an equally as inexperienced coaching staff. Not many players want to go and play for Benji and his inexperienced coaching staff so the Tigers struggle.

The NRL can't help the Tigers if they want to live in 2005 and pray that Benji, Farah, Sheens and Heighington will deliver them a premiership.

However, I do think the draft would help, if you look at the rookie players that would've likely been drafted first and the teams that finished last since 2020 it would've been a pretty big help for those teams.

Harry Grant would've gone to the Titans instead of the Storm.

Sam Walker would've gone to the Broncos instead of the Roosters

Jeremiah Nanai would've gone to the Bulldogs instead of the Cowboys

Sunia Turuva would've gone to the Tigers instead of the Panthers.

---

Three of those four great young players who went onto be rookie of the year went to very strong star studded sides.

you could only have a draft if you took away the responsibility for jnr development away from nrl clubs. Never going to happen. The cap is supposed to be the leveler. Maybe a cap differentiator depending on league position is an option?> So finish bottom get a higher cap for next two years? Having said that like you said you cant process out stupid club decisions.

 

[YoungPanther]

We could pay Cleary $10M a year and Cleary could then employ the following on the basis they play for the minimum with the Panthers

Critter - $1M to clean his boots
Luai - $1M a year to drive him to games
Api - $1M to clean his house

and we would have never lost a player.

 

[chrisD]

IMO it would just lead to more star players getting poached.

Yeah, we'd designate Cleary and Yeo then if they were smart teams would come with designated money for Edwards and Leota.

 

[This Year?]

The reason the best and worst clubs are so different is usually due to mismanagement, how is the NRL going to help that?

Take the Tigers for example, we all know about their misfortunes but instead of retaining a good coach (Such as Madge) or going to market for a good one they hired a 72 year old Tim Sheens then got rid of him prematurely to bring in a very inexperienced Benji who is backed by an equally as inexperienced coaching staff. Not many players want to go and play for Benji and his inexperienced coaching staff so the Tigers struggle.

The NRL can't help the Tigers if they want to live in 2005 and pray that Benji, Farah, Sheens and Heighington will deliver them a premiership.

However, I do think the draft would help, if you look at the rookie players that would've likely been drafted first and the teams that finished last since 2020 it would've been a pretty big help for those teams.

Harry Grant would've gone to the Titans instead of the Storm.

Sam Walker would've gone to the Broncos instead of the Roosters

Jeremiah Nanai would've gone to the Bulldogs instead of the Cowboys

Sunia Turuva would've gone to the Tigers instead of the Panthers.

---

Three of those four great young players who went onto be rookie of the year went to very strong star studded sides.

Fair points. Some clubs are poorly managed and it puts them at a disadvantage. The NRL can't save them from themselves. It makes me wonder though, would those drafted players have played as well at the club they were drafted to?

 

[Trifili13]

The salary cap as far as I know was introduced to save clubs going broke rather than to spread the talent pool. In America where you see salary caps they also have a draft so they go together. Otherwise all you get in the NRL is players going to stronger clubs for 'unders' and weaker clubs have to pay 'overs' which screws their salary cap and also gives the better sides an artificial increase in their cap. Yet we hear players only having a short career and wanting to make as much money as possible to set themselves and their families up before they join the rest of us plebs in a real job.

As Toovey said "there needs to be an investigation".

 

[Perth Red]

Yeah, we'd designate Cleary and Yeo then if they were smart teams would come with designated money for Edwards and Leota.

I think that's the thing with marquee payments. In theory it would mean every club would have two high quality stars.

 

[MKCS]

Yeah, we'd designate Cleary and Yeo then if they were smart teams would come with designated money for Edwards and Leota.

Yeah but do Edwards and Leota stick with the Panthers for 1.0 - 1.25 million a season (Their contracts would go up if Cleary and Yeo are no longer under the cap) or do they go and sign with the Raiders, Tigers or Titans for 1.5 - 1.75 million a season?

Athletes are ultra competitive and we've already seen many players take massive unders to stick with a winning team. I think it'd very much be a case of a team like the Titans either having to spend their designated spots to retain the one or two existing star players they do have or going to market and getting good players at massive overs.

would those drafted players have played as well at the club they were drafted to?

That's a good point, you see in the NFL often a star draft player will struggle for at least the first few seasons but others flourish. It'd be down to the respective teams to draft well, have good coaches in place and recruit well I guess.

I think that's the thing with marquee payments. In theory it would mean every club would have two high quality stars.

Could create more of an imbalance though, A-League soccer has the marquee system in place, most teams don't utilise it much anymore but at its peak it was mainly Melbourne and Sydney signing the massive overseas stars with achievements in Europe and high profiles whilst the smaller market teams would have to spend their designated spots on fringe national team players or players with potential.

 

[Captain Apollo]

Drafts do not necessarily "spread the talent". It all depends on the people doing the selecting and the work they do in analysing available players. in many US sports, there have been teams who have had multiple years drafting with the no1 or no 2 pick who stuffed it up year after year - during the 1980s-1990s the LA Clippers in the NBA were a prime example.

Even then, there have been many cases in US sports of highly touted draft prospects turning out to be total duds when they went professional. If you want a prime example, look up the name" Ryan Leaf" when he was drafted in the NFL. He is widely considered one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history.