By TERRY LIBEROPOULOS
THERE has been plenty of talk regarding a national Under 21s competition being introduced by the NRL.
While a number of clubs prefer a nationwide reserve grade, the truth is that the Queensland Rugby League isn’t too keen on that. I can understand in some way as it would impact on the Q Cup competition.
While the New South Wales counterparts mainly field second-grade teams with the exception of Newtown and North Sydney who continue to fly the flag. Western Suburbs have the link with Wests Tigers while the Bears could soon be back in the top flight as the WA Bears. There is still a long way to go with that but hopefully the NRL and the Western Australian government will come to an agreement sooner, rather than later.
The Queensland Cup is different as all their clubs, despite having feeder relationships with NRL clubs, are stand-alone with plenty of history. Some of those clubs’ histories stretch back to 1909 when rugby league was first played in Queensland.
The Brisbane Tigers, previously known as Eastern Suburbs, were originally known as Coorparoo and became Easts in 1933 when district rugby league was established.
Wynnum-Manly, Souths (Logan) Magpies, Norths and Ipswich have been involved in rugby league for a long time.
The Tweed Seagulls have been around for more than 100 years while Mackay Cutters and Northern Pride were admitted to the Queensland Cup in 2007. In the past 17 years, it has given the game a huge lift in Mackay and Cairns. Good attendances and more players involved in the game has given the area the boost they needed.
With teams from Central QueenslandCapras, Western Clydesdales (Toowoomba), Townsville Blackhawks and Sunshine Coast Falcons most areas of Queensland are covered with this statewide competition.
In the NSW Rugby League, there isn’t a team between Newcastle and the NSW-Queensland border, nothing west of Penrith, the same south of Wollongong. It would be different if there were teams based in Wagga, Dubbo, Bathurst, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Tamworth and the far South Coast playing the likes of North Sydney, Newtown, Balmain and Western Suburbs.
Which brings us back to the National Youth Competition. The Under 20s competition, that was known as the Holden and Toyota Cup, was introduced in 2008. I remember how much publicity it received, probably more than it should have.
I had written in my editorial that I wasn’t a huge fan of it and would have preferred it to be a national reserve grade competition. While the first two or three seasons produced some good standard of football, it slowly started to decline.
The major problem, which Phil Gould understood pretty early on, was that the gap between the Under 20s to the NRL was much bigger than many officials realised. Many of the players were 19 years of age, some even as young as 18.
This new proposal lifts the age to 21, in line with the Jersey Flegg competition. There is still a big space between that and playing in the NRL. Some will argue that players can move into the NSW Cup and Queensland Cup for experience but the standard of those competitions has declined in the past 15 to 20 years.
NRL clubs prefer to rest players than send them back to those competitions which means experienced players are not involved in the NSW / Queensland Cups. You might get two or three dropping back when there should be at least six or seven players that should be playing in the second-tier every round.
My suggestion to the NRL is if there is to be an Under 21s national competition, allow three over-aged players to play. If that worked well, you can always increase that number to four or five in the future.
I believe there will be plenty of benefits by having this rule. The first would be that the youngsters would gain much needed experience by playing with grown men. This would prepare them better when they play in the NRL. Instead of just playing with players your own age, you can test yourself against older players.
Sure, they can also play in the NSW/Queensland Cups but in the old Under 20s competition, many players went straight from the under-age premiership to the NRL.
The Under 21s national competition would be staged before the NRL games meaning that if St George Illawarra played North Queensland in Townsville, they would send two squads.
Previously, it was just the NRL squad but they would take with them 22 to 23 players. That would mean that four or five players wouldn’t be playing in the NSW Cup because they are in Townsville. Even if the NRL team was playing on Friday night in Townsville and the NSW Cup was running around in Sydney on Sunday, you might be lucky to get one player that was in Townsville to play in the NSW Cup.
By having the Under 21s match played prior to the NRL game, there is no reason why three over-aged players that were part of the squad of 22 or 23 can’t play in that game. They are already in Townsville and it would be better to give them game time instead of sitting in the stands looking pretty.
Sure you could put three over-aged players that could be part-timers, especially if you’re playing at home and don’t need to fly them interstate. But they can always play in the NSW Cup.
The NRL is looking at increasing the top 30 at each NRL club as high as 38. The hierarchy could make a rule that players inside the top 38 (or whatever the number is) are only allowed to be part of the three over-aged players. If there were too many injuries, clubs would apply to bring in a development player.
The rule would have to be that three over-aged players must be used in the squad of 17. There is no doubt this would add much more interest in the game and also allow the NSW / Queensland Cup competitions to continue.
The state competitions wouldn’t be affected as much because, as I mentioned, many clubs rest players or take them with them when they play away.
Imagine if someone like Clinton Gutherson is working his way back from injury and and pays in the Under 21s to gain some match fitness. Or Damien Cook is dropped because of a drop in form. This would add more excitement to the competition but most importantly give the younger players a huge buzz.
The experienced players would no doubt increase the standard of play and supporters would love watching the action.
Some might argue that the older players might injure the younger players or one of the youths will try and knock-out the older players to try and prove a point. I don’t think that is an issue, especially with the rules in place that make rugby league the safest it has ever been.
Yes, I would prefer the national reserve grade competition but that doesn’t look like it will happen. The game needs to look outside the box.
With 20 teams planned for the NRL in the future, we need to make sure the game keeps developing players. This idea would no doubt prepare the new generation for a life in the NRL
