Can see your point George, but that would still hamper the spreading of talent. If you look at the way it works and you are a team that is consistently top 4 ie Melb, then your elite juniors are not going to get much of a chance breaking into that side, may as well go to a side that finished bottom 4 and is struggling, ie Dragons
Correct me if I'm wrong but the draft would only be for players not re-signing with their current club. Including juniors.
I have actually forced myself not to expect anything this year or next, but good luck keeping all the supporters under wraps for 2 months, especially if the Keon Roosters deal is confirmed, people are going to lose their shit.
Dont quote me but you are correct in part. The senior players can elect to go to draft but they usually get picked up in the trade period prior. The pool of juniors get graded and dont really get a choice. It is complicated because you can trade picks etc between clubs and then there is compensation from the AFL, its quite complicated. You have to have a brilliant list manager not someone like Haran.
Yes, allowing juniors to avoid the draft would reduce the spread of talent somewhat. However, it rewards clubs which develop their juniors, which is good for the game and should also benefit the clubs. Another benefit is if a club has a promising junior in a position which the club has plenty of depth, the club can then trade the junior to a team which is acceptable to the junior for a player in a position that the club needs.
What do you mean by "enforcer"?
A reserve grade winger. Cant we do better than that.
Only supplementary contract.
someone who uses strength and aggression to gain an advantage and protects his less powerful team mates.
Okay. In that case, we already have several enforcers.
How has our catchment area worked for us in the last 10-15 years. Name me these magnificent NRL players that have come into our team and not been poached. Our development and retention of juniors has been ridiculously poor for over 10 years. Things may be changing now but we have years of catching up to do. The reality is we are a bottom 4 club and have been now for numerous years. Even with the current juniors we have means nothing, they are still unproven. The current system of talent sharing is beyond f#@ked up.
Remember before Penrih started winning, Roosters and Storm were dominating for the best part of a decade. I know they didn't always win but they were always up there. It seemed that at that time the idea was to disregard spending on grassroots and just recruit the right players. It seemed to me, without any inside knowledge, that's the model the Dragons decided to pursue. Then Penrith started winning with a team made up of largely club juniors, recruited from all over while juniors, and that blew the strategy the Dragons were following out of the water. And on top of that, the Dragons head office was very slow to react to the new conditions.
I think we need strike power in the backs and forwards. Guys who can threaten all of the time in attack. In the case of defence, we need enforcers who don't buckle when defending and not to be rag dolled and pushed aside by the opposition and our defenders stop players in their tracks. Big ask I know but that is what our coaches have got to get our guys doing.
Not only has our management and development of the juniors been poor, things have been poor right across the grades in the mens and women's teams.
Compare that to 3 years ago. Not even in terms of quantity but quality.
That would work brilliantly. Rewarding clubs which put a lot of money and resources into grassroots but preventing Rorters, among others, making a mockery of the cap.
It may be an impressive list Morgs, but none on that list have even seen finals, they are still an unproven entity. Hopefully next year maybe and I stress maybe we can do something if they all stay fit.
The Leader of the Pack in other words. Is he available and if so can we nab him.