Should there be an NRL Draft?

#1

The Daily Telegraph are running on a poll about should the NRL have a draft.

What do we all think. Personally I don’t like it. Teams that manage their cap and do well should get the advantage.

I would prefer more done to help clubs keep players they have developed.

NRL Draft
  • Yes, there should be draft
  • No, not needed

0 voters

#2

we finally make it to the top and only to have it ripped apart, Roosters & storm will still cheat and not develop shit and just take.

#3

Simple answer is no

1 Like
#4

Sorry but I actually respect Storm and Craig Bellamy because he never signs superstars, he signs players that has that raw potential - They’ve never signed a Billy Slater, GI, Cameron Smith or Cooper Cronk - They’ve developed them.

I can’t even remember the last time they signed a legitimate superstar.

There is no way you can put them in the same sentence at the Roosters.

3 Likes
#5

The last rep player they have signed was Michael Crocker back in 2005 and in rep i mean origin or Australia

#6

No!

The clubs who plan and develop are the Clubs who’ll be successful. Those who don’t can only spend big money to poach players and will never find success.
This is one thing Gould is right about.

#7

I am willing to put my head on the chopping block. I have always believed in the draft and always will. There is no way that Sam Walker and Sualli should be anywhere near East’s if we want a fair and even comp. I believed in the draft when we were a dud team and still do today. If this comp is to survive (there are no South’s without an NRL or equivalent) then the football needs to be attractive and competitive. At the moment there are about 10 good teams and the rest are poo. There needs to be a mechanism to equalise the talent and a junior draft is it. In ten years time there will be no South’s juniors. Average sized Caucasian will never compete with Polynesians and demographically they will not be able to afford to live in the east. We will need the draft. It’s in our best interest.

2 Likes
#8

That sounds good in theory but reality is quite different.
Take the Dogs. 6-7 years ago they had one of the best set-ups in the NRL. Good management on and off the field had them poised to be a powerhouse for the foreseeable future. A very rich club!
But since that time, their Management have almost nose dived the club headfirst into the ground.
Same with the Bronco’s, Manly, Wests Tigers, Saints, and The Cowboys.
Why should these very poorly run Clubs have the first pick of OUR Juniors that we’ve invested in and brought through?
All a draft does is reward incompetence. This is socialism for sport. Nope.

#9

Back ended deals stuffed them up and the same with Manly.

#10

A Canterbury Diehard Fan told me just yesterday when I asked him what I thought about his team. He just shook his head and said,
“Mate, how can a Club ever be successful when the only time the Directors turn up, is to punch each other in head”

#11

A draft could potentially kill the game.

Clubs provide the pathways for kids to play in rugby league. Getting less reward for developing players will annihilate the standard of the kids coming through.

It works in US sports because HS and College provide that development and pathway.

2 Likes
#12

No way to a draft…We lose blokes like Murray, Roosters lose Radley , not right imo

2 Likes
#13

Look there are a few furphies that are standard lines across the code about a draft.

  1. Why should poorly run clubs get a leg up. Simple answer is that the draft is just one tool available. Poorly run clubs still make mistakes when choosing players. Of the top 3 in the current AFL draft only the Swans choice is playing first grade. North Melbourne had the first pick and chose badly, as usual. They also continued to find middle of the road players like St George so they never built a good roster. They now are the second worst footy club in Australia. Bad clubs will continue to make bad decisions.
  2. We will lose juniors we have developed. Using the AFL model, clubs can warehouse players and swaps picks so they can still draft the gun kids coming through. Under this system Sualli would be playing for us. Yes we might lose lesser lights in the team but most of those never make it anyway.
  3. We may not get sons of former legends. AFL have a father son rule to allow clubs to draft these kids.
    Overall we do not have the luxury of being a sport loved by billions. We need a competitive sport. We can’t afford to have, 40% of teams not being up to speed. We need to give clubs the chance to renew. We need the draft.
2 Likes
#14

There would be rules around a draft and I don’t think the rules would allow for players to be just taken from clubs.

I am pretty sure the rule would be that you basically have to put yourself into the draft if your current club does not want to resign you.

#15

Makes sense and it means Sualli would either be with South’s, Broncos or Bulldogs. Exactly the way it is supposed to work

#16

Sualli may have stayed at Penrith

#17

Maybe but he hasn’t played at penrith since he was 12

#18

Cant have a draft, if I am correct it was challenged some years ago and was ruled to be a restraint of trade. Dont quote me but i believe Terry Hill was involved.

#19

South Sydney centre Terry Hill had agreed to join Western Suburbs but he was drafted by the Roosters in a move that resulted in 127 players acting as plaintiffs in a legal case against the NSWRL.

“We ended up in the High Court and the High Court supported the players’ position that it was taking over their lives and taking over their careers,” Ryan said.

"The High Court found that the proposed draft was a restraint of trade, and an interference with a person’s right to negotiate their own lives and future and so on.

#20

How about a salary cap?

Restriction of trade? I struggle to see the difference.