Official 2024 NRL General Discussion

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Please keep this footy-related, please do not discuss any off-field/misbehaviour rumours, or anything defamatory.
SF

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Mako Shark
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BurgoShark said:
Bonus points and $100k prize money are back for the pre-season.

Unlimited interchange. Up to 28 players per team.

Bonus points​

Win = 6 points
Draw = 3 points
Score 5 or more tries = 2 points
Make 5 or more line breaks = 1 point
Make 10 or more offloads = 1 point
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Painful memories, hopefully we read the rules this year.
 
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Jaws
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Western Sharkie said:
Had the cops waited another 10 mins on the 2nd test back at the station he probably blows under
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Depends when his last drink was, could have been headed in the other direction if he still had a belly full.
I haven't read anything about it though, if it was a morning one he's likely on the way down.
 
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Proud Shark said:
Luciano Leilua to face court for drink driving. Booked at 0.052. I know you have to draw a line somewhere, but that's gotta almost be the difference between finishing the dregs at the bottom of the glass or not.
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That must have taken him at least 50 beers
 
SF

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Going to be interesting to see what happens with the junior league. Cronulla JRL has reluctantly accepted this new Player Development Framework, but is not really publicising it at all. But Macarthur is challenging it.

Macarthur Rugby League voted against the “National Player Development Framework” and its sweeping changes at a meeting on Wednesday night and plan to press on with tackling at under-6s level and play grand finals from under-9s. They now face running an unsanctioned competition just weeks before the season is due to kick-off.
Wests Tigers Macarthur Junior Rugby League chairman Daniel Draper confirmed the plan.
“We intend to do tackle for under-five, sixers and sevens as normal,” Draper said. “And we intend to have our under-9s play grand finals.”



St George are yet to commit while Parramatta will only do so if the rest of Sydney implements them.
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Personally I feel like there does need to be more done to stop crazy parents and coaches forming super teams, but it's a massive shame to take away finals until U/13s. A lot of junior league players will quit by that U13s mark anyway (as other kids get too big for them), so a large percentage will never get a chance at a trophy.
 
D

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SF said:
Going to be interesting to see what happens with the junior league. Cronulla JRL has reluctantly accepted this new Player Development Framework, but is not really publicising it at all. But Macarthur is challenging it.



Personally I feel like there does need to be more done to stop crazy parents and coaches forming super teams, but it's a massive shame to take away finals until U/13s. A lot of junior league players will quit by that U13s mark anyway (as other kids get too big for them), so a large percentage will never get a chance at a trophy.
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If you read the framework this is addressed.

In my experience 100% of people opposing the framework haven't actually read it, and they just assume that the no tackling and no trophies is a nanny state "every child wins a prize" initiative. This couldn't be further from the truth. There is a lot in the framework and it is based on 30+ years of research across dozens of sports and social/developmental science.

Specifically for grand final days, one objective of the framework is to increase the amount of kids who get this positive "end of season" experience. In an u10's comp you might have 200 kids, but only 30 get to play that extra game and only 15 get a trophy. If you run gala day at the end of the year, all 200 kids get to participate and finish the year on a high. Even better, if you take the comp scores/results into account, you can grade that gala day (as best as possible) so that teams are playing opposition at a similar level and everyone comes away from that day feeling like their team had a good crack and was competitive.

Remember that the goal of community footy is to bring back as many of those 200 kids as possible - and that the kid who ends up as the best player from that group of 200 in ten years might be a middle-of-the-pack player on a middle-of-the-pack team. If you are thinking about long-term player development, the best outcome is having that kid play more games even if his team isn't good enough to make the finals.

Right now u12's is a bit of a black hole in the framework because they don't do galas - but in Qld some leagues have realised this and filled the gap. There are a couple of really big school-holiday u12 carnivals which teams can participate in. By all reports these are a wonderful experience. I coached u12's during a Covid year though so unfortunately it wasn't an option for us :(

As far as the "no tackle" is concerned - I do see people's point of view on that. Some kids just love the rough and tumble. The NRL and the clubs do a great job of the transition though. The kids are learning how to tackle from day one and they play tackling games at training. They just don't do it on gameday until a certain point. For a lot of kids that's 1- 2 hours per week where tackling is part of the sport, and 16-32 minutes per week where it isn't. We aren't harming their development by holding back tackling on gameday.


DEVELOPMENT COMPS

  • The kids love playing for premierships, we can’t take that away from them. Why is the NRL considering this?
    It’s important to make a clear distinction between competition and finals. This is not about removing the competitive nature of our sport, this is about creating a more inclusive environment where the focus is on developing every member of a team. We know competition structure determines development outcomes and the shift to a development mentality provides the environment for coaches & parents to focus more on developing every member of their team and less on a result. Our research shows the main reason families leave our sport is due to a negative experience associated with an over-emphasis on winning at the expense of a child’s enjoyment.
  • Getting a trophy at the end of the season is something that the kids strive for, to take this away would be disappointing for coaches, players and families. What is the reasoning for this change?
    It’s important to make a clear distinction between competition and finals. This is not about removing the competitive nature of our sport, this is about creating a more inclusive environment where the focus is on developing every member of a team. There is clear evidence the introduction of premierships too early leads directly to early specialisation and promotes the impact of relative age effects. We also know cognitively, it’s not until around 13 the majority of kids begin to understand the impacts that effort, practice and ability have on performance.
  • How will we let the kids know that they are playing for development – not a premiership!
    To avoid unnecessary worry, NSW will gradually transition their competitions over the coming seasons.
  • Soccer and other international sports are still playing for premierships, why is Rugby League taking them away from us?
    There is an ever-increasing body of research being done globally around why kids play sport and not surprisingly, the main reason kids play sport is for fun and enjoyment, winning competitions sits well down the list. It’s important to make a clear distinction between competition and premierships. Kids will still be encouraged to compete to the very best of their ability, the development competitions will provide the environment that allows coaches and parents to focus on developing every member of their team without some of the behaviours that are evident when premierships are introduced.
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Personally, I loved coaching in developmental comps but hated coaching in premiership comps. A lot of parents turn evil once the scores matter (well, when the scores matter and you aren't winning that is). Club administrators too.
 
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SF

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BurgoShark said:
If you read the framework this is addressed.

In my experience 100% of people opposing the framework haven't actually read it, and they just assume that the no tackling and no trophies is a nanny state "every child wins a prize" initiative. This couldn't be further from the truth. There is a lot in the framework and it is based on 30+ years of research across dozens of sports and social/developmental science.

Specifically for grand final days, one objective of the framework is to increase the amount of kids who get this positive "end of season" experience. In an u10's comp you might have 200 kids, but only 30 get to play that extra game and only 15 get a trophy. If you run gala day at the end of the year, all 200 kids get to participate and finish the year on a high. Even better, if you take the comp scores/results into account, you can grade that gala day (as best as possible) so that teams are playing opposition at a similar level and everyone comes away from that day feeling like their team had a good crack and was competitive.

Remember that the goal of community footy is to bring back as many of those 200 kids as possible - and that the kid who ends up as the best player from that group of 200 in ten years might be a middle-of-the-pack player on a middle-of-the-pack team. If you are thinking about long-term player development, the best outcome is having that kid play more games even if his team isn't good enough to make the finals.

Right now u12's is a bit of a black hole in the framework because they don't do galas - but in Qld some leagues have realised this and filled the gap. There are a couple of really big school-holiday u12 carnivals which teams can participate in. By all reports these are a wonderful experience. I coached u12's during a Covid year though so unfortunately it wasn't an option for us :(

As far as the "no tackle" is concerned - I do see people's point of view on that. Some kids just love the rough and tumble. The NRL and the clubs do a great job of the transition though. The kids are learning how to tackle from day one and they play tackling games at training. They just don't do it on gameday until a certain point. For a lot of kids that's 1- 2 hours per week where tackling is part of the sport, and 16-32 minutes per week where it isn't. We aren't harming their development by holding back tackling on gameday.




Personally, I loved coaching in developmental comps but hated coaching in premiership comps. A lot of parents turn evil once the scores matter (well, when the scores matter and you aren't winning that is). Club administrators too.
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Interesting, I'll admit I hadn't read it in any detail, and we haven't had the experience of it here yet. I'm not so much worried about "all kids get a trophy" as "no kids get a trophy", but I hadn't thought about gala days. You are right, they could be the answer if they go all the way up. Here at the moment they have U6/7/8 gala days, but the games are very short, and it's often just luck as to who kicks off and has the ball for longer. Maybe they could play fewer games, but more like proper games.

It probably would lead to more regional gala days like the U8s Tommy Bishop Shield, which is played here but has teams from all over Sydney.... not sure if that is much of an improvement though, as the coaches/parents/competitiveness end up very intense for the whole day, and with the local kids having to tackle a lot bigger kids from Penrith etc.

With the "no tackle", halfway through U7s seems a long time to me. But I guess that is why we have research and studies....
 
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Gala days as described by Burgo do seem like a great fit.

I agree with SF though, without reading into (and buying into) research and studies my instinct is to say I think tackle should be kept.
I was playing and tackling from five and I'm enif

Must be Penriths success which is causing their kids to grow bigger I guess...
 
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bort said:
Campbell Graham out for an extended period

Missing half the season for surgery on sternum injury suffered last season
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Big loss.

“Rabbitohs centre Campbell Graham will undergo surgery next week to repair damage to his sternum which see him sidelined for up to six months,” a club statement said.

“Graham played through the injury throughout the 2023 season and has trained throughout the pre-season, however a decision has been made to undergo surgery on the affected area.

“Graham is expected to be back on the field for South Sydney at the back-end of the regular season.”
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They must be spewing they didn't go straight to surgery last year when he was first injured!
 
D

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SF said:
Interesting, I'll admit I hadn't read it in any detail, and we haven't had the experience of it here yet.
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Wasn't have a go at you mate. Moreso just saying that in my experience a lot of parents and club administrators aren't actually familiar with it, so when they push back they are arguing from ignorance. They might think that they have good motivations, but for the most part they are just stuck in their old ways and think they know better than the thousands of people and millions of man-hours which contributed to the framework.

I will say that my most recent club was not like this. They fully supported the PDF and were great for younger kids. They just lacked the resources to properly support older teams.

SF said:
I'm not so much worried about "all kids get a trophy" as "no kids get a trophy", but I hadn't thought about gala days. You are right, they could be the answer if they go all the way up. Here at the moment they have U6/7/8 gala days, but the games are very short, and it's often just luck as to who kicks off and has the ball for longer. Maybe they could play fewer games, but more like proper games.
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Yeah - for very young kids galas are just a cat-herding exercise. I never coached those ages but have watched a fair bit of it.

The u10-u11 galas I was involved in were pretty well run and the games were 15 minute halves with no scrums and no conversions. Plenty of footy got played.

Qld gala days are not mini-carnivals with winners. They are just a round robin day so no trophies. Trade off is 15 kids get a trophy versus 200 kids get another 3-4 games of footy in.

SF said:
It probably would lead to more regional gala days like the U8s Tommy Bishop Shield, which is played here but has teams from all over Sydney.... not sure if that is much of an improvement though, as the coaches/parents/competitiveness end up very intense for the whole day,
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Yep. This is what we want to avoid.

... but these carnivals (like our u12's one) are often opt-in. Teams get 10-14 games every year that don't have this bullshit. If they want to they can have a day/weekend of it once per year.

SF said:
and with the local kids having to tackle a lot bigger kids from Penrith etc.
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I see the little ones in Cronulla have the same issues as the NRL team.

SF said:
With the "no tackle", halfway through U7s seems a long time to me. But I guess that is why we have research and studies....
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There are compromises which can be made. Clubs I've been involved with would sometimes let an u6 player start in u7's so he can tackle earlier... if his parents push and the NRL TackleSafe guys clear him. If he is doing OK he can then push up to u8's and play two years of full tackle there while the rest of his mates catch up to him.

The way I see it, the "no tackling in your first year of footy" policy is a way to get more young kids into the game. What they are trying to do is get those kids who go play a few years of AusKick or Soccer first because "mum doesn't want them to play tackle sport". Long term I could see the value in running parallel tackle and no-tackle comps in u7's, but the proof is in the pudding. When they did this for the first time in SEQ the participation rates for non-tackle ages went through the roof. For every parent who pulled their kid out because "the game is going soft" they had 3 new kids join because "he can enjoy the game and learn with fear of injury".

It's just like when we all whinge about some weird rule NRL change. They want to grow the game, and growing the game means changing the game so it appeals to a wider range of people.
 
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Sevshark said:
Teddy has the chance to do the funniest thing if this happens
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Hopefully I find it funnier than one of his club props taking a bomb off him to score a try in soo
Because I laughed
But I also cried
 
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