Possible Return of Reserve Grade to Game Days.

[slide rule]

Clubs lead push to return reserve grade rugby league to game days


Josh Massoud
From: The Daily Telegraph
April 11, 201212:00AM


A POWERFUL lobby of NRL club chairmen want Toyota Cup games re-scheduled midweek to save reserve grade from its continue
d decline into park football obscurity.

As former Test coach Chris Anderson labelled this season's fare "dumbed-down" and "boring", The Daily Telegraph last night learned of the radical proposal to preserve open-age depth.

The idea of returning NSW Cup games to their traditional curtain-raiser status has been steadily gaining favour among the 16 club chairmen, who this year incorporated as an official body to advocate their views.

Because NRL venues refuse to host three matches, NSW Cup games were sacrificed to suburban backblocks when the national under 20s competition began five years ago.

The crumbling profile and exposure has forced over-age players to quit in droves, and many club bosses believe the NRL's standard is now beginning to suffer because of insufficient depth.

Led by Sydney Roosters supremo Nick Politis, several chairmen believe the best fix is for the NSW Cup to be restored as the code's premier feeder competition and once again staged at the most prestigious venues.

The trade-off would see Toyota Cup games moved to Wednesday night stand-alone fixtures, which would still be promoted and televised nationally.

"You could compare it to college football in the USA - it would become its own competition played on a separate day," one club chairman said. "The idea has been raised at our last few meetings and there's quite a lot of support because too many kids are being rushed into first grade before their time."

There is also a chance the idea could be raised at tomorrow's NRL CEOs conference. Unimpressed at the standard of football over the first six weeks, Anderson said the lack of proper depth was a concern. "We're starting to see it now," he said. "A lot of kids are coming straight from the under 20s and they're not ready.

"Look at the front rowers - there's hardly any left because they don't mature until later on.

"But if you don't make it in the under 20s, you're put out to pasture.

"The under 20s will tell a coach if kids have ability, but you can't tell how tough they are until you throw them in against men.

"That's why the NSW Cup needs to be strong again."

Following a weekend where two teams were shut-out, Fox Sports Stats revealed that 16 fewer tries have been scored this season than at the same stage 12 months ago (327 to 311).

Anderson accused coaches - with the exception of Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bennett - of producing game plans that lacked structure and strategy, hence making it easier for well-drilled defences to handle. "I've seen some pretty ordinary games - the good ones are few and far between," Anderson said.

"With the exception of Bellamy and Bennett, the new regime of coaches just don't seem to build a platform and structure to win games.

"It's been coming for about two or three years - there's been a real dumbing-down of the game and it can be quite boring to watch.

"Reserve grade has become irrelevant and I think that's wrong."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...gue-to-game-days/story-e6frexnr-1226323257075

Would be a good move IMO.

Midweek Under 20's on TV would be good as well. Would give more exposure in its own right. I think it could rate reasonably well. I'd watch it.

It would be good to watch a few games live too. My only concern is that it would cost the clubs a lot of money. Hopefully they would be looked after with the TV rights.

 

[sharks2010]

i would be more then happy to see it come back
reserve grade
NYC
1st grade in that order

 

[SF]

I do like the idea of midweek NYC, and have mentioned it before.

The only issue is really all the non-televised games, and what you do with them. Few people would really want to go watch most midweek NYC games in the dead of winter.

Plus it limits your ability to call up a sub from NYC.

Perhaps you can get a balance where there is a midweek double header NYC at the SFS, and then there is a mixture of NYC and NSW Cup before weekend games.

 

[gando2230]

@ sharks2010 in line 3 "Because NRL venues refuse to host three matches, NSW Cup games were sacrificed to suburban back blocks when the national under 20s competition began five years ago".

I think its a great idea,

JUST a thought play the under 20's round of the week every week at the S.F.S televise that on Foxtel or Ch 9's Gem would save money on setting up all the gear just for one game a week.

 

[slide rule]

Yes, it would be good if we could get the Free to Air channels to show at least one NYC game as part of the new deal. Possibly on a 2nd Channel (7 mate, gem, one).

Then maybe Foxtel could show a couple of other NYC games on a tuesday and wednesday night. Then we would have a live game on every night, except for Thursday.

I'd even be open to a Thursday Night NRL game (particularly if we get 2 new clubs), provided that clubs are adequately compensated for a reduction in crowds. And I actually think Thursday night would be better for crowds than Monday night.

 

[Mark^Bastard]

I don't understand how this works exactly. They talk only about the NSW Cup but then talk about having a real reserve grade. Do they mean that every NRL team should have a reserve grade team that is called the same thing, has the same jersey and plays immediately before the NRL game? If so that's different to NSW Cup so I don't know why they mention it. There are teams in other states after all, and the Tigers have two NSW Cup teams and some teams don't have any.

What I would prefer is to keep everything as it is now but try to make the NSW Cup better. Play those games during the week at say 7pm and advertise them as a return to the good old days. Play up the heritage of it all e.g. Newtown and Norths. Point out how you can drive right to the ground and park there and have a good time for little money. Have sausage sizzles. Try and get old players to play one last year captaining the NSW cup side before retirement as a draw card. Things like that.

 

[slide rule]

What I would prefer is to keep everything as it is now but try to make the NSW Cup better. Play those games during the week at say 7pm and advertise them as a return to the good old days. Play up the heritage of it all e.g. Newtown and Norths. Point out how you can drive right to the ground and park there and have a good time for little money. Have sausage sizzles. Try and get old players to play one last year captaining the NSW cup side before retirement as a draw card. Things like that.

The problem with that in Sydney is that the Junior League generally covers that niche with A Grade. It just doesn't really seem to catch on.

 

[JimBob]

I really hope this happens. NSW Cup, in my opinion, is way better than NYC. It generates a much better game and doesn't consist of the constant blow outs in the score (e.g. 62 - 14)

 

[fitz]

I think every NRL Club should be required to have 2 fully professional teams and 3 'development' teams.

U/16s (District v District)
U/18s (Region v Region)
U/20s (Statewide competition)
Reserve Grade (Open-age & National)
First Grade (Open-age & National)

Reserve Grade and First Grade combined to be considered the full squad of something like 40 players who are freely being swapped around depending on form, injuries, game-plan etc., Just on an organisational level, I think it would be more efficient to have First and Reserves on the road together.

Also, as much as possible, we shouldn't be uprooting kids from their familial homes and then sending them out on the road when they're still very young. Particularly when they're sharing resources and facilities with men who may have more adult down-time interests.

 

[slide rule]

I think every NRL Club should be required to have 2 fully professional teams and 3 'development' teams.

U/16s (District v District)
U/18s (Region v Region)
U/20s (Statewide competition)
Reserve Grade (Open-age & National)
First Grade (Open-age & National)

Reserve Grade and First Grade combined to be considered the full squad of something like 40 players who are freely being swapped around depending on form, injuries, game-plan etc., Just on an organisational level, I think it would be more efficient to have First and Reserves on the road together.

Also, as much as possible, we shouldn't be uprooting kids from their familial homes and then sending them out on the road when they're still very young. Particularly when they're sharing resources and facilities with men who may have more adult down-time interests.

I'd be quite happy with something like that. But what to do with the QLD teams with under 20's though? Could the QLD clubs field under 20's teams in the QLD cup or something? Maybe the QLD cup teams could have under 20's sides as well (do they already)? Then there could be a combined finals series with the top 4 from each state or something.

(Just thinking out aloud, concept would obviously need tweaking)

 

[fitz]

What I'm suggesting is that NSW Cup aqnd QLD Cup both become U/20s comps with a National Challenge Cup being played between the winner of the NSW Cup versus the winner of the Queensland Cup

 

[snowman]

i would love for a national reserve grade comp to come back and be the premier reserve grade competition.

im hoping the independant commission look at this with the increase of the salary cap. when there was talk of a 7 million dollar cap and 7.5mil worth of funding, along with the increase of top 25 to top 30, this could be implemented easilly.

food for thought but i hope it happens.

would be nothing better than sitting on the hill on a sunday watching under 20's reserve grade and first grade.

all three teams as the sharks, no affiliation with the storm.

 

[josh11223344]

like fitz and snow have said, I would love to see a national reserve comp come in. You get the best players from the 20's who you want to groom for first grade and are already good enough to play reserve grade and have them playing alongside the other fringe first graders.

There are plenty of good teams in QLD so I imagine alot of those players not needed by the 3 qld NRL teams will come to sydney and get a reserve grade spot.

The 20's or imo 21's would be good on a wednesday, some games televised but it isn't for the absolute elite 18/19/20 year olds but the ones trying to press a claim for reserve grade.

 

[Mark^Bastard]

I love things the way they are. The NYC is great and other than the NSW Cup being a bit crappy everything else is fine. The QLD Cup is fine.

 

[Gards]

Would really like to have reserve grade back before FG on the same day. Much better value than what is currently on offer IMO. I want to watch those players that have been dropped from FG for the week try and reclaim their spot as well as the fringe players trying to break in for the first time. Reserve grade needs more exposure to make people half care about it again.

Toyota Cup has the occasional exciting game but generally is just slower and with more blow outs. Don't mind if it is moved to mid week although ideally they also get a weekend slot before Reserves.

Why arn't the clubs not willing to host 3 games on the day, not cost effective? Surely they could come up with some incentives around this to increase ticket sales ect.

I know the NRL wanted to push the Toyota Cup but I think on the whole they have dropped the ball.

 

[SAG]

This seasons' NSW Cup is the closest i have seen in years. Any team on their day can win, except Wests, they don't have the backing from the Wests Tigers this season and have been flogged in every game. The biggest problem faced will be from the foundation clubs. If this goes ahead Norths, Newtown, Balmain, Wests may have to look at competing in the Bundaberg Red Cup which is the third tier competition and is basically Park footy.

Personally watching every Sharks reserve grade game over the past 5 years i enjoy going to places like Henson Park, Leichhardt Oval etc. But i do remember the days where there were 3 games at Shark Park and it was the best.

 

[DeathMoth]

i'd like to see the u20's shafted back to the status that the NSW Cup now holds and that NSW Cup should be home to those who are just out of contention for first grade and/or are making solid in-roads into playing first grade. how many times do we debate about u20s players being next in line for a particular spot in the team yet they're yet to prove themselves against actual men? NSW Cup (and QLD cup for those tossers north of the Tweed) should be the true feeder for first grade teams and the profile of those comps should be raised in order to keep the players keen after they turn 20 and hence bolster the talent stocks for years to come.

i think there should be a logical progression from u20s, into reserve grade and into firsts. i'd propose that should an u20s player be so talented that they're considered next in line should a first grade player be injured, that they are shifted to reserves pronto to get a taste of some real man meat before they get messed up in first grade.

just my opinion of course, i'm sure there are many others flying about.

 

[ACT SHARK]

Id' love for them to bring back reserve grade and have 3 games at the one venue. Used to be so much better heading to the footy for 3 games. You could make a proper day of it. In saying that I swear I went to a sharkies game last year and they had 3 games... Pretty sure it was NSW cup vs the Bears, then the 20s and then first grade.

 

[fitz]

We had a couple of Triple Treat days last year.

The Sharks have their own ground and would probably be one of the Clubs that would promote a triple bill as there are efficiencies and savings in having all the games played on the same day.

The Clubs playing out of ANZ Homebush & Allianz SFS would probably not be too keen because of the extra costs of rent, staffing & security.

 

[85Sharkie]

Yeah having the three games on a gameday would be the way to go i think. Toyota cup (i think the age should be 21 or 22 though). a genuine reserve grade (each fg team a reserves team) and then first grade. Maybe as well it mite help with attendances with the extra match.