Rugby league draft: NRL urged to take over club academies in radical proposal
A proposal reveals the NRL has been urged to implement a rookie draft, take over junior player development from clubs and showcase rugby league’s rising stars on Monday night football.
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A rookie draft can be operational by 2026 and the NRL has been urged to take over junior development as part of a plan to have the code’s rising stars showcased on Monday Night Football.
One of the code’s most experienced agents, former Gold Coast player Chris Orr, has tabled a proposal for an “NRL Summit” – headlined by an NFL-style rookie draft that could revolutionise rugby league’s grassroots structures.
The 36-page proposal was sent to the NRL at a time when a Pathways Steering Committee (PSC) has been formed to analyse the code’s junior-development structures.
The PSC includes QRL boss Ben Ikin, Storm football chief Frank Ponissi and Roosters coach Trent Robinson, with the taskforce set to hand down a number of recommendations to the ARL Commission.
As revealed by this masthead, the PSC has discussed the return of an under-21s National Youth Competition, while a rookie draft has been flagged as another option.
While a rookie draft operates in many sports, including the AFL and America’s NFL, it is a controversial concept in rugby league.
In 1991, Terry Hill had the internal draft axed after taking the NSW Rugby League to the High Court, arguing a restraint of trade, but three decades later, the idea is back on the agenda.
The individual clubs have historically developed talent – Penrith, Parramatta, the Cowboys and Broncos have huge catchment areas – but Orr believes a rookie draft can work in the NRL.
Orr, who has worked as an agent for 25 years, says a rookie draft can be implemented within two years if the NRL took over junior development, using leading schools as rugby league Academies strategically positioned across Australia and New Zealand.
THE DRAFT PLAN
“A rookie draft can certainly work but it has to be tailored to suit rugby league,” said Orr of Pacific Sports Management.
“We can’t look at the NFL model or AFL model and copy them, because their athlete base and sports are totally different.
“In America, they have guys coming into the NFL at age 23 or 24 who have played three or four years of college football, which is like professional sport.
“College American football players are playing in front of crowds of 100,000 with professional coaches earning $7 million.
“In Australia, we are dealing with 17 and 18-year-olds who have played some high school games and the odd rep game, it’s miles apart.
“I think the NRL could have a rookie draft operational by 2026.
“Currently some clubs spend millions and millions more on development, such as Penrith or the Broncos, and it doesn’t guarantee them anything.
“Other clubs who don’t develop players can just poach their best kids.”
Orr’s PSM firm contains some of the NRL’s biggest stars, including Jason Taumalolo, Valentine Holmes, Dylan Brown, Scott Drinkwater, Selwyn Cobbo, Moses Leota and current Dally M Medallist Jahrome Hughes.
The veteran agent was also the architect of Jordan Mailata’s stunning move from rugby league to the NFL, where the 150kg Bankstown behemoth now has a $100 million contract with Philadelphia.
NRL SUMMIT
Orr believes the NRL can turn the rookie draft into a gala affair – similar to the AFL and NFL – where the code’s next generation of stars are unveiled in a televised event in October, the week after the grand final.
“I have proposed an NRL Summit,” he said.
“It would be a week-long event and the NRL could sell it to a city where the best 100 rookies would arrive for evaluation at a Combine, including medical checks.
“All agents and NRL officials would attend the Combine before we have an Rookie Draft gala evening, where ARL Commissioner Peter V’landys comes up on stage and reads out each rookie picked by a club.
“It would be great content for the NRL after the grand final. It would keep the NRL in the media cycle during October, just like the AFL with their draft coverage.
“The whole week, including the Rookie Draft, could be televised on Channel 9 and Fox Sports if they wish to cover it.”
HOW IT WORKS
The 17 NRL clubs currently sign 30 full-time players, plus an additional six ‘rookies’ to development contracts.
Under Orr’s plan, each team will select four players in the Rookie Draft from a list compiled by the NRL, which would take over junior development nationally from the 17 clubs.
“If you look at the AFL, clubs like Hawthorn and Collingwood don’t have development or produce players for other clubs,” Orr explained.
“It’s the same with the NFL. Their clubs don’t worry about development and instead secure players through the draft.
“We can have a draft model where the NRL takes over the development of our young athletes.
“So, for example, schools like Keebra Park, Marsden High, Palm Beach Currumbin or Westfield Sports High, the NRL forms alliances with them and strategically builds NRL Academies across Australia.
“The NRL Academies develop players with the help of schools. That way, the NRL can employ ex-players to work as teachers in schools and they can oversee the football programs in those schools.
“When it comes to Rookie Draft night, I have proposed that each club can secure four players to development contracts, two of which are quarantined kids from their own region that are off-limits to other clubs.
“That means the Titans can pick two kids from their area and all the other kids (from the Gold Coast region) go into the rookie draft.
“Each club gets four Draft picks, so for the current 17-team league, that’s 68 rookies chosen on the night.
“Any kid not picked up by a club in the draft could then go to free agency, as occurs in the NFL.”
MONDAY MAGIC
The AFL has operated a draft since 1986 but Orr is not a fan of rugby league having a senior draft for existing NRL players.
He says the rookie draft could work hand-in-glove with an NFL-style Monday Night Football competition that showcases rugby league’s best up-and-comers via an NRL Academies league.
“I don’t think there should be a senior draft for current NRL professional athletes,” he said.
“We should only have a rookie draft for development and to govern how kids come into the NRL system.
“I would love to see an NRL Rookie Draft and NRL Academy Series.
“You would have the best young footballers playing in a competition, similar to the NYC, which would be screened on Monday night, again rewarding the NRL’s broadcast partners.
“So you could have the NRL’s Gold Coast-based Academy team versus a Townsville-based Academy team.
“This would also take the pressure off kids and give them time to develop. Agents would be banned from signing kids at 14 or 15 and would have to wait until the NRL Summit when rookies are 17 or 18.
“Other sports have shown the benefits of a draft and I think it’s something that can be a great tool for the NRL.
“It makes for a great show all-year round.”
Originally published as Rugby league draft: NRL urged to take over club academies in radical proposal
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