Wayne Bennett supports increase in age for players to make NRL debut

BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett says rugby league will show better care for teenage players if plans to delay their graduation to first grade are adopted.

Wayne Bennett. Brisbane Broncos training at St Lucia. Pics Tim Marsden

BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett says rugby league will show better care for the lives and careers of teenage players if plans to delay their graduation to first grade are adopted.

Bennett said a new system providing for NRL rookie contracts and better resourced second-tier competitions in Queensland and NSW would be good for young players.

The NRL this week announced a blueprint for the game over the next decade which included changed employment conditions for young players.

Players would no longer be able to play first grade until the year in which they turn 19 and agents would be forbidden from contracting players under the age of 17.

“I wouldn’t argue with 19 being the earliest age you could play first grade (rather than 18),’’ Bennett said. “I’d have to assume (the NRL) have some expert knowledge about physical development.

“It’s great we can bring them in at a more mature age than when they are coming now.

Wayne Bennett with his side during a Broncos training session. Pics Adam Head

“They will come in on a rookie contract which will make it more palatable for the young players trying to manage a whole of lot of things and promises which are sometimes beyond their abilities to deal with.’’

The national Holden Cup under-20 competition, which will be disbanded by the NRL after the 2016 or 2017 season and revert to two state competitions, is regarded by critics as an inadequate finishing school for NRL footballers.

It gave some players a taste of television fame with which they could not deal. Some had unrealistic expectations of their career chances and inadequate support from their NRL club to deal with success and failure.

More Queenslanders aged 18-20 on the verge of NRL selection will now play with Intrust Super Cup competition clubs aligned with their NRL employers.

Bennett said the opportunity was still there for mature teens to play senior grade at 18 as Darren Lockyer and Brad Fittler did, but they would do it at state league first grade level rather than in the NRL.

Bennett said Queensland’s ISC was well placed to make good use of increased funding under the NRL review.

“It’s so far in front (of the NSW Cup) that it doesn’t matter,’’ he said.

“This comp will become more important than ever now with 30-player roster and six rookies.

“The boys who don’t make the original rookie status will go and play ISC and that’s where we will be getting them for our 30-man squads the following year.

“It’s a wonderful competition which the game will have to support because it’s our pathway into the NRL.’’

Bennett said the increase recommended in the NRL review from a 25-man NRL roster to a 30-man roster, plus six rookies, would work.

“The six rookies will have the size of contracts to be determined by the game, which is a great idea,’’ he said.