South Sydney Juniors to continue on with junior finals, U6s tackling despite NSWRL changes

The South Sydney Juniors competition is set to defy the new rule introduced by the NSWRL next season, maintaining the status quo in 2023. Here’s why they’re opting against tackle bans and no finals.

WHILE the times appear to be changing in modern rugby league, one NSW association is sticking with what has worked for over a century.

The South Sydney Juniors competition has opted against the sweeping rules changes coming into effect next season by the NSWRL.

These include tackling bans for players in U6s and non-competitive grades up until U10s, which is set to be extended to U13s in the coming years.

A unanimous decision was reached by the board earlier this week in consultation with clubs, with a vast majority opting to continue on with tackling and finals to be played out in the younger grades.

South Sydney District JRFL CEO Luke Curry said they wanted to stick with tradition moving forward.

“We’ve sent our position to NSWRL and we declined to go into the tag component and non-competitive element (of the changes),” he said.

“We want to keep doing what we do. Sticking to what we’ve always done is our position at the moment.

“It was supported by the clubs. We wouldn’t go in the direction we were if clubs weren’t on board.

“We had a review meeting and the vast majority were supportive of that.

“We support a lot of initiatives by the NSWRL and there are no ill feelings from our end. But these are a couple of areas we feel strongly about.”

Junior players getting the chance to run out onto Redfern Oval for grand final day has long been a past-time of the Souths Juniors, and Curry said they want to maintain that.

“Across the board, the feeling of 99 per cent of everyone in Souths Juniors (is the same),” he said.

“We understand it mightn’t be the same in other districts and NSWRL is entitled to implement programs, but what works here is the way we do it.

“Grand final days are our biggest days of the year, and we think it’s the right thing for the league, particularly for South Sydney Junior Rugby League.

“We’re here to put on our show. We want to do that and the vast majority want to continue on with it.

”Grand final days are really important and a natural part of how the season should flow. We want to keep doing that for as long as we can.”

It comes on the back of 85 per cent of NewsCorp readers siding against the changes for next year.

Some readers labelled the new rules as good because of the recommendations from doctors, while others believe learning to lose and tackle technique at a young age were beneficial.

The NSWRL has previously stated the new rules are about: “encouraging the safety, wellbeing and retention of participants.”

The changes are part of the framework developed by the ARL Commission, that have previously been introduced in Queensland and resulted in an increased rate of participation.