Every player from the National Youth Competition from 2008-2017 and whether they cracked NRL

More than 3000 NRL hopefuls turned out for clubs in the under-20s competition between 2008-2017. We list them all and see who was able to make the leap to a stable first grade career.

Who successfully graduated from the NYC to NRL - and who didn’t?

With news a nine-person committee has been set up to explore the possibility of reviving the National Youth Competition (also known as the under-20s, Toyota Cup and Holden Cup), we have combed through the list of 3045 players to see who was able to take the next step in their career.

The NYC ran from 2008 until was axed in 2017 due to concerns about player welfare and whether the competition was putting unnecessary pressure on teens to make the big leap to playing against men in the NRL.

The competition launched the careers of superstars like Tom Trbojevic, Kalyn Ponga and Ben Hunt – with many highlight packages still worth a watch as all games were televised and played before NRL matches.

From the 3000+ players who came through the NYC, 648 made it to first grade (a 21% success rate), with 427 going on to have an NRL career of 50 games or more.

Ten of these players ended up in the elite 300-game club, with several still active in the NRL.

The under-20s was an expensive exercise for many clubs, costing some upwards of $1 million to run alongside first grade. It also involved most of the travel of the senior team.

When the competition disbanded, states took back ownership of their lower grades in the forms of the Jersey Flegg in NSW and Hastings Deering Colts in Queensland.

The Colts competition ended this season, with under-19s players sent to the Mal Meninga Cup and anyone over-age going straight to senior teams.

Here are all the names that came through the NYC system between 2008-2017.

Originally published as Every player from the National Youth Competition from 2008-2017 and whether they cracked NRL