One of the great things about Rugby League, and the NRL in particular, is seeing the commitment of some of the games elite clubs to developing players from a young age, and giving them an opportunity to represent their local region at the elite level.
To see players grow up wanting to play for their local NRL club, seeing them go through the grades, and then make their first grade debut, it is something we take for granted in our sport.
Watching the Penrith Panthers and Brisbane Broncos win Premierships in recent years with teams they developed from their local juniors has been brilliant. It should be the goal of all clubs.
I think the NRL salary cap rules should be used to incentivise ALL clubs aim for this goal.
Right now we have a few teams in the National Rugby League who don’t lift their weight when it comes to local junior development. They sit back and poach elite junior players from other clubs lower grade systems.
I have been very vocal in recent years that I believe that NRL club grants should be directly linked to true junior development, with clubs who send the most money running junior Rugby League at all levels being given more money from the NRL compared to clubs who spend very little on junior football.
That does not just mean elite junior programs either. That means from the very first day of kid picks up a football, right through the lower grades.
On top of that, if a team develops a local junior player who comes through all the grades, they go on to become a first grade player, and they end up playing 10 years of first grade at that club, that players salary should HEAVILY discounted under the NRL salary cap.
There are not too many players who would hit all of those markers to get a heavily discounted salary. The average NRL career is no where near 10 years long. To then play for that long at one club without switching teams is even rarer. Then, to have done all of that, and have been a local junior at that same club, you’re talking about maybe a dozen or so players in the entire league!
A player who has recently hit all of these milestones is Nathan Cleary. At 28 years old age he has already played over a decade of first grade football at the Panthers after being a local junior with the club.
When Nathan Cleary comes off contract in a couple of years from now, the Penrith Panthers shouldn’t need to be concerned with the salary cap as they look to retain Cleary. They should be able to spend as much money as they like to keep him at the club and make him a one club player.
Everyone who loves sport celebrates when a player plays out their entire career at one club. In Rugby League, we should do everything we can to promote that within our sport.
