While I agree to some degree, it’s just something we have to learn to live with as teams like the Storm, Broncos and Roosters have in the past.
It sucks, but I think we have done well to insulate ourselves for SOO this year. We are 4 points clear at the top of the table and will have a bye for Game 2. We also have a soft draw this year as well as a bulked up NSW Cup side (who also have padded themselves at the top of the table).
The other pitfall is, when a player has SOO rep against his CV up goes the price…
and that can be a heartbreaker for supporters !!!
Saying goodbye to those who have served us well because we can’t afford them.
The only people benefiting, the NRL. Do they still play dead ‘rubbers’ ?
Good luck to those Panthers chosen. I’ll read about it here !
This can be offset with a concession for local juniors. I feel a club should be given a discount for the investment in young talent.
And if anyone is still wondering why Easts are the ‘Easts Rorters’, here’s why; the recent proposal by their moneymen to have Easts defined as a ‘development club’ and hence get the most financial benefit from such a scheme. In the same scheme, Penrith would rate near the bottom. Apparently, stealing juniors from clubs like the Penrith junior leagues constitutes ‘development’. When I read that, I had to check that it wasn’t the 1st April. This sort of effrontery is a further example of the old adage - “If something sounds rotten, just follow the money”. And that’s why the accountants are as important as the coaches.
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Did this stop? I recall us receiving a concession for Sam McKendry but that was for years of service wasn’t it? Most definitely there should be a concession particularly after a certain amount of time in the top grade.
It never existed. The discount was for long serving ‘clubmen’ who had played a certain amount of years at a team.
What I am taking about is a discount (from the cap) for players that is raised through a teams development system. It’s hard for teams to justify a large spend and seeing a large amount of that talent go elsewhere to reap the benefits.
I’m pretty sure I’ve raised it before about junior development & salary cap exemptions, that there should be a discount of 10% of the salary for any player you have developed from Matts or Ball to first grade. For a club like us, that discount would probably mean keeping more of the players we develop, or it would pay for 1-2 players to be brought in from outside to plug holes in the roster.
I’d like to add that if the NRL does want to bring this in, there will also need to be safeguards so that clubs like the Roosters or Storm can’t be throwing money at 11 year olds, from areas like Penrith, in the hope they can lure them into their systems prematurely,
Throwing money at an 11 year old is an awful big gamble. What will be more likely will be the poaching of junior clubs into the development systems outside the areas they are assigned.
Whilst I agree wholeheartedly given our junior base, we must have provision for these teams in our competition that do not have junior development.
The Storm - I doubt they will ever have a junior system that could reap these benefits so how is that scenario fair and just?
I can see why the NRL don’t want to entertain this, if they did, the powerful junior bases would own the comp each and every year due to the extra salary cap benefits.
Even capping the benefit to say 100k would be unfair, still an advantage to teams who have established junior bases.
For clubs with small junior bases, the idea would be that they develop through rural areas. Melbourne already have ties with clubs in Queensland, although they may lose this with the Dolphins starting up. They may look at areas along the Murray River to develop instead (although this would encroach on the Raiders recruitment area, and it is also an AFL dominant area).
we’re tip-toing toward a form of draft ! 
Maybe not 11 year olds, but certainly the early to mid teens. Easts and the like will stop at nothing, and they have the money outside any cap to do it. I have yet to hear any commentator, when talking up Suaalii, for example, referencing his Penrith juniors roots. That is not something that Easts want widely known, as it spoils their narrative. The same sort of arrogance underpinned their rebranding as the Sydney Roosters, as if they are the one and only Sydney team. Fortunately, tribalism made this a hollow tactic.
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