31 year old SL Grand finalist on dual registration...

Quote: SmokeyTA "Give the championships their niche as something closer to college gridiron than a second division ala football.

Take away youth development from SL clubs completely, why are we aligning players with clubs at 15, shuffling them out again at 18/19 and bringing them in again at 20/21. Doesn’t seem to make much sense to me.

My preference, which I stated before The RFL takes control of all youth development up to the age of 17(end of season when they turn 17),

At 18 players join a championship or championship 1 club, who run a 1st team and a reserve team.

At the end of the season in which they turn 19, they can declare themselves eligible for an SL draft.

Players then join SL clubs, but stay affiliated to their championship/championship 1 club.

Take Zak Hardaker as an example, he goes through the RFL youth development, signs for Featherstone, Fev bring him through

He goes to Leeds at 19, When he plays for England he is listed as Zak Hardaker Leeds Rhinos/Featherstone Rovers. Fev are given a bonus for him becoming an international.

Should Hardaker be dual registered, he can only be dual registered to Fev.

I think that this would work out for everyone. The RFL can take a more rounded approach at the youngest levels, where basic skills are more important than victories. They can spread around the very best coaches to work with the kids that would be far too expensive for one club to afford. I.e pay £60k to Darren Lockyer and get him working with all the best half backs and fullbacks in the country between the ages of 13 and 17 for 6 months.

Lower league clubs have a clear and defined place within the RL structure, they have a competition to win and a better level of player playing for them. They would also act as a feeder league for SL but be completely independent of SL clubs. They can take DR players but those will be DR players with a personal link to that club and a history and affiliation completely separate to the SL club. It would also make it easier for the game to achieve its ‘strategic aims’ with regards to club location. It would mean an expansion club would simply need to concentrate on making itself a viable business, marketing itself, building links with the local community etc, and they are guaranteed a steady stream of good quality, credible players from the outset. I also think it would build great interest in the game at lower league level. People would talk about it, they would look it at, they would watch it. Can you imagine how much publicity someone like Tomkins would have built in the lower leagues. I can perfectly imagine a player like Stevie Ward being an attraction to fans of SL clubs this year having had a year in the championships already, probably playing most games, and standing out this year. SL fans would want to go to hunslet to watch him, or their local team when hunslet played them. To see who their team maybe getting next year. It removes this competition we seem to have between some clubs who are on massively different levels.

For SL clubs, they get a steady stream of distributed talent and they don’t really need to do much for it.'"

Yes they do , as feeder clubs to others

Look , you can twist it , turn it , bend it any way you want , they would still be feeder clubs , and nobody will be willing to pay to watch them