I don’t think a carbon copy would work either, we aren’t set up in that way and American sports seem to take their players a year or two later. Most of the best RL players will be in and around squads at 18/19, in America many are in college at this time, or in baseball in the minor leagues (FWIW I don’t think the MLB type development concept makes a whole lot of sense) and don’t hit the big leagues for a year or two, and in Baseball and Football especially often a bit longer than that.

I think a youngster playing at least 2 years in the lower leagues would be better for their development than in the SL youth leagues, and it would write the first part of their story. When Tomkins came through at Wigan, and Watkins at Leeds there were fans who knew about them and were excited about them, I think if they had come through a higher visibility Championship or C1, the fans of those clubs would be excited about seeing them, the game in general would be excited to see how they step up, and the club who got them would be excited about seeing their highly rated new addition.

It gets people talking, gets the players visibility, and it gives a club something to sell and it perpetuates hope for the entire league, the draft is American sports best sales and marketing tool in my opinion. (aswell as being a good way of distributing talent and developing players)