Macca I certainly don't disagree with that sentiment but we need to accept a few facts:
Those that aren't the anointed ones likely never will get to that level. The majority of Super Rugby talent played Aus schoolboys and Aus 20s. As a result professional teams will put time into these players.
Wider squad members will spend up to 18 hours a week with the team for minimal financial reward. Can many older players afford to be available for this? We've seen repeatedly that Shute Shield and Hospitals Cup rarely prepares players to the level they need to be, so the franchises need players who can put this time in to get there.
If you are an NRL prospect, what are you going to do? Take a second tier contract or first tier contract in the NRL and train full time, or play club rugby hoping to get a look in for the Waratahs 32 man squad along with the other 180 starting players every Saturday at 3pm.
Most of Australia's best players have been at a high level by 20. As I noted a few pages back, during our golden years many of these players who supposedly played club rugby to earn their stripes, in fact played very little on their way to higher honours. Most played a season before they played state and national level.
I agree that it would improve the character of many young players. But don't for a second think that this doesn't happen in NZ. As WOB noted a few pages back, the vast majority go direct from school to ITM academies. Players aren't getting picked up after toiling away for years in club rugby, at least that's not where they are recruiting from first.
Australian rugby is just following the recruitment footsteps of the majority of the more professionally progressed sports in the world. It's the price of professionalism.
Thanks TWOS.
what would you tell the kid that was ill or injured in years 11 & 12 then went on to win Colts B & F awards? Give up because you haven't been anointed?
As you say, in NZ the best prospects go to ITM academies, ie they don't go to Super Rugby academies like here.
I think aspiring players that get a sniff of higher honours will find a way of making the commitment to keep playing - and they will be better people for it.
If Australian Rugby is following the example of that game they play in the North of England & a few South Pacific Countries, god help it. In the bush RL once dominated, now it is disappearing. Rugby has prospered in parallel.
My points-
don't make rugby too elite
don't foster a system that excludes late bloomers
dont let the young stars think they are too special until they have played aginst men
the SS, NRC & Super Rugby & International games in Australia are interdependent - the ARU should support each level
Long live the Shute Shield
