I hope you are right Joe that the new direction can work, however, it’s going to take a massive amount of work by the club to get kids involved on the Peninsula, especially with their mum’s permission.
As you suggested, the Fulton’s concept was well intended, as they recognised a ‘thinner base’ of young players compared to Western Sydney, especially Pacifica players.
There is so much talent in Western Sydney and I’d love to see a comparison of Junior Registrations by region. I think we wo
There’s so much talent out west and young guys who aspire to play NRL, however, cannot get a chance at Penrith or Parramata, given the dearth of talent out there.
The Fulton’s concept to head west was purely a business decision based on the state of the Junior NRL teams on the Peninsula, and I believe their perception that the club needed another resource for more talent, and more talent is in the Western Suburbs.
Yes, I would, and I am sure all Manly fans would love to have the majority of the team born and bread locals, like Beaver, Tooves, the Trbojevic brothers and Parker and all the others who preceded them, or others who are at the club now. Unfortunately, it’s just not possible in this day and age, let alone in the past. Yes, there will be some young talent and we have to retain them, like Feledy.
The Blacktown Workers experiment is all part of it, trying to establish a fan base for Manly and Juniors in the Western Suburbs who would like to play for the club. Has it been successful? I doubt it, however, it’s saved the club a lot of money, as apart from the Top 30 contracted to Manly, Workers absorb all the costs and field a heap of teams from Seniors to Juniors.
I am sure there is lots of young talent on the Peninsula and the club just has to work it’s butt off to get them playing rugby league rather than Union, AFL or Football.
I think the major problem NRL and Union has is that mum’s (and dads to a degree) don’t like seeing their sons (152cm and 70Kgs) playing against other players (who are 189cm and 100kgs). It scares the crap out of them as to how ‘little Johnny’ could be hurt.
Just look at the video of the young South’s player’s try that went viral and look at the size of the opposition kids. It’s ridiculous!
I think the NSWRL rules allow for light weight kids to play down an age, however, there is no restriction on the upper weight level. Maybe I am wrong, however, I think until Under 16, there should be a maximum upper weight limit, i.e, 14s 85kgs, 15’s 90kgs..just as kids can play down a level, you have to play up a level.
Just my thoughts.
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