Junior development - Gus gould gives roosters credit

[Guest]

Part of article written by Gould giving the roosters credit for the development of young players.

...Then there is a club such as the Roosters.

Again, here is a club with a tiny junior league base. The cost of education and living in the eastern suburbs of Sydney means that recruitment, relocation, housing and education are extremely expensive. They introduced a system of recruitment and development, which has stood the test of time. The success the Roosters have enjoyed during the past 20 years can be largely attributed to this philosophy.

The Roosters have always had the unfair reputation of being a club that spends big money on star players from rival teams.

Of course they have bought the occasional star in recent times, however, any research of their recruitment and development strategies over the past 20 years will reveal that the Roosters have developed more NRL players and representative class players from a young age than the vast majority of clubs in the NRL. This is despite the fact the club has virtually no junior league in comparison to other rugby league areas.

The formula for both Roosters premiership wins this century has been very similar.

Nine to 10 players from their grand final squads made their NRL debut at the Roosters, and seven to eight of those joined the Roosters before turning 20 years of age (and many before turning 18).

Further, only five to six players were established first-graders at other clubs before joining the Roosters, and only two to three of those players, in each successful grand final team, were what could be classified as ‘‘star recruits’’...


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...#ixzz35webYaKC

[roosterproud]

finally some good press....go chooks.

[milanja]

Should only get better with them getting 4500 extra juniors to pick from up from central coast way.

[Guest]

Thank f** k Phil, finally a prominent sports writer has challenged some of the tripe that “sports journalists” regurgitate about Easts buying premierships which has been running since the mid 1970’s. In keeping the fine tradition of New Limited Sports journalist I will regurgitate an old post – only I won’t rearrange paragraphs and no word/name changes
Let’s not be fooled by the whole debate about purchasing players and club juniors and the tried and tested lines fed to us from sports journalists when they are struggling to produce a story on a quiet week, particularly from papers who have to give their papers away these days because they can't sell them - no wonder it is a dying media. Having followed the game for over 40 years I have heard all this echoed since the import rules in the 70′s.

When you delve through the ranks of any club and their origins as juniors you will find a host of players that have juniors that are not from their base. Look at the bulldogs recent strong sides around 2004 when we met in the grand final and beyond and you find a large number of players who were developed outside the Canterbury junior base Willie Mason (Newcastle), Andrew Ryan (Group 11NSWCRL), Sonny Bill Williams(Auckland), Willie Tonga (Qld) ,Mark O’ Meley (NSWCRL), Braith Anasta (Souths),Steve Price (Toowoomba, QLD), Jonathon Thurston (Toowoomba, QLD), Nate Myles (Qld) , Luke Patten (NSWCRL), Roy Asotasi (Auckland), Adam Perry (NSWCRL), Tony Grimaldi (St. George), Reni Maitua (Souths) Ben Harris (NSWCRL),to name a few.

Here is an interesting fact in the 2004 grand final the bulldogs fielded 4 local juniors with the roosters fielding 1 and would have been 2 except for the suspension of Luke Ricketson.

[Kingbilly]

While its debatable whether the word "junior" should or should not be there and maybe its the lack of the word "local" that makes it right. But they do a good job. They don't have many "local" juniors and they do work with other areas giving kids an opportunity.
Regardless of the opportunities for local kids by way of very generous funding they are developing local kids.

Given the size of the local clubs its hard to get quality teams up to showcase the players with ability. Adrian Lam is doing it, but its hard to get a very good quality team up. Its good to see genuine locals like Alex Thomas and Taane Milne giving the 20s a good crack

[Guest]

Phil "Gus" Gould can sing until the cows come home regarding our club being unfairly labeled as a team that poaches talent rather than develops it however the Roosters stealing talent is a catch phrase that has been embeded in to the minds of Rugby League fans for nearly 40 years and has been past down throughout the years, much the same as the popular "we hate Manly" or "South Sydney are the team for battlers" it will never change and our club will have to unfairly cop criticism regarding so called lack of junior development.

I personally do not classify any of those players should be classified as juniors as they came to our club after starting their younger careers elsewhere however I also do think that in the salary cap era of Rugby League local junior development is overrated and is a 1970's concept still being preached about today when it does not logically fit in with the scope of the modern game.

I find that that the clubs who are stuck behind the rest are the same clubs who are looking for a team of locally developed juniors to win themselves a premiership. "Gus" has changed this thinking with his Penrith Panthers and we have seen an improvement in their team this year. The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs make no apology for going through a high turnover of players in recent years whilst they have not won the premiership they appear to be thereabouts every other year. Meanwhile we have seen clubs like the Wests Tigers, Canberra Raiders and Parramatta Eels continue to fall behind.