Do we though? I'm starting to question if any of our players are actually any good or they have just all been over hyped. We haven't been successful at all for a long time and none of these "superstars" has really actually gone on to be that good. The last young player who really actually dominated consistently was probably yowyeh.
Yeah I'm starting to think this as well... Stephen Crichton at panthers looks an athletic weapon, yet for some reason everyone is apparently after Herbie, Coates, etc.??
I think everything changed when the Toyota Cup came about... all of a sudden the juniors from every team were on display... I know I was excited when it started because I wanted to see the juniors that would be coming through and who to look forward to.
I don't know about you, but before U20's I don't really recall who our juniors were until they hit first grade... Obviously guys like Big Pete, 1910, etc. would've been all over our entire squad before U20's, but all of a sudden the entire NRL competition knew about every team's juniors... and the broncos just happened to have great success in that first year of the 20's as well.
On the back of the 20's competition some of the best talents came straight into first grade... the public could see they were dominating the 20's so why not put them into first grade. It became the new reserve grade and a lot of the best talents came through and started dominating the NRL as well.
When you have a 19yr old dominating the NRL they become big news and the journos suddenly want to know their contract situation... desperate teams see them as a number 1 draft pick that can change their fortunes (just look at US sports) if they can throw enough cash at them and get them to come to their club.
So there becomes this perception that these 18-19 year olds are everywhere in the league, any junior dominating the 20's could be the next Turbo... so every club probably freaked the **** out and started locking in what they perceived as their best talent.
Things have slowed down since 20's was dropped as the young guys actually have to go into ISC rather then their age group, but journos know that linking a junior to a struggling club will get clicks... so they will look to do the bare minimum and talk up any 18 yr old they can google. Unfortunately for the broncos they know we will click the most so that is where they put their effort... what's the point in looking at juniors for the tigers. Their fan base is minimal and the Sydney market is saturated.
Another thing that I will say is potentially the NSW cup is a better standard of play than the qld cup?
Debutants in the NSW teams just look ready for first grade when they come into the team... I know we have a lot of young guys coming into grade at the same time, so a lot of them haven't even had the opportunity to play Qld cup and I'm not sure how much NSW cup the debutants down south are playing before they hit first grade... but they can at least take a hit up on the front foot!!
I think the NSWRL has potentially changed their way since QLD dominated origin for so many years... I think they saw that the current talent wasn't good enough and turned their focus to the next generation. They must have set up a lot of coaching clinics and just generally got the juniors ready for NRL by making them play like NRL players... whereas qld may have stayed with the older ways and letting pure individual talent shine through.
You always hear of Joey, Matty, etc. doing training academies with junior NSW halves and the NSW U18's have been flogging the QLD side most of the time. Every NSW half seems to come through with a great kicking game, but we can't find one qld half that can kick like Cleary or Moses when they were 18??
Even in the women's origin last year the NSW team were playing a brand of football that was reminiscent of the NRL style, particularly with how they attacked inside the 20 (utilising block plays, etc.). Compared to the Qld team which was a bit more old school, hit them hard in the forwards and play a looser less structured style... and the qld team got dominated.
The NSW teams also generally have a single NSWRL team dedicated to them, whereas we split our reserve graders across 3-5 ISC teams... having more control over the reserve grade team means you can play the prospects in their intended position rather than relying on them to overtake the incumbents.
I think Paix was playing as a utility off the bench in Qld cup last year... whereas Harry Grant was starting hooker for the falcons. Niu played some center rather than just fullback... and all the ISC teams play their own individual styles compared to what the NRL team wants to do.
ISC teams want to win their competition so they don't care if the broncos want their young guys to get experience.
