Given that before the season had even started, James Maloney had signed for the Sydney Roosters for the next season and would be replaced by Thomas Leuluai. Also, during the season’s second round, Beau Scott announced he would be joining the Newcastle Knights on a four-year deal; many people in Rugby League have called for a possible re-introduction of the draft and/or a transfer window. I will explore these issues and set a solution I think the NRL should follow from 2012. I’ll also investigate if someone will finally suppress Ken Irvine’s scoring record.
After the 1990 NSWRL season, the governing body decided to implement an internal and external draft. South Sydney rookie Terry Hill was drafted for Easts after expressing a desire to play under Warren Ryan at Western Suburbs. Terry successfully challenged the draft as a restraint of trade, and the draft was thrown out. Terry would ultimately leave Wests at the end of 1994, as he believed the defensive-minded Warren Ryan stifled his style of play. Fast forward to 2002(?), and the NRL introduced an anti-tampering deadline, which stated that clubs were not allowed to talk to players who would be off-contract the following year until July 1; however, it did not last long and was thrown out in 2006 and replaced with the current free for all.
The most common type of draft is what is known as a left entry draft, which is used to filter players coming into various sporting leagues. In the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, players are developed through a college system, so, therefore, they have no allegiance to any pro team, and the draft is a fair and even way of distributing talent to the clubs. The AFL has three drafts which its clubs can recruit players from. It has the; AFL Draft, the primary draft, in which players, especially players out of the amateur VFL competitions/school competitions, are selected. The rookie draft is for players aged 18-23 who are not considered in the main squad for a particular club and who the club would like to develop as they are not ready for the AFL. They are considered in a separate rookie list where they are forbidden to play AFL that year (unless they are promoted due to injuries). The third type of draft is the pre-season draft, which is for those players who, for one reason or another, did not make the primary draft and still hope to be picked up by a club for the following year. Most drafts are exempt from anti-trust or restraint of trade laws, as they are included in collective bargaining agreements between leagues and players’ unions.
Since NRL clubs develop their own players, an entry-level draft is unnecessary. Of course, if the NRL was to introduce a draft, it would also be wise to include the possibility of trading players between teams whilst players are under contract to their current clubs with a trade deadline after round 9 of the NRL season. NRL clubs would be allowed to trade players again in a two-week window, beginning the day after the grand final. All players in the final year of their contract and have not been re-signed at this point must enter the draft. To prevent clubs from “tanking” to ensure they are given the number one pick in the draft, the NRL would need to introduce a lottery system based on the NBA Draft Lottery. In the lottery, the eight teams which did not make the finals are given a chance to win the number one pick in the draft. Eight balls are placed into a lottery machine (with the numbers one to eight on the balls); four balls are drawn out, and the team whose numbers match the numbers drawn out of the lottery are declared the winner (the order of numbers drawn is not essential). The process is continued twice to figure out who gets the second and third picks, as opposed to the draft; the lottery is based on chance, so even if a team tries to finish last, it has no guarantee it will get the number one pick. Players who have represented a club for five consecutive seasons can have a no-trade clause inserted into their contracts, where they can choose to decline to be traded to certain clubs.
Ken Irvine was born on March 5 1940. As a child, Ken accelerated in baseball. Where he played for an NSW junior representative side alongside future representative teammate Reg Gasnier. Ken also sprinted competitively for the Randwick-Botany Club. As a seventeen-year-old, Ken decided to attend a Rugby League trial at Wentworth Park for North Sydney; upon seeing Ken in action, first-grade coach Ross McKinnon stated: “sign that kid for life.” Ken made his first-grade debut the following year at the tender age of eighteen. Ken rapidly rose through rugby league, becoming the competition’s leading try scorer in his second season, with nineteen tries. He was subsequently selected for the New South Wales tour of Europe in 1959. In 1961, Ken ran in a specially designed effort to see if he could break the 100-yard record of 9.3; he equalled it. Ken left North Sydney at the end of 1970 due to disagreements with head coach Roy Francis. Ken would go on to score one hundred & 171 tries in 184 appearances for North Sydney, averaging 0.92 tries per game over 12 years. In 1971 Ken joined Manly Warringah, where he stayed for three years. Ken helped the club win its first two premierships in 1972 and 1973. Ken scored 41 tries for Manly over 60 games, spanning three years with an average of 0.683* tires per game.
Ken would finish with a record of 212 tries over 230, at an average of 0.89 tries per game in a career that spanned 16 years. Ken would be honoured in 2004 with being selected in the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame. In 2006, Ken was named the winger in the North Sydney Bear’s Team of the Century and the Manly Sea Eagles’ “Dream Team” to commemorate sixty years of the club’s existence, despite playing only three years at the club. In 2008, Ken was honoured with being selected in Australia’s 100 Greatest Rugby League players, as well as the Australian Rugby League and NSW Rugby League teams of the century. Ken also held the most record of tries for Australia, at 33, until 2012, when it was passed by Darren Lockyer, who ended his career with 35 tries. It should be noted that Ken scored his tries over 31 games at an average of 1.06 tries per game. Compared to Darren, who scored his over 59 matches at an average of .059 tries per game.
Every time a player scores twenty-odd tries in consecutive seasons, reporters suggest they could be the new record-breaker; however, they have all failed so far. Steve Menzies scored 180 over 349 games, a difference of 32 fewer tries, for Steve despite playing 113 more games. The current record holder of active players is Billy Slater, who, at the start of the 2012 season, had 124 tries over 206 games at an average of 0.60 tries.
Billy Slater, like Ken Irvine, also excelled at several other sports. How good could Billy have been having he chosen another sport? According to legendary AFL coach Tom Hafey: “Someone asked me recently how I thought Billy Slater would go playing Aussie rules football. I said he’d win the Brownlow Medal in his first year. Then he’d beat Cadel Evans in the Tour de France. Then he’d open the batting and bowling for Australia and ride the Melbourne Cup winner.” While Tommy may be exaggerating, Billy’s all-around athlete skills were displayed when he won the first two seasons of Australia’s Greatest Athlete. In season one, Billy claimed eleven podium finishes in fifteen events. Billy would return in season two and successfully defend his title. However, he was unable to compete in season three due to injury. At the start of the 2012 season, Billy Slater was 89 tires behind, breaking Ken Irvine’s record. Billy has scored an average of 13 tries per season. At this rate, Billy will reach the mark in just over six years when Billy will be thirty-four years of age. Barring injury, Billy would play a possible 23 games per season to score those thirteen tires, missing only one game a year due to State of Origin (Melbourne has byes around the other games that Billy would miss). It is tough to imagine Bully Slater not scoring tries in more than ten games in any year.
And Another Thing: Interesting to see Fox Sports record big numbers for Sunday Night football, with the game attracting a rating of 279,000, which was second overall, with 308,000 watching Monday Night Football. The Saturday 7:30 pm game was a close third attracting 270,000. The Sunday 2 pm game came in fourth for Fox Sports attracting 228,000. The Saturday 5:30 pm game was Fox Sports’ lowest-ranked game getting 198,000. This means Sunday Night Football looks to be part of the schedule under the new TV rights deal.
Quote of the Week: Craig Foster: “Football is coiled, ready for the open road following traffic jams in other codes and nicely positioned to demonstrate every advantage the game offers. Want Diversity? Check. A global view? Check. Skill, sophisticated tactics, extraordinary goals, tension, emotion, passion? Check.”
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Till next time,
Cheese