Broncos declare war on Raiders development

[Travis]

A very worrying development for us, as Logan is one of our key development areas.

A brief summary:
- Brisbane Broncos, in partnership with Logan City Council, will build a "junior development" training facility in Logan.
- Not a junior club, but will be capable of hosting Q Cup, Mal Meninga, Cyril Connell, schoolboys, etc. games.
- Centre will be the office of Brisbane's Logan district development team (headed by Michael Hancock).
- At the moment, the Broncos development kids (step below NYC 20s) train at Red Hill, but will train at new site instead.

Broncos’ Elite Player Development Program:
- Kids below the NYC 20s squad are signed on small deals (A couple of students at my school are on one year deals in Brisbane's favour and another I know of, from Mitchell originally, is on a scholarship at Churchie and on a three-or-so year deal) and train at Red Hill.
- Identified by Brisbane's development officers from each region (and affiliated with QCup clubs), eg. Chris McKenna in the Redlands area, based at Wynnum-Manly and (I think) Craig Grauf through Norths or Redcliffe.
- It appears that Michael Hancock will now have a base in Logan, due to the lack of a QCup club (Souths Logan being Raiders).

http://www.logan.qld.gov.au/about-counc ... nce-centre

My concerns:
- About one kilometre down the road from Marsden State High School, which is, a) a Raiders development school (they use Raiders training programs, etc.) and b) one of the top six rugby league schools in Queensland.
- Two of the top juniors in Metropolitan East and students at Marsden (George Fai - a good prop and Jadyn S'ua - a very good centre / backrower) have escaped our system.
- I suspect that many schoolboys carnivals (Met. East trials or state carnivals, etc.) will be scheduled here, right in front of the Broncos (although managers and scouts always travel to these things anyway).
- Marsden will jump ship.
- We will lose our first dibs on local juniors.
- If all of the junior clubs get on board, Souths Logan may jump ship (though I suspect we've got a pretty good relationship and this may not happen).

I guess time will tell of the impact. Hope we don't lose any future Milfords, Lees, etc.

[roneel78]

Good point. Very worrying trend. However, I am surprised it has taken the broncos this long to do this.

[Travis]

I have just heard rumours from somebody with connections to Broncos development that the Broncos are considering merging three junior Logan Rugby League clubs to make one 'super' club called the Logan Broncos (I guess to rival Logan Brothers and Logan Mustangs). The three clubs apparently being considered are Rochedale, Springwood (I think) and Waterford. This would see the 'super' club with a direct pathway into the Wynnum-Manly representative sides and QCup. If this rumour eventuates, it seems that the Broncos are ramping up efforts in the area.

The same bloke told me that in recent years, Canberra has decreased its funding of the Marsden SHS league program. Not sure how true this is, though it's good to see Mark Tookey come out in the press and raise the obvious problems that the Broncos create in attempting to monopolise the junior market. Tookey, as well as being the Souths Logan Mal Meninga coach and this years u16s QLD coach, has coached Marsden teams in the past (unsure of his current role).

[greeneyed]

I thought we'd just increased the link to Marsden?

[Swiller]

What about setting up something in NZ! Should have a massive talent base and the Warriors can only take so many. The Warriors should really be carving up with a whole country to service one team.

[Travis]

I thought we'd just increased the link to Marsden?

I don't know; it's just what my mate told me. He knows the Marsden coaches better than I do. I'll do a bit more sniffing around and let you know. I really hope it's untrue and we are maintaining strong ties with the school. I think it's a bit worrying that George Fai and Jadyn Sua both go there and play for Souths Logan (Mal Meninga and Cyril Connell respectively) yet are in the Broncos system. I guess it's possible that Tookey and his team didn't see much in them.

[Shadow Boxer]

We could always build a centre of excellence in, oh I don't know, Canberra. There's a fantastic oval in Braddon we could use, oh wait.....

It might help the rapidly dying ACT RL survive a few more years.

[Nick]

I wasnt aware ACT RL was rapidly dying.
I must have missed the memo

[Shadow Boxer]

I wasnt aware ACT RL was rapidly dying.
I must have missed the memo

Go to a game or a school sometime. You might get a surprise.

[greeneyed]

The Canberra Raiders Cup is at presently stronger than I can remember in all my time in Canberra.

[Shadow Boxer]

In what way, the players it is feeding the raiders, crowds, interest from schools ?

[greeneyed]

Canberra Raiders Cup quality of matches and players is higher than I can remember. This is borne out by Canberra being highly competitive in rep games against the local Newcastle and Wollongong competitions. Junior numbers are quite strong, is my understanding. Clearly, more professional development officers needed compared with AFL, but the TV deal will start to deliver that.

[Travis]

I thought we'd just increased the link to Marsden?

I don't know; it's just what my mate told me. He knows the Marsden coaches better than I do. I'll do a bit more sniffing around and let you know. I really hope it's untrue and we are maintaining strong ties with the school. I think it's a bit worrying that George Fai and Jadyn Sua both go there and play for Souths Logan (Mal Meninga and Cyril Connell respectively) yet are in the Broncos system. I guess it's possible that Tookey and his team didn't see much in them.

My mate, who happens to be a big Broncos fan, spoke with the head of rugby league at Marsden who apparently said Canberra gives them $5000 per year for their rugby league program. The Broncos have just offered them $10 000 per year, sparking something of a bidding war. I don't know how true it is, but my mate is involved in school rugby league and speaks with the Marsden blokes every now and then. The school is getting bigger and bigger in terms of rugby league development. Apparently they had ninety-six kids vying for their Year 8 rugby league class (I assume their intake would be about twenty-eight kids per class. I don't know how many classes they run.). I hope the Raiders can retain their ties. Greeneyed, would you know anything from the Canberra end?

[greeneyed]

$5,000 or $10,000 doesn't sound like much...

[Travis]

$5,000 or $10,000 doesn't sound like much...

No, it doesn't. I guess it would be enough to keep their gym well equipped and training gear like tackle pads, etc. The Raiders logo is on their jerseys, so maybe they help fund those? The students are free to sign with whom ever they choose (eg. George Fai being with the Broncos). Every bit helps, but I suppose the most important affiliation is with the local clubs; they don't need to go to Marsden to be with Canberra (eg. Papalii went to Woodridge SHS).

[RTW]

$5,000 or $10,000 doesn't sound like much...

For a school rugby league program to double their sponsorship would be huge so if it is true they would definately jump at the chance. However I think the broncos are reluctant to financially support school teams because they don't want to alienate other schools who have programs in place.

[greeneyed]

Not much for a football club to find. The Logan Sports Club would presumably find $10-20k easy to come up with.

[Travis]

$5,000 or $10,000 doesn't sound like much...

For a school rugby league program to double their sponsorship would be huge so if it is true they would definately jump at the chance. However my understanding is the broncos are reluctant to financially support school teams because they don't want to alienate other schools who have programs in place.

Yeah, Marsden would probably go with whoever provides the best deal. I think the Broncos do it through their Queensland Cup clubs. The school where I work has an affiliation with Wynnum-Manly. They provide coaching and guidance. Chris McKenna runs activities for the rugby league classes and is coaching our opens side. I assume Wavell Heights would have a similar deal with Norths.

[RTW]

What school are you at out of interest? Does McKenna work as a teacher as well or just come in for after school training?

My understanding is Wavell is coached by their teachers not by Norths coaches.

[Travis]

I'm at Alexandra Hills SHS. McKenna's not a teacher (I don't know if he's trained as one), he just comes in to run the odd drill with classes and coaches our open side. His job is head of junior development at Wynnum-Manly. This is the first year he has coached a side; I coached the opens last year. This is, however, the first time in a while that we've entered teams in the Bronco's Cup competitions. Our rugby league 'program' is only in its second year. Many of our boys played in the Wynnum Mal Meninga squad and the rugby league co-ordinator was an assistant coach of that side, hence his ties with the club. The Wynnum Cyril Connell coach coaches our Year 10 Broncos Cup side, though I knocked back the offer first (young family and didn't want to do the late Wednesday nights). I know absolutely nothing about Wavell, except their boys are typically with Norths and Broncos. Cavendish Rd used teachers as coaches a few years back and Marsden mostly use teachers as coaches, though I read somewhere that Mark Tookey coached their Year 10 side last year or the year before. I guess it's up to each school.

[Travis]

Brisbane Broncos NRL coach Anthony Griffin meets with school as club prepares for junior academy

THE Brisbane Broncos have made its first move to sure up the talent rich Logan area by aligning with booming rugby league school Marsden State High School.

Marsden State High, which has produced the likes of Cameron Smith, Israel Folau and Chris Sandow, has become the first school in Logan to officially align with the NRL club as the development of the Logan Broncos Junior Academy begins.

Broncos coach Anthony Griffin joined the club's football operations manager Andrew Gee and recruitment officer Brian Edwards at a meeting with the school on Monday, November 18, to discuss the partnership.

Read more: http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews ... 6762652354

[Green eyed Mick]

Raiders need to lock up a few schools in the region as well.

[edwahu]

What do these deals actually entail? Scholarships?