Premiers Melbourne signing Xavier Coates from wooden-spooners Brisbane sums up a problem that may put an NRL player draft back on the agenda, Broncos board member Darren Lockyer says.
Coates, Brisbane's only current Queensland State of Origin player, has signed a two-year deal to join the Storm worth a reported $500,000 per season.
Brisbane is believed to have offered similar money, meaning that Coates opted for the stronger club. Players are often even willing to take less money to play with successful teams, meaning that struggling clubs find it hard to keep or attract elite players, thus making it difficult to reverse their fortunes.
"It is a good question because I guess what happens is, no matter what sort of money you can offer someone, if they're not consistently winning footy games, they're not enjoying it," Lockyer said on Wide World of Sports' QLDER.
"And that means the stronger teams can pick the best talent out of the teams that are struggling and just pull them out of there. In this case (Coates), this is what happens.
"Obviously Kotoni Staggs was an important signing for the club. Jordan Riki was an important signing for the club. We felt that that was going to build a little bit of momentum, to say, 'Hey, look, we're getting some key guys to stay here and the future looks positive'.
"So to lose Xavier's obviously very disappointing but back to the question - do you look at a draft? Because if you don't give those clubs at the bottom some sort of advantage to get better talent to their club, you could be down the bottom of the table for quite a while."
A player draft has long been discussed but has never been deemed feasible, despite its use in the AFL.
Clubs like Brisbane would likely be worse off under a draft system, given that players from its vast junior nursery would be subject to selection by other teams. The NRL's huge overarching of the junior ranks would mean that clubs like the Broncos and Panthers would virtually be developing players for rival teams.
A significant problem in the AFL, too, is the difficulty of relocating teenage players interstate; with many opting to go home as soon as possible.
In the NRL, the onus is on weak clubs to rebuild by pouring energy into developing juniors while gradually attracting better talent in the market. The battling Bulldogs, for example, may fare better next season after adding Test winger Josh Addo-Carr and outstanding young playmaker Matt Burton to their rebuild. Burton is one instance of the salary cap working as intended, pushing surplus talent from a top club to a battler.
Coates is an example of a trend perfected by the Roosters, where players leave weak clubs for the promise of success; superstar fullback James Tesdeco, formerly of Wests Tigers, being the prime example.
Inaugural Broncos captain and rugby league Immortal Wally Lewis said that Coates was a tough loss to cop for Brisbane.
"That's hard. He is a player that's shown an enormous talent whenever he has the ball in his hands," Lewis said on QLDER.
"Wonderful performances. Big, strong, fast, he can finish off movements quite well."
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from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/brisbane-broncos-xavier-coates-melbourne-storm-player-draft-darren-lockyer/63e6b027-2a40-4a72-b579-1d716bd95b62
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