National Club Comp Concept

[Burgs]

Interesting article from back in September, don't recall it being repeated here?
Not sure if I would champion it, but at least it's someone thinking a little outside of the box.

https://rugbynews.net.au/a-national-...-club-rugby-3/

[GIGS20]

Yeah, unfortunately I see any club based competition at a national level to be equally as expensive as running and NRC and less effective at delivering high performance outcomes with the added risk of the rich getting richer (which is precisely why Shite Shield clubs are all for it)

Since Perth and Melbourne are the most stark examples I'll take Perth (since I know the names)

Lets say Paly win Premier rugby in the first year and gain admission to the club comp....they get to select X uncontracted from other clubs and play at the "higher" level.

Now I'm not saying it's inevitable, but I reckon a lot of those players will want to play for Paly next year because they've A made mates in the team B played at a higher level which is good for their career and C recognise that, at least on some metric Paly is better than their team.

Club rugby allegiances are pretty fluid in Perth and a number of those players are a chance of going to Paly next season, Paly will clearly have them, since they selected them for the tour...they clearly don't think they're mugs.

So Paly pick up Y of the X that they selected making other teams weaker and themselves stronger....they're a better chance of winning next year.

Even worse, let's say Gordon are the Shite Shield champs....can't they pick Paly's best player to play for them and the same thing happens?

It isn't any cheaper than fielding representative teams for the exact same number of matches and the reps teams DON'T EXIST in the club rugby comps, so nobody can get poached (as a matter of fact, it's more likely that a player will stay in the place that got them selected unless advised by a reps coach to move to improve their performance)

[Burgs]

Tend to agree Gigs.
I think a model that makes use of Shute and Hospital Comp teams would likely be better served with State/Territory (ie Perth Gold level) from WA, ACT and Vic, with permission for State origin pro's.

[GIGS20]

Tend to agree Gigs.I think a model that makes use of Shute and Hospital Comp teams would likely be better served with State/Territory (ie Perth Gold level) from WA, ACT and Vic, with permission for State origin pro's.

I would tend to agree with that, but the same dynamic will exist in the shute shield teams, it won't simply disappear by picking more teams. It'll still be a case of the haves vs the have nots.
With that in mind, if the lower performing voting members in the shite shield boardroom want to shoot themselves in the face, who am I to stop them?
Hospital Cup teams seem to understand the need for a development team level between club and super rugby, Queensland engaged much better with the NRC concept and Sydney pretty much killed the concept on their own. I can imagine a world where Randwick play Brisbane City in the national Club Championship and as long as the Sydneysiders get their ass handed to them I can live with that.

[shasta]

With that in mind, if the lower performing voting members in the shite shield boardroom want to shoot themselves in the face, who am I to stop them?

You'd have to find them before you could save them anyway. With all the reported argy bargy and disconnect between them and RA over the past few years, I tried a while ago to find who is running the Shute Shield these days. It used to be the SRU. You could be forgiven for thinking it no longer exists. There is a link on the Shute Shield Partners page..............

https://shuteshield.rugby/partners

...............it's situated under Rugby Explorer (RA) website but goes nowhere.

[brokendown gunfighter]

You'd have to find them before you could save them anyway. With all the reported argy bargy and disconnect between them and RA over the past few years, I tried a while ago to find who is running the Shute Shield these days. It used to be the SRU. You could be forgiven for thinking it no longer exists. There is a link on the Shute Shield Partners page..............

https://shuteshield.rugby/partners

...............it's situated under Rugby Explorer (RA) website but goes nowhere.

relax,just have a couple bottles of Shiraz-it does help,lol