For those of you who remember, Brett made his debut at 17 and when he started he was the dynamic and lethal try scorer that he is today but defensively he was limited, Tom T is only going to get better and better and watching him in the 20's hes toying with his opposition, he is going to be a superstar and Manly will need him in the first team ASAP.
Youth is what is needed to revive the team and we have the kids coming through for us to continue to be a force.
You also have to keep in mind though that the game was a lot different 12 years ago. The science behind building your body is a lot different and as such the typical size and shape of bodies playing the game today are not the same as back then. The game speed was a lot faster and as such bodies that have speed and aren't yet fully developed could get into it a lot easier with less risk of injury. Now you have these massive blokes wrestling for dear life, the game is more contact and dominate.
I'm personally of the belief NYC should be for 18 - 20's only and shift the marketing / tv coverage away from it so these kids can develop away from the spotlight, make them the opening game on gameday, promote a true reserve grade people can get excited about again, and give the kids time, once you have done your time in that comp and hit 20, then you are eligible for a much better NSW / QLD Cup and also NRL. You see a lot of these kids rushed through, and while some make it, a lot dont, there is alot of pressure, so if you make it so you can't debut in top grade until you turn 20 it might prolong a few careers and lead to a lot less expectation and pressure on kids giving them time to live life, learn to balance career and study for post football all away from the spotlight.
The rise in these suicides of young players is something that is a little scary, a lot are the polynesian / pacific youngsters who have the culture of having to provide for their family and if they get injured, or don't make the cut it places a heavy weight on them, they have all their eggs in the football basket and haven't developed as people, add on top the fact a lot are brought into the system and away from their families so young.
These kids have 13-15 years ahead of them if they play a full career, rushing is silly to me.