I would have thought that the kids and their clubs all get fair support from both the ARL through the Foundation and from each of the NRL clubs through the junior development officers who are funded by the NRL.
Of course the situation in the country may be different, I have no knowledge of that area of junior development.
Given that we agree RL is a business the arguement will always be how much is spent on the game for the kids to first get involved in RL as opposed to AFL, Soccer or RU and then how much is devoted to then developing the elite junior players. Supergreed has brought a level of professionalism to the game that few of my era would ever of dreamt of, wether the game is better for that level of professionalism is another debate.
I am not sure that by the NRL playing a Saturday afternoon game or a night grand final will drastically affect how many kids end up playing RL as opposed to another sport. They are more likley to affect old farts like me, who would prefer to watch a 3:00pm saturday game and then a 7:30pm game, the 9:30 game is generally to late for me. Of course if it is a Manly game I am more likeley to actually be at the game but then again that is not the point of this discussion.
Of course the situation in the country may be different, I have no knowledge of that area of junior development.
Given that we agree RL is a business the arguement will always be how much is spent on the game for the kids to first get involved in RL as opposed to AFL, Soccer or RU and then how much is devoted to then developing the elite junior players. Supergreed has brought a level of professionalism to the game that few of my era would ever of dreamt of, wether the game is better for that level of professionalism is another debate.
I am not sure that by the NRL playing a Saturday afternoon game or a night grand final will drastically affect how many kids end up playing RL as opposed to another sport. They are more likley to affect old farts like me, who would prefer to watch a 3:00pm saturday game and then a 7:30pm game, the 9:30 game is generally to late for me. Of course if it is a Manly game I am more likeley to actually be at the game but then again that is not the point of this discussion.