News Bulldogs to field two reserve grade teams in 2022

CanterburybankstownBD

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Seems like Gus's doing......

Daily Telegraph

Thee Bulldogs will take the extraordinary step of having two reserve grade teams next year as the club moves to bring all its pathways systems back in house.

The Bulldogs will share its second-tier players between its own Canterbury side as well as Mounties in the NSW Cup as they honour a pre-existing relationship.

Canterbury, who won the title as a stand-alone team in 2018, have one year left on its arrangement with Mounties to act as its feeder side Cup side but it is understood the club will bring its reserve grade side to again play under the Bulldogs umbrella alone in 2023.

“Bringing back our reserve grade side to Belmore is something that was very important to both the board and all of our fans, and we are delighted that we have been able to achieve this for next season,” Bulldogs chairman John Khoury said. “The decision will be beneficial in that it will allow us to create a full pathway from juniors all the way through to the NRL, and the NSW Cup side will be a vital part of that going forward.”

The parties joined together this season with ex-Bulldog Mick Potter coaching the Covid-19 interrupted season.

Bulldogs head of football Phil Gould took a similar in-house stance during his time at the Panthers.

When Gould arrived at Penrith the club had been sending their reserve grade players to Windsor. He ended that arrangement at the end of 2013. Penrith won the reserve grade title the next season.

“We have a rich history of success at reserve grade level and that has always flowed through to the NRL,” Khoury said. “Our aim is to create depth and competition, and to return to being a club that develops its own players and brings them through the system.

“We want to return to creating a winning culture here at Belmore, and we believe that this will be another step in the right direction in regard to getting there.

“We will continue to partner with Mounties to provide support for their team in 2022, through the provision of players.

“We thank both Mounties and the NSWRL for working with us to achieve this, and we look forward to seeing our players run out in Bulldogs colours this coming season.“
 

COVENS

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Pretty sure most non-NSW NRL teams have players in at least two reserve grade teams.
Good point and a good reason to base the 18th franchise in QLD - also relocate the Tigers.
 
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Spoonman84

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This is good news, it also means we have double the development spots for our prospective spine players next season.
Not necessarily. If you spread the talent too thin over two sides they end up being pretty weak compared to the other sides and they end up getting lapped with mass changed every week. Having one strong side is a much better outcome in my opinion.
 
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Psycho Doggie

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Not necessarily. If you spread the talent too thin over two sides they end up being pretty weak compared to the other sides and they end up getting lapped with mass changed every week. Having one strong side is a much better outcome in my opinion.
My understanding is we supply some players to Mounties, not the whole team.

Hence this becomes a chance to give a number of halves some decent game time.
 

Spoonman84

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My understanding is we supply some players to Mounties, not the whole team.

Hence this becomes a chance to give a number of halves some decent game time.
Getting decent game time with a weak pack and backline doesn’t seem like much of a plus. I hope the Dogs side is a priority over Mounties.

It sounds like we would have canned the partnership for next year if we could so hopefully there’s no minimum amount of players we have to provide Mounties. It would be even better if the club can get out of the deal before next season.
 

dogon

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Pretty sure most non-NSW NRL teams have players in at least two reserve grade teams.
Yes, Storm & Titans have two each, Cowboys & Broncos have three each while two of the Broncos teams played in Qld GF but Warriors have 2 Islands.
 

Alan79

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For a long time I've thought the lack of talent in the nrl came down to the fact that many sides dropped their reserve grade teams in order to cut costs. Plenty of players need a few extra years to develop the toughness to tolerate the NRL or to develop defensive skills to match their attacking skill. Without NRL reserve sides a lot less players will have a chance to stick with the game, thus the quality of depth game wide will decline. It's been a long time now since many teams dropped their own feeder clubs (the NYC bought this change about in a big way) and we're seeing plenty of teams now that just can't get 17 NRL standard players in the roster let alone 30 that can cut it. I hope for the sake of the game more clubs focus resources on this again in future.

For now I hope having two feeders allows is to build a better side by the end of 2022
 
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