Opinion What happened to Bulldogs junior development?

[Farcanrefs]

Covid has only been in 2020, what about all the years before ?

It's simple. When Hasslehoff came to the Club our U20's and Reserves were competitive. So were our juniors. Des didn't give a fuck about the juniors and things unravelled. Check out Manly's lower grades in years gone by when Des was there. First grade competitive juniors shithouse. Same thing happened to the Dogs because of him.

 

[bowleggedwog]

Dib n des fucked it. Des walked in with so many kids coming through. Many players . Than des as he does concentrates on 1st grade and neglected the rest. 5 years of no recruiting or development killed the club. Go see what Gus done at Panthers. He come in with no juniors even with all the kids in the area. He got the halfback academy going. Build a development system, recruited experience to have at the club. He said it will take 5 years to be competitive. They were in 3 and if it wansnt for them losing Wallace mid year prob would have won a gf. The junior system is important,.look at roosters. Many come through development and they have no junior competition. Smart recruit n development.

 

[c-b-b]

I don't know junior development has the same effect it did 15 or 20 years ago.

Penrith have a great crop of kids but genuine question which other club at the top of the table has that. And they haven't achieved anything yet.

Isn't the percentage of kids that come through the grades to first grade absolutely tiny these days.

 

[Nakidog]

I coach a NZ school 1st XV union team here and there are 2-3 kids at every school here that would make great NRL players given time and the right coaching. I can't understand why teams have not done more of it. RTS was a gun school boy union player here.

 

[coach]

I coach a NZ school 1st XV union team here and there are 2-3 kids at every school here that would make great NRL players given time and the right coaching. I can't understand why teams have not done more of it. RTS was a gun school boy union player here.

Give this man a scouting contract
Would do better than what’s be happening

You must see some talented kids come thru, and just as many get lost to the sport and not consider league

 

[Nakidog]

Yea mate plenty are lost and plenty go on to good things. Depending on the position you are scouting there are different variables you look for in a kid. E.g Halves - (unmeasurables - observation) composure under pressure, time on the ball, resilience, (measurable- statistics) passing game, 10m speed, kicking game and then I look at their make-up and get feedback on family life, character, their ceiling cap (how much quality coaching have they had prior to being involved with you) if its been very limited their ceiling is a lot higher than a kid who has come through the grades and has great game awareness and understanding already.

We get a few Fijian kids come over and their ceiling is huge yet they have the un-measurable (some call x-factor) that you can't coach. So as a coach you get excited about working with those kids because you just know their potential is huge if you can teach them the game awareness stuff.

 

[bowleggedwog]

I don't know junior development has the same effect it did 15 or 20 years ago.

Penrith have a great crop of kids but genuine question which other club at the top of the table has that. And they haven't achieved anything yet.

Isn't the percentage of kids that come through the grades to first grade absolutely tiny these days.

The roosters have no junior competition but recruit 15 - 16 and put them through their system. They don't have to be a local to be a junior. Roosters have many in their currently team that come through their grades to 1st grade. That's development. Melb do the same. The sharks have many talented kids come through the grades, newcastle have and will be another club to have a large number of juniors in 1st grade. The reason why the roosters can buy big names on big dollars is because they have many on rookie deals because they come through the grades. Eventually they lose some as they can't upgrade or out of paper bags lol.

 

[finchie]

$4000 contracts to kids 16-19 happened
When other clubs offering upwards of 20k

Danny ghantos, Khaled Rajab, 2 kids that have played in the junior league since they were 4 years old still not signed for next year
Ones the nsw u18 hooker and the other is the jnr bulldogs half for the last 2 years
That’s just 2 examples

 

['G']

Mick Potter has coached at NRL level and will be our Canterbury Cup coach next year. That, along with our new affiliation with Mounties should help our future junior development in the future

 

[wendog33]

My boy is in Wenty in the Parra district. I have to admit they are full professional even down to the 6's.

My boys team are even going to play oztag in the off-season to learn and maintain match fitness.

Can you, or others, compare the quality of junior coaching staff at all between the 2 clubs?

We probably need to bolster that aea as well. Its so crucial with juniors.

 

[Bulldogsteve]

Can you, or others, compare the quality of junior coaching staff at all between the 2 clubs?

We probably need to bolster that aea as well. Its so crucial with juniors.

i am also involved in coaching in the parramatta district, every club is different, my club is extremely well drilled in coaching. We have elite pathways for players and coaches after the season and continual coaching development night during the year.
interesting move that the bulldogs have moved away from Cabramatta as their feederclub and gone to Mounties for next year. Cabramatta is extremely strong, has alot of teams, where as Mounties have alot less teams and no where as near as competitive.

 

[Alan79]

Given all the rumours about us looking to poach players like Burton and Staines from the Panthers, it got me thinking what ever happened to our bulldogs development? I remember all the Sydney talent used to come from Dogs, Parra and Panthers back in the day but it seems like our production line of talent has gone empty whilst Panthers are uncovering future superstars every week.

It's been a decade since we produced a class of players from our system who were genuine first grade quality or above players (Barba, Idris, Tapau, Klemmer, Finucane, Reynolds, Jackson, Kasiano). Now apart from Averillo, doesn't seem like there is anyone around the first grade squad who looks like they might be something remotely special. What ever happened?

It all started with Greenberg believing that junior development was a waste of money during his tenure. Until he got here we still had some of the best talent scouts and junior coaches. We let some really good talent in those departments move on and never replaced them with quality. So the rot started there. Two clubs that are currently reaping the benefits of good junior development are Canberra and the Panthers and they both picked up former staff of ours.

Moving on a little, we then recruited a coach that saw more value in players that had 20 games under their belt even if it took them 5 seasons to rack up than a junior with promise. He bought in a talent scout who really knows quality in meat filled pastry, but seemingly wanted revenge for not extending the career of his son. These last two things have meant that the club has slowly built a reputation where junior pathways weren't present. So even if we saw a talented junior, it wasn't necessarily a good club to join in order to progress in your career.

Thankfully I think we're getting back to a point where the club might actually look like a decent career path.

 

[Bulldogsteve]

It all started with Greenberg believing that junior development was a waste of money during his tenure. Until he got here we still had some of the best talent scouts and junior coaches. We let some really good talent in those departments move on and never replaced them with quality. So the rot started there. Two clubs that are currently reaping the benefits of good junior development are Canberra and the Panthers and they both picked up former staff of ours.

Moving on a little, we then recruited a coach that saw more value in players that had 20 games under their belt even if it took them 5 seasons to rack up than a junior with promise. He bought in a talent scout who really knows quality in meat filled pastry, but seemingly wanted revenge for not extending the career of his son. These last two things have meant that the club has slowly built a reputation where junior pathways weren't present. So even if we saw a talented junior, it wasn't necessarily a good club to join in order to progress in your career.

Thankfully I think we're getting back to a point where the club might actually look like a decent career path.

hasler was the main culprit, he only cared about first grade, he did exactly the same thing at Manly before he came to the dogs

 

[Alan79]

hasler was the main culprit, he only cared about first grade, he did exactly the same thing at Manly before he came to the dogs

I think the old board have to take just as much of the blame. Even if Hasler devoted his full attention to the top 17-25 players, it's no excuse to just neglect another crucial part of the club.

 

[The DoggFather]

i am also involved in coaching in the parramatta district, every club is different, my club is extremely well drilled in coaching. We have elite pathways for players and coaches after the season and continual coaching development night during the year.
interesting move that the bulldogs have moved away from Cabramatta as their feederclub and gone to Mounties for next year. Cabramatta is extremely strong, has alot of teams, where as Mounties have alot less teams and no where as near as competitive.

What's your team bro?

 

[Mitch Connor]

Anyone confirm if Alamoti did sign with Parra?

 

[red-dog]

bobcat had played a fair bit of first grade before he came to us. Klemmer is a parra juniour, Tapua from NZ, Finnucane from the country. They werent dogs juniours as such.

Yeah but they came through the bulldogs pathways so it means our scouting and pathways programs has been in serious decline.

 

[GDR]

Anyone confirm if Alamoti did sign with Parra?

Wtf.. surely not...

 

[SLushY]

I played with some boys not long ago who never got a crack in the dogs comp but Parra, Sharkies and Manley scooped them all up and now some are in their reserve grades and would've played this year if it wasn't for covid, and idk why the dogs don't poach like the other clubs do because the likes of Albert Hoppa was a killer back in his Harold matts days and you could see he could be something major in the future...

 

[Bulldogsteve]

What's your team bro?

im with Hills Bulls mate, but i was a wenty juniuor growing up