Juniors to be graded by size in Rugby League

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THEY are the Darren Lockyers, Greg Inglises, Roy Asotasis and Daniel Mortimers of the future – the short, the tall, the heavy and the light. But with soccer and the AFL wolf-clawing at the door and real concern that small players are being driven from rugby league by the heavy frames of early developers and kids with Polynesian backgrounds, officials, parents and coaches are grappling with the issue of whether children of different builds should all play together.

Should junior league players be graded by weight as they were up until the early 1970s – or by age?

The issue of Sydney’s rising Polynesian community and simply bigger kids has become the silent threat to rugby league junior player numbers, with many parents pulling children from the code because of the toll of collisions with children who can weigh up to 50kg heavier.

It is an issue junior leagues have been grappling with for almost a decade but admit has been too hard to solve because of a myriad of issues.

Until the early 1970s junior players were graded by weight, but the system also had problems because many bigger players were not mature enough mentally to handle jumps of more than two years in age.

Dr Robbie Parker, head of Westmead Children’s Hospital’s Institute of Sport, has been working with the NRL for over 18 months on possible solutions. He believes trialling mid-week weight competitions is a start.

However, he wants the split extended to create two weight divisions at all ages.

While parents and young players say a current grading system throughout NSW (where juniors are often chosen in teams on skill and experience) protects slight and smaller players, many believe there is a need for weight divisions – at least for children under 13.

The admission follows revelations AFL powerbrokers view the issue as a crack in grassroots rugby league, which the code intends to exploit in its recruitment drive.

Dozens of junior AFL players  have also revealed the motive behind the code switch was “that it was better for small players”.

Slightly-built Campbelltown Collegians under-13 rugby league third-grade halfback, Dylan Harris, said that while he enjoyed the challenge of bigger players, friends had quit league because they were “sick” of being overpowered.

The 12-year-old said he believed weight divisions would keep more players in the game and lure more new recruits.

“I know a few kids who are little that aren’t playing this year because we go to international rules [full-sized fields] and people are bigger and stronger,” he said.

“Some of the kids’ parents stop them because they don’t think they will be able to handle the bigger kids.”