Would the Welsh regions gain by having a draft system?

Would the Welsh regions benifit from a Draft system?

Players would play for there Schools or Clubs untill they are 18 and then they enter the Draft to be selected by a region.

Worst places region in League gets first pick. It would mean the the WRU would Divert money from the regions acadamies to the clubs etc to develop players, and the regions in turn would then just have to focus there resources on their senior teams.

As an outline of how it could work the Aussie rules draft is listed below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFL_Draft

It may be a good model to use at first as it's added a few details over the years (Father-son rule etc) and could be tweeked.

I thought at first a draft in Ireland may benefit Connacht, but I think that the Acadamies are doing a great job presently, and more importantly players want to play for thier home provience more than any other team.

In contrast the Welsh acamadies are doing a great job also, but players don't have the same loyality to a region and move between them, a fair bit, and a history of players moving Clubs before that. Therefore a draft could help spread the talent and distance regions from the club scene, leaving the regions to focas on the League and cups rather than development.

Obviously this isn't a definitive model, but just a suggestion to see if the idea has merit.
Thoughts?

This has been discusssed many times on the old 606.

Pros -:

Talent would be split evenly amongst the regions

Regions would have a chance to strengthen traditionally weak areas (i.e. Scarlets tight five, Dragons centres, Blues half backs, Ospreys whole team)

Better chances for young players to get game time as they should be more likely to find a region that suits them

Cons -:
Whilst the regions are all within a short driving distance of each other, that does not mean that they are close to the 'local' area of the youngsters who would be drafted.

The players themselves may feel some loyalty towards their home region, after growing up there and supporting them as children, and as such may not want to leave to play else where.

The regions have their own accademies, and they are looking at talented youngsters whilst still in age grade rugby. Would they be willing to spend time and effort developing a few talented players knowing that they will end up at other regions.

There are no central contracts at the moment, so this would need to be sorted out in order to make a draft system fair.


Anyway personally I am not a fan. However maybe a loan system would work better.

I'm neither for or against the idea just wondering people's thoughts.

I like your points but "Would they be willing to spend time and effort developing a few talented players knowing that they will end up at other regions." maybe a central acamady, or have coachs employed by the WRU.

I don't know why central contracts are required, the ausie rules or American football teams all operate a draft, but don't have centrally contracted players.

personally looking from outside I think it may have merit,

Centralised contracts would be required (IMO) as like I said in the point above it, the regions would not be keen to pay out for players to go elsewhere.

I honestly don't see how it could work in Wales. The school and club systems are all a little all over the place, with no emphasis on anything other than young kids getting in to their regional age group squads.

Therefore players will have loyalty to their region. And there would be University on top of that.

I still think the key is in the Premiership and getting that right. Clubs filtering younger players through to their regions. The league will just need more coverage and exposure. A millenium magic weekend, TV coverage and so on...

The idea is good. Central contracting would be a necessity though, prevent the pointless in-fighting and let the WRU have the only and final say. The way it should have been from the beginning when we tried to mirror the NZ/Ireland model.