Rugby League: 127 of NZ's best up-and-comers head overseas

By PETER JESSUP

An overseas exodus of the country's best up-and-coming players is stripping the ranks of the game.

A total of 127 players have sought release from their New Zealand Rugby League registration and clearance to play overseas so far this year.

That's around six teams or half a Bartercard Cup competition, which is where the bulk of them come from.

Around one-quarter of those heading overseas, mostly to Australia, are junior development players and they concern the NZRL most, though the continual skimming of the cream from its top national competition is also a worry.

There were five former Junior Kiwis in the New South Wales under-19s versus Queensland under-19s that preceded State of Origin One.

Bronson Harrison is at Wests Tigers and Iosia Soliola at the Roosters and played for the junior Blues; Josh Tatupu (Auckland), Sam Tagataese (Wellington) and Joseph Clark (Christchurch) played in the junior Maroons.

Among the latest exports are NZ under-16 representative Hermann Retzlaff, a prop, who has shifted to Keebra Park High School on the Gold Coast, with promise of a shot at making the Wests Tigers. It's the school Benji Marshall attended. Retzlaff is one of around eight young New Zealanders on their books.

Also active lately have been the Cairns Comets who are a Queensland Cup feeder club for the North Queensland Cowboys. They have signed six National Junior Competition players.

The Broncos have shifted NZ secondary schools half Tim Rangihuna over from Aranui High in Christchurch with promise of a trial. He is the fourth player taken from the Canterbury Bulls in recent days, with goal-kicking fullback Lusi Sione off to England and second rower Taylor Pelenise going to Souths.

Joseph Clark, a lock rated the best prospect in the South Island, has rejected an approach from the Warriors to sign for the Broncos after seven games with the Bulls.

The just-completed NJC competition has been a fertile harvesting ground for the Aussie talent scouts. Among those across the Tasman to watch games was Arthur Beetson on behalf of the Roosters. But while some have legitimate links to NRL clubs, many are opportunists, player agents and managers who will get signatures then shop young talent around with little hope of anything coming of it.

Most NJC players, aged 16-18, are now convinced to sign management contracts. Often, they can limit their chances.

Too frequently, young talent is taken out of the development programme of the NZRL or district leagues only to end up playing in "the bush" of New South Wales or Queensland leagues, perhaps for a $200 wage and a job at a club, or a second-hand car.

The reality is that players of promise are better off showing their talents in Bartercard in New Zealand, which is watched constantly, than in the Sydney Metropolitan Cup or Queensland Cup, let alone the Riverina competition where many seem to end up.

The Auckland Rugby League has formed its own management co-op to help young players sort real offers from dead-ends.

Called Vision Sports Management, it aims to identify top talent in early teens and offer a stable pathway to the top, without interference with schoolwork.

In charge is long-term coach Stan Martin. Twelve boys aged 14-18 are in the programme so far and already one, wing/centre Sean Morris, 19, has been sent to the Tigers on a two-year contract.

The difference between Morris and others is that his managerial deal with the ARL via Sports Vision will cost him little from his earnings, Martin and the ARL officers will support him through his early career and he is more likely to choose to play for New Zealand than to tip the way Karmichael Hunt did.

A second player, Darren Kingi, has been attached to the Manly development programme run in Auckland with hopes of a trial.

Ten others are at the Warriors. Martin is happy for the Auckland NRL franchise to have first look at the goods.

There is a good working relationship between him and Duane Mann who runs the NZRL-Warriors development programme.

The players have to be aged 18 before they can sign a legally binding contract without their parents' input.

Martin aims to protect them from signing away any hope they may have. He also wants some reality and truth in the deal. "We don't want boys to dream of something that won't happen."

Up to 70 per cent of NJC players signed with some club or agent after the 2003 competition. Martin feels that number has dropped this year "because they know we (Sports Vision) have got the best ones".

"We have identified these guys from ages 13 or 14 and put on the tournaments they play in. Then they get all sorts of people walking up to them saying, 'I'm the scout for such-and-such a club'.

"They don't need that at this stage of their career.

"We want to take them under our wing, nurture them and continue their education in football and, when they are 18, offer management services."

It's non-profit but Sports Vision will take some percentage which will be returned to the development fund.