WHEN Central West Rugby Union officials announced last week that colts would be compulsory from the 2016 Blowes Clothing Cup competition and onwards, it came as a mixed blessing for the Bathurst Bulldogs.
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President John Maynard and his club had been working hard to see the colts competition included in the draw after an original proposal had it earmarked as an optional grade for clubs.
But while the move to make it mandatory pleased the Bathurst club, it was not all good news. Bulldogs are not a fan of a change which will see colts be an under 19s competition instead of under 20s as it was this season.
“We had a bit of a win as far as compulsory colts, that was one of our biggest concerns,” Maynard said.
“For us though, the 19s is a real sticking point, only as we don’t have a junior club. It’s not ideal for us, I don’t think 19s are sustainable. Our club doesn’t believe it will work.
“I hope we are wrong, but we’ve proven over the last three years that 20s work, colts have improved markedly since we’ve gone to 20s.”
Bulldogs’ big concern about lowering the age requirement is that it will force players into first, second and third grade teams earlier and therefore put a strain on the club to field a competitive colts outfit each season.
Maynard believes it may impact development and continuity as well.
“With 20s we get players that stay in colts for more than one year. Basically with 19s, they will come from school, have one year in colts and then they are gone into grade,” the president said.
“With 20s, you have those kids who are 17 and 18 for two to three years and that really helps with their development. We still blood some of them in higher grades, but they get to play with their mates a bit longer, learn more and stick with colts longer.
“They are the future of the group.
“So in one way we are pleased to see colts made compulsory, but 19s don’t suit us.”
Colts being made a mandatory under 19s competition next season is not the only change.
Dubbo Rhinos will make their return and, as such, will be required to field first, second and colts teams. Third grade is not compulsory.
But the most radical change will be the format of the 11-club competition itself. It will run for 18 weeks and after one full round, teams will be split into two random pools.
They will stay in those pools for the remaining six weeks before the top five sides overall advance to the finals series.
Again Maynard believes this will test clubs – especially the likes of Orange City and Orange Emus if they end up in the same pool.
“I have been involved with the competition for a long time and there hasn’t been a complete split of the competition before that I am aware of. There was a tier system in the early 2000s, but this is the first complete split in Blowes Cup I think has happened,” he said.
“The split will be tricky.
“Of course if they maintain the local derbies, then the Orange clubs will be the ones that suffer the most in that regard because I believe they are the two premier first grade teams at the moment. But also those two Orange clubs are pretty strong all through the grades as well.”