Former St Pat's president and Balmain Tigers player Dave Chapman believes recent changes to the points cap will benefit Group 10 clubs.
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The NSWRL will next season introduce a statewide player points index system (PPIS) for the first time across regional and metropolitan open age competitions.
Group 10 has had a PPIS system in place for a number of years but the statewide concept will introduce a Notional Principal Contracts Allowance for former NRL stars to have their points recalculated to a notional value.
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The move is to encourage former NRL stars to give back to the communities that kickstarted their careers.
Chapman was a Blayney and Orange CYMS junior before linking with Balmain in the 1990s, where he played one first grade game before heading to England to play for Castleford Tigers for three seasons.
He returned to the Central West in the late 1990s and represented Orange Hawks, Blayney and St Pat's in first grade.
He believes more ex-NRL footballers playing in Group 10 will benefit the competition as a whole.
"It's definitely a step in the right direction with those players that have grown up and competed in the junior system of that club," he said.
"They build a wealth of knowledge at a higher level and be able to bring that back to their home town and junior club, the fact that we're looking at not penalising those country clubs, I'm all for that."
Having ex-NRL players at country clubs has a big benefit to the juniors and club as a whole according to Chapman.
"I think it's because sometimes bush footy clubs their skills can become a bit stale only because the coach or captain may not have been exposed to the latest drills and skills," he said.
"To be able to bring that knowledge back is going to benefit not only the juniors, but senior players that haven't been exposed to that kind of level of training.
"That's got to be a good thing and for that to start filtering through the country and junior system is only a good thing."
The new concession will come in for the 2022 season.
Other aspects of the PPIS framework of rules and principles include:
- A player will have their playing history for their past five seasons (2017-21) considered for categorisation purposes
- A player will be categorised at the highest level they have played in the past five seasons
- A player must not play any less than five competition matches (in any one season) to be correspondingly categorised at that level
- Categories for developing, graded, representative, Major Competition and Elite Competition players
- Participating clubs shall attribute a point value to each player
- A sliding scale points system based on ladder position, with teams finishing higher having reduced points and teams in the bottom half having full points.
Group 10 players that have played in the NRL/ARL/NSWRL:
Bubba Kennedy (Balmain) - Walgett, Orana Googars, Bathurst Panthers, Blayney Bears, Cabonne United, Mudgee Dragons, Lithgow, Orange Hawks.
Jaime Kelso (Balmain, Souths) - Blayney, St Pat's and Hawks
Paul Upfield (Illawarra) - Penguins, Parkes and Blayney
Marty Moore (Balmain, Penrith, Souths) - Penguins
Keith Blackett (Parramatta) - Penguins/Panthers
Glenn Boatswain (North Sydney) - Bathurst St Pats
Bronco Djura (South Sydney) - Bathurst Penguins
David Chapman (Balmain) - Hawks, St Pat's, Blayney
Mark Booth (Penrith) - Oberon
Dave Elvy (Penrith) - Bathurst Panthers
Andrew Hinson (Penrith Panthers) - Bathurst Panthers
Gavin Miller (Sharks) - Oberon
Luke Branighan (Cronulla) - Oberon
George Rose (Manly, Melbourne, St George) - Oberon
Bert Gordon (St George) - Penguins, Cowra
Kurt Hancock (Newcastle) - Bathurst St Pat's
Jason Ferris (Cronulla, North Queensland)- Oberon
John Fearnley (Parramatta) - Bathurst Panthers
Karl Lovell (Cronulla) - Bathurst Panthers
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