Quote Originally Posted by Aegon View Post
Genuine question.

Are Buds a victim of the rise of New Lambton, Cooks Hill & I suppose a few years ago Lambton Jaffas?

There must be a limit to how many capable kids can come from the same pool of players.
This has to be a factor. The players who may have left Olympic/Magic in the past and funneled to Buds, now spread across Jaffas, NL and Cooks. There aren't enough kids. Even Jaffas/Edgy who finished 1/2 in 2023 13s have been after players for their squads this year.

JDL doesn't fix anything. It's not producing more better players, it's just creating an earlier dropout with kids jaded/broken after 40 week seasons and parents questioning the $$$ to take part.

As for the Buds, the other comment about not fielding a team with no real penalty vs having a very poor one that gives away 3pts every week is spot on.

Shorter JDL season and probably YPL, less teams to bring back exclusivity, lower cost and better trained coaches. Easy fix...