{"id":287146,"date":"2025-11-15T23:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T23:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/287146\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T23:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T23:44:11","slug":"storm-ceo-says-nrl-draft-is-inevitable-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/287146\/","title":{"rendered":"Storm CEO says NRL draft is \u201cinevitable\u201d – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL<\/a> has a ton of young talent coming through the system, with many stuck in logjam positions keeping them out of first grade.<\/p>\n

Melbourne Storm<\/a> CEO Justin Rodski believes an NRL<\/a> draft system is inevitable, despite acknowledging the major challenges that would come with implementing such a change.<\/p>\n

Speaking on SEN’s The Captain’s Run, Rodski said the idea of a draft has long been debated within rugby league circles and, while complex, is likely to happen \u201cat some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be very difficult,\u201d Rodski said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in principle, the broader NRL<\/a> industry would like to have a draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2025MUDGEE, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 22: Jonah Glover of the Dragons is tackled by Jamie Humphreys of the Rabbitohs during the 2025 NRL Pre-Season Challenge Charity Shield match between St George Illawarra Dragons and South Sydney Rabbitohs at Glen Willow Sporting Complex on February 22, 2025 in Mudgee, Australia. (Photo by Mark Evans\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The concept was previously trialled for the 1991 NSWRL season, before being scrapped following the Adamson v NSWRL Federal Court ruling, which found the system imposed an unreasonable restraint of trade.<\/p>\n

It has not been reintroduced since.<\/p>\n

Rodski said the league’s current pathway and zoning systems, built over decades, would make a draft difficult to integrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the system is now so inherent in its pathways and the programs that are in place, it would be very difficult to change that now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot saying that it’s impossible, because you could do it, and I think there is every chance the NRLW<\/a> could move to a draft before the NRL<\/a> itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Rodski conceded such a move would require extensive structural change, he believes growing support within the game makes its introduction inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would take a lot of change in a lot of areas that would impact clubs and their development systems,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think it’s inevitable at some point that the draft comes in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won’t be in the short term, but it’s going to be interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NRL has a ton of young talent coming through the system, with many stuck in logjam positions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-287146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}