Wednesday 19 August 2020 14:38, UK
Picture this scene in the not-too-distant future: An expectant crowd awaits in the main auditorium at Manchester's Lowry theatre as Super League executive Robert Elstone makes his way onto the stage holding an envelope.
In it is the name of the player who will be the No 1 pick in Super League's annual draft of young prospects from a series of regional academies - a system designed to ensure the best and brightest talent is evenly spread across the competition.
Among those at the venue are a handful of those players considered most likely to be drafted in the first round waiting nervously with their friends and family, while the event is also being broadcast live on television.
Does it sound to far-fetched to be true? Perhaps. But if Salford Red Devils rugby and operations director Ian Blease has his way then an annual player draft accompanying a restructuring of how young players are brought through in this country could well be something which becomes part of rugby league.
"I'm really keen for the [Super League] executive team to look at that," Blease told the Golden Point podcast.
"We've got some ideas for that which hopefully we'll be able to bring to the fore, similar to American football.
"We really want a super Super League, and that's something we need to plan for strategically."
Player drafts are most associated with sport in the USA, where the rosters of the various franchises are filled out with the hottest prospects from the world of college - and, in some cases, high school - sport.
The NFL Draft in particular has become a huge annual event all in its own right and to further ensure the talent is spread as evenly as possible, the team with the worst record from the preceding season gets first pick.
Outside of North America, the Australian Football League has employed a similar system for allocating young Aussie Rules players to its clubs since 1981, which includes priority picks for poorly-performing teams and the father-son rule, allowing clubs preferential access to the offspring of players who have made an important contribution to them.
An academy system similar to those proposed by Blease was briefly utilised by Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers, although it was announced last year the joint City of Hull Academy team was being disbanded before the first draft was due to be held.
However, Blease is in no doubt having regional academies would be beneficial for players and clubs, particularly with NRL teams now casting their eye over talented British youngsters to sign for their own youth systems.
"The sooner we lock that talent into our game, the better - and I'm taking about regionalised academies, with a committee of selection, that distribute the best players throughout the leagues," Blease said.
"Then that's down to Super League to manage them because you wouldn't want a Hull lad coming to Salford, because that doesn't make sense. There's a clever way of doing things if we're open to it.
"The blockage will come from the clubs themselves, but we need to unlock that and start thinking about the game as a whole - not just about 'I want to go to the Grand Final every year; I want to go to Wembley every year' as a club."
We've got think about the game more holistically and what can we do to make it better.
Opponents of Blease's idea would say the Red Devils only want to change the current system because they do not have their own Super League Academy set-up - they do, however, have a team in the winter College Rugby League in conjunction with Eccles Sixth Form College and a development pathway - and only a small number community clubs to recruit from in their catchment area.
But the former Salford captain argues it would be benefit rugby league as a whole, particularly if it leads to Super League being more competitive from top to bottom.
"We've got think about the game more holistically and what can we do to make it better," Blease said.
"I think having a strong competition from the first team to the 12th team - and I'm even an advocate of 14 teams if we've got the talent within the pool, but spreading the talent so that London, if they came back in, could go to Wigan and beat Wigan.
"That's great for the viewers and I think we should certainly look at some form of strategy that could happen within the game."
Sky Sports rugby league expert Terry O'Connor, who signed his first professional contract with Salford as a teenager, is intrigued by the idea of a draft but does not see it happening any time soon.
"It is interesting, but it would never get the go-ahead. Over here, it starts at 14 with scholarships and players getting courted. It's not necessarily the kids who make the decision at 14, it's the parents who influence the decision.
"That draft system where they're a lot older doesn't happen in rugby league. Then you'd have to get all the heads of youth sat around the table agreeing they're only going to pick up kids at 18 and 19.
"Clubs might say one thing, but behind the scenes they're trying to sign that next big player and they would get into a battle with somebody else."
