By Tallon Smith – originally for the Gundagai Times

With Group Nine pre-season beginning for some eager sides in the coming weeks, the controversial changes to the competition’s lower grades are set in stone as clubs prepare for a very different match day in 2025. 

The changes, which will see the Under 16s Sullivan Cup moved from the Senior League to the Juniors while an Under 18s Girls Tackle competition will fill the spot on the match day program, have been controversial, with opinions being sprouted by many across the region and even a shadow board of club administrators not on the Group Board forming against the proposal.

Group Nine President Mark Daly explained that the Under 16s Boys going back to the juniors and the Under 18s Girls competition starting were two separate changes rather than an intentional like-for-like swap, as many may have thought.

“It’s not a one for one swap, it was only an option when the Junior Board and Senior Board met to give another pathway for the Under 16 girls to give them a game in between going straight to open women’s,” he said.

“The Under 18s trial competition is just another pathway for the girls to come through to seniors made by Group Nine [and] had nothing to do with the NSW Board.

“The Under 16s going back to Juniors was a NSW Rugby League Board decision.”

Daly clarified the background to the Under 16s switching to the juniors, with the decision being an edict from the NSWRL Board, while the Group itself proposed the Under 18s Girls Tackle to fill the void that the former change would create on senior matchdays.

“At the end of the day we are only administrators of the Group, we don’t run the Group as a whole, New South Wales Rugby League run it,” he said.

“Whatever decisions they make we have to follow and all the Board members are on the same page as that.

“We are the only two Groups [Group 9 and Group 20] in NSW that had 16s in the seniors.

“They [the NSWRL Board] spoke to all the clubs and any clubs needing anything from the NSW Board they are willing to help them out as much as they can.”

As for the new Under 18 Female grade, Daly said that while some clubs will inevitably struggle for numbers and potentially not field sides, he expects the competition to be a success.

“I think it’s another option for the girls coming up from Under 16s straight into open women’s tackle,” he said.

“It would be another pathway in, instead of losing them back to Aussie Rules or Soccer for another 12-18 months, there’s a pathway for them to play.”

In addition to coming into line with the rest of the state, Daly said that moving the Under 16s Boys to the junior competition will align rugby league with other sports in the area, and remove teenagers from the adult environment of senior footy.

“It gets the 16s out of the senior environment where players start drinking and all that kind of stuff, they are still only kids at the end of the day,” he said.

“It gives an opportunity for the girls to grow as well and come through at that age.

“I think it’s pretty fair and there’s good arguments for it and there’s good arguments against it, so we will just have to see how it pans out.”

One of the big arguments against the changes from the Group’s clubs has been that they are going to lose sponsorship dollars and volunteers in the form of the parents that drive 16s to the games, however Daly largely refuted those claims, saying that there should be little impact on either.

“I don’t think there will be much impact on sponsorship,” he said.

“Women are just as popular as the boys, there’s an opportunity to sponsor those teams as well.

“I think some clubs do get some volunteers come through the ranks from the 16s parents, but some clubs don’t either.”

As for which clubs are generating enough interest early on, Daly said that a few of the clubs have had interest, and he thinks despite early pessimism from some, long term it will be a success.

“There’s a bit of talk in Albury, and another couple of clubs have done their data and said they won’t have Under 18s Girls for another couple of years, but I can’t see that happening,” he said.

“At the end of the day clubs have to go out and ask people in clubland [to determine] if they have got teams or not.

“It’s like the Under 18s women’s last year when clubs said they didn’t have any, they ended up getting sides out of it.”

Meanwhile, it has also been confirmed that the Open Women’s Tackle competition will move to a full, competitive season with a finals series from next year.

The competition will run alongside League Tag, which is being retained to provide the most options for participants, as the female game continues to grow at a rapid pace.