PLAYER DRAIN

Q The CDRL is down 500 registered players on 2016. Why is this the case?

A When you look at it across the board a lot of codes are down in numbers. We can’t really put our finger on why the numbers are down. We’re struggling since we went from under-18 to under-19s. Nine clubs say they’ve got under-19 teams but you see nine and 11 players playing against each other in some of these grades and I think maybe we made a mistake to move to 19s. But we’re in the season now and we’re going to have to progress and see at the end of the season what’s the best for the CDRL, not what’s best for the QRL.

Q What more can be done to encourage players to play the game?

A We think a lot about that across all our club presidents and we get different explanations why they lose kids. They go off to university, they get jobs and apprenticeships and they want to keep their jobs and that’s more important than rugby league but I think that’s where we lose a fair bit, especially in those regional places like Atherton, Tully.

Q The question everyone asks is: do we have too many teams? What do you think?

A There’s some good thinking about us reducing our competition but if you’re going to reduce it you’ve got to take teams out, so if you take a Mossman, Mareeba, Atherton, that really takes away the opportunity for kids in those areas. At the moment rugby league is pretty important in those areas. I’d resist it. We spent a long hard road trying to get extra teams in and at this stage I’d rather keep the 11 teams we’ve got.