More players from regional areas will get the chance to pursue their NRL dream following the changes made to the Country Rugby League (CRL) Senior Championships.
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That’s the feelings of chief executive officer Terry Quinn, who spoke about the change from opens to an under-23s only tournament on Friday.
“The 19-23-year-old age bracket is our peak participation range for senior football and traditionally players outside of this age range have a lesser chance of progressing through the pathways unless they’re already playing, or have played, in higher levels of competition,” he said.
“By restructuring the format to under-23’s we are giving more players in our peak participation range the opportunity to advance their rugby league careers.”
The decision to make it just under-23s was made to allow for a greater number of players who don’t make the under-20’s to still have the opportunity to play a higher level of football and progress through the pathways.
