Do we need a third domestic competition?

Players and coaches continually complain of player burnout, saying we play too many games and the season is too long. Well fair enough then. Rugby League is a physically demanding sport. Your body cannot recover from a weekend game and then play a midweek game at a high standard that european footballers manage to perform every two weeks in the Champions League. So I suppose we don't need a third domestic competition to play along side the Challenge Cup and Super League, or do we?

With the two current trophies on offer, all the clubs are out to win. Coaches may not take risks, especially if its the difference between relegation or survival, play offs or bust, the tital or runners up. Coaches will usually opt for the safer bet, the experienced player. But this prevents young player development if a coach will choose the older player for every major game. We don't see the quality of players coming through the acadamys or scholarships that matches the quality of young players coming through into the NRL. However, I think I have cooked up an idea that not only ensures youth players gain valuable first team experience but also coaches can put their faith in fresher blood. And once again I refere back to football.

Currently in football there are five competitions that top flight teams can compete in. There is the Premiership, FA Cup, Champions League, UEFA Cup and the League Cup. And its the League Cup I want to focus on. The supposidly top four teams (Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea) all field weaker teams in the League Cup, especially in the early rounds. This gives these young and promising players experience in the first team and places them in a more competitive environment against stronger opposition than what they are used to. It prepares them for the big league. As well as improving younger players, it gives experienced players who may have been injured, suspended or missed game time, a chance for a run out before the usual league or major cup game ahead of them.
So what if we had a midweek tournament with special rules for eligability?

I think this tournament should be midweek, as already stated. Reason being it fails to clash with first team games and it extends the acadamy season. At the moment acadamy season starts in April/May with up to only twenty games in that league. With the introduction of this tournament, it will mean extra weeks off from the acadmay league which can be filled if the season starts at roughly the same as Super League. So the Grand Finals dates don't need to be changed, it can still be played at the same time of the year.
This leads me onto the types of player eligable for this tournament. As the primary focus is player development then I believe there should be a limit of the number of players over 21 and in the first team. This age limit is the maximum age a player can play in a Rugby League acadamy. But I feel for the competition to be worthwhile and for these youngsters to test themselves against a fair amount of SL standard, teams can include up to eight of their first team regulars in the starting seventeen for each game. Thats opposed to nine others from the acadamys. And they can be from any acadamy squad as long as its the club's. So in theory, three of the nine (or more) can be from the U21 acadmay side, four from the U18 acadamy side and say two from the U16 acadamy side. So basically if you are part of any scholarship, junior or senior acadamy team within the same club you can play. Obviously teams may opt for junior and senior acadamy players rather than scholarship players (if a club has that structure in place.)

Now how will the tournament be staged and organised? What is the structure? Well, basically its like the League Cup, FA Cup and Challenge Cup. Its a knockout cup competiton. There are 27 senior acadamy teams according to LPLtd's current year book. Obviously the teams have to be seeded until there are sixteen left and then the winner progresses to the next round.
As the number of first teames avaliable in each starting seventeen is quite big, Super league teams would get automatic progression to the Last Sixteen round (including Catalan if they have a youth side) with the other four coming from the winners of preliminary rounds. A free draw like the Challenge Cup (except Round 3) would decide who plays each other in the next round of the cup.

And thats it really, a very basic cup competition that guarentees young player experience against SL standard opposition so these players are ready to progress into SL standard quicker.