Super League’s Castleford Tigers and the NRL’s Manly Sea Eagles have entered a partnership that will see the Sydney-based side support the Tigers in their youth development.
The partnership was described as a “revolutionary amalgamation” by the Australian outlet The Daily Telegraph where reports of the deal first emerged.
It’s a collaboration that looks set to massively benefit members of Castleford Tigers’ academy systems with one of the key stated goals being that Manly will afford rising stars an ‘opportunity to break into the NRL’.
The deal between the two clubs marks the first of its kind between a Super League and an NRL side but it’s not limited to the academy with Manly’s chairman Scott Penn revealing more details.
He told The Telegraph: “We’ve been talking to them around talent in junior and senior levels.
“It’s about trying to attract the best youngsters from the UK. Castleford are creating great talent, kids who are potentially looking for an alternative pathway.
On the face of it, the partnership might seem very one-sided and stacked against Castleford Tigers in the sense that Manly effectively gets the pick of the Tigers’ young players, however, that’s not the case.
It’s claimed by The Telegraph that Castleford believes they will actually get more young stars to sign for them at the junior level in the knowledge that they could be afforded an NRL opportunity, therefore creating a bigger talent pool and a higher-quality academy at Wheldon Road.
Moreover, Manly looks to be considering an ‘exchange programme’ whereby their youngsters will be afforded the chance to develop in England and vice versa.
Castleford Tigers have had some of the brightest young talents in Super League across recent years but they’ve struggled to keep hold of all of them, but if they were afforded a bigger initial player pool then they’d be less impacted.
Players such as Bailey Hodgson have previously left the Tigers to seek an NRL move with the full-back most recently playing for Manly’s reserves before his move to Leigh Leopards.
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