Grassroots involvement in new national competition

The clubs and regions who’ll supply players to the new national rugby competition will have a major say in the running of the two Queensland teams.

While Queensland Rugby will provide expert help in specialist areas, each team will have its own steering committee made up of one QRU representative and one delegate from each club or region aligned with that team.

The new professional teams have yet to be given names, but one will represent the Sunshine Coast Stingrays, Norths-QUT, Brothers, Wests, GPS and University, while the other will represent Easts, Souths, Sunnybank, the Gold Coast Breakers and the Country Heelers.

At the outset, both national competition Queensland teams will play their home games at Ballymore.

The team Steering Committee proposal was endorsed by a meeting of club presidents last night. Clubs have been asked to nominate their delegates by October 16.

“The planning process that led to the creation of this competition stressed that there had to be a close alignment with existing clubs for it to succeed,” said Queensland Rugby Chief Executive Ken Freer.

“Our representative approach provides an opportunity for clubs to contribute to the success of this new professional competition and ensure they share in the benefits,” Mr Freer said.

“Each club will be looking for a representative with business acumen as well as rugby knowledge, and they may elect to go outside their existing management group to find the right person,” he said.

The process of selecting team coaches is also expected to get under way soon.

The head coach for each team will come from the QR Queensland Reds coaching staff, while the two assistant coaches for each team will be recruited from the non-professional ranks.

“We expect to be calling for expressions of interest from prospective coaches within weeks,” Mr Freer said.