The Seven Network’s Jim Wilson and Josh Massoud reported yesterday that the already fledgling VB NSW Cup is set for a revamp that will probably see the reserve grade format sent back to the middle ages.

At the moment, the VB NSW Cup has little or no support.

The help it gets comes from the likes of our very own The81stMinute Commentary Team and Alby Talarico’s Steele Sports (you can hear both call teams this weekend on radiohub.com.au), a game on Fox Sports and occasionally a few annual finals matches on 2GB. Not bad coverage for a competition nobody cares about.

With all due respect to the NSWRL, sometimes it feels like even they are trying to hoodwink their own competition.

Now the NRL are set to step in and shake up the VB NSW Cup.

Let’s get this straight. The VB NSW Cup doesn’t need to be shaken up, it simple needs some love.

Seven’s top newshounds, Wilson and Massoud, suggested yesterday that there would be a complete overhaul of the VB NSW Cup despite the Holden Cup Under 20’s being scrapped from 2017. What this supposedly means is instead of the VB NSW Cup and Intrust Super Cup (sponsors equality here) being reinstated as curtain raisers to the NRL, the VB NSW Cup will remodeled into a competition that even less people will see than they are now.

The NRL wants less Sydney sides in the new look competition, teams from Fiji and New Zealand and regional times from across the state.

This also means that the Sydney-based sides will be dramatically reduced and players not picked in the NRL will be forced to drop back to the likes Newtown, North Sydney or Mounties and play WITH opponents from rival NRL clubs.

What an absurd concept this is.

There are players in our game making a million dollars a season, playing State of Origin at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, World Cup matches at Old Trafford yet we expect fringe first graders to go back and form instant relationships with blokes that are meant to be their enemies?

What year is this?

Club cohesion, game plans and systems will be thrown out the window.

Insert perspective here.

In the next two weeks, The81stMinute Commentary Team and I will be at Aubrey Keech Reserve in Liverpool when Mounties play Wests Tigers and then the Warriors in a potential minor premiership showdown.

If you haven’t been to Aubrey Keech that’s fine.

The people are great, fans respectful and the club has a plethora of talent throughout their grades. But it simply isn’t fair that these VB NSW Cup players aren’t at Allianz, ANZ or Pirtek Stadiums in front of crowds of 10,000 or more.

Have a look at the players lining up for Mounties and Wests on Saturday and tell me they don’t deserve to be the curtain raiser at every single NRL game across the full season.

The supposed proposal from the NRL is ballistically idiotic.

The NRL wants entertainment and families through the gates, right?

Put the VB NSW Cup back where it belongs and open up the second-tier salary cap so we can keep as much talent in AUSTRALIA as we can.

For the love of God, let’s hope someone from the NRL is listening.

@CurtisWoodward1

Video Source: sportscaster91