Six teams to contest 2024 Illawarra Rugby League premiership

Issuing the invite to the Wombats to make what would be a giant leap in its first year in the 13-man game was one of the measures couched in a report tabled by newly installed IDRL chairman John Brannon at a board of management meeting last month.

The report arising out of a NSW Rugby League review proposed a seven-team first grade competition in 2024, with the stated goal of seeing a "minimum 10-team Illawarra competition by 2025" comprising teams from the St George, Cronulla, Illawarra and Group Seven regions.

That plan will not be realised this year, with Avondale instead electing to enter the First Division (second grade) competition as part of a participation agreement that will see the club move up to the first grade competition in 2025.

It will see the 2024 premiership contested by Thirroul, Collegians, De La Salle, Wests, Dapto and Corrimal.

"Avondale aren't in a position to put a first grade side in next year, but they've committed to put one in for 2025," Brannon said.

"They arrived at the decision to want to participate in the first instance, so they thought that through. The decision was to give them a season of grace to [enter first grade], we accepted the rationale.

"It's a great outcome to have an extra team in 2025, and building on that we're putting a working group together to try and build to 10 teams. Whether or not we get there in 2025, I'm not so sure. If we get to eight teams, that'd be a good outcome.

"We have six at the moment, seven next year, we've got to pick up another one to get to eight teams in 25. I'm confident we'll find another team to get there."

The Illawarra competition was reduced to six teams in 2023 following Helensburgh and Cronulla Caringbah's withdrawal from the top grade - the latter after a single season in 2022. There were fears De La Salle could follow, but the club will return in 2024 after reaching the finals in its first two years in Wollongong.

De La's future in the competition came into question at the end of last season after a number of Illawarra clubs threatened to withdraw from first grade citing the administrative demands of meeting the state governing body's 'major competitions' criteria.

Given its unique pathways system, the Illawarra League falling into major competitions paved the way for De La to shift south. Brannon said the assurance that the first grade competition will fall into newly created 'premiership' division will see the two-time finalists' again go around in Wollongong.

"Their view is that they want their teams to be playing in the best competition they can be in," Brannon said.

"Their big issue was around the dropping back from the major comps to the premiership. Their concern was that we'd go back to become a community league and the premiership league is above that.

"They had that concern, but the board of management agrees that we're not going to seek to go back to a community level and our intention is to remain at premiership level, at least for the time being."

Brannon said the board accepts 10-team target by 2025 is a high bar, but with the NSWRL's 'Southern Corridor' region stretching from the St George District in the north to the souther edge of the Group Seven competition, it is an attainable target if done with the proper consultation.

"The review came about through our concern around sustainability of the first grade competition in particular," Brannon said.

"I'm going to get around and meet all of the clubs, and that includes clubs that are potentials. In 2025 we'll have the addition of Avondale, and hopefully the addition of another on top of that.

"There's obviously the other zones and we've already got a relationship with the Cronulla zone having had Cronulla Caringbah down here as well as De La Salle. Group Seven's on our doorstep, but it's got a healthy competition itself.

"It's probably a bit early for me to answer is [10 teams] a reality? Certainly it's an objective at this stage. We're setting up working groups and doing it through New South Wales Rugby League to sit down with interested parties and have a discussion."

The certainty will be welcomed in clubland amid long-simmering frustration at the fact 2024 arrived without a competition structure in place, or confirmed number of teams. Mr. Brannon argued the review process was carried out in "an amazingly short period of time."

"The review itself took place across the month of November into December in which [NSWRL's] Brent Pigram got around and had 32 meetings with stakeholders in the game, stakeholders within our district and outside our district," Brannon said.

"He then obviously had to take some time to pull together his thoughts and findings and build recommendations out of that. He then brought it to us in early December. People pulled out all stops to get that done. There wasn't a minute of time that was lost in that process."

Several club figures spoken to by the Mercury also questioned why the full review wasn't presented to clubs, with an initial meeting with NSWRL officials scheduled in early December postponed before the final report was presented prior to Christmas after being signed off on by the Steelers board.

Brannon denied anything had been buried, saying all the key findings were presented in full.

"We had a meeting, first of all with a few of the board members who were involved in rugby league, but it was really a matter that needed to go to our full [Steelers] board," Brannon said.

"Given that this has financial, organisational, resourcing implications for us as a business, we needed to have a look at it and see whether or not we agreed with it all, whether it made sense. We did that as a board, we signed off on what we read.

"We did incorporate all the outcomes and all the recommendations, so everybody saw all the recommendations that were made. There was nothing left out."

In another welcomed development for clubs, the board has also postponed the recommended adoption of the full NSWRL player points system for 2024, with clubs having begun recruitment under the modified 2023 status quo in October.

"The recommendation [from the review] was we adopt the New South Wales player points index system as it stands," Brannon said.

"That's what got presented, and that's what went out to the clubs for feedback. We've agreed that we would go with the New South Wales system from 2025, and the reason we're not going with it from 2024 is we're a long way down the line in recruitment of players."

The board has also rejected the recommendation that the First Division (reserve grade) and Shield (third grade competitions be merged into a round robin over the first half of the season, with the competitions separated based on ladder position at the mid-point of the year.

"We asked the clubs for some feedback and there was sensible feedback around good reasons why we shouldn't do something," Brannon said.

"Clubs in those competitions wanted to remain their own separate entities so we haven't adopted that recommendation."