Nrl Greenhorns Get To Keep Their Day Jobs

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday February 28, 2008

Jacquelin Magnay

THEY include a rubbish collector, a painter, a carpenter and an actor - and they are united by their desperation to crack the big time and score a lucrative rugby league contract. And now, thanks to the NRL's new under-20 competition, the Toyota Cup, they can indulge in their dream without sacrificing their alternative career options.

All 320 players signed up to the cup - which will schedule matches as curtain-raisers to first-grade contests - have a special clause in their contracts: mandated non-training hours for three days a week. That means Pittwater rubbish collector John Grey, who thought his job would help him stay fit and give him time off in the middle of the day for training, will still have time to complete a correspondence course in sports marketing.

"If we were training full-time, I wouldn't be able to do the course, so it fits in well," Grey said.

Organisers have demanded that the 16 NRL clubs, to which the under-20 players are contracted, ensure that they have Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays free of training between 9am and 5.30pm. Competition manager Michael Buettner said the three days were quarantined for players to pursue vocational studies and training for life after rugby league.

"We are exposing players to real life," Buettner said. "We want the players to be able to fulfil their obligations to employers or vocational training, and while we hope many of the players go on to play in the NRL, if they don't, then the players are not behind their peers in the workforce."

Each club can spend a total of $250,000 on their Toyota Cup players, however, the NRL will grant concessions under that salary cap if a club pays for schooling or other tuition. Bulldogs player Rob Worsley is enrolled in a certificate traineeship in sport and recreation with his club. He is officially the Dogs' dogsbody. "I go to school one day a week to cover the theory and then during the day I get the first-grade squads' drinks, wash their towels, just help out," he said.

Newcastle centre Callan Richardson is working behind a bar and completing a TAFE business course. "I am going to try and fit it all in: go to TAFE, still earn some money as a bartender and crack it into the NRL squad this year," he said.