New South Wales Rugby League CEO David Trodden has warned the National Rugby League "it risks tearing apart the fabric that holds rugby league together under its proposal to amalgamate rival clubs' juniors into zones," according to Dean Ritchie of the Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH. The NRL has been "accused by club bosses of attempting to implement forced mergers that would dilute the power of Sydney clubs with plans for a revamped second-tier competition to be known as the Platinum League." Sydney clubs will "kick and scream" to scrap a porposal for rival clubs to amalgamate their juniors into zones by '18. Under a leaked NRL pathways document that was presented to clubs by NRL Head of Strategy Shane Richardson, a Platinum League would "replace the existing NSW Cup competition and include just six teams from Sydney -- three of them amalgamated." Richardson "refused to comment on Sunday but a clearly frustrated Trodden blasted the NRL’s lack of consultation," saying that the proposal "put well-established rugby league communities at risk." Trodden: "The fundamental basis of every rugby league club is the community it represents. With the proposal, inevitably there will be some state league clubs that fall by the wayside." The proposed competition is "designed to cut costs but coaches are already privately adamant they simply wouldn't drop players back into a merged side" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 12/13).
