Former Leeds Rhinos legend Barrie McDermott has stated his belief that more emphasis needs to be placed on the reserve grade system instead of dual registration.
Dual registration is currently a hot topic, with several Super League clubs linking up with Championship clubs to blood in their promising talent; however Bradford Bulls have gone against the usual trend and won’t have a dual registration partner this season.
As such McDermott’s former club Leeds Rhinos have had to find a new dual reg partner, previously paired with Bradford Bulls, Rohan Smith’s side now linking up with 1895 Cup winners Halifax Panthers ahead of the 2024 season.
Speaking exclusively to Serious About Rugby League, McDermott shared his feelings on why the system was introduced, saying: “I think sometimes what we’ve seen is we’ve seen players come into the first team at sort of 18 and 19 when they’re outside the academy and they’re not ready yet and sometimes they learn the lessons in front of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people who are watching them on the terraces and on TV.
“Sometimes they’re part of that process and they don’t recover, they don’t recover from that and they get lost to the game so that’s where the dual registration system was thought to be the answer.”
Despite that he expressed his belief that it takes away the feeling of playing for your club: “That doesn’t sit right with me either because if I’m a player and I sign for Leeds, I want to play for Leeds. I don’t want to be necessarily playing for a Championship team or a League One team on a Sunday because I’m not getting a game on a Friday.
He added: “It’s like going to the car garage and trying to buy a Ferrari and having to spend a week in a Morris Minor because I’m not ready to drive the Ferrari. It’s just not right for me. It doesn’t sit right for me. So that’s not the answer.”
Whilst he shared his dislike of the dual registration system, he was quick to show his support for reserve grade Rugby League, something he would push clubs and the RFL to utilise more.
Some clubs are starting to make positive strides in this area though, notably Leigh Leopards-who hosted open trials to join the club’s reserve side in 2024; however the reserve grade has been under trouble the past couple of seasons.
Plenty of reserve games were called off last season for various reasons, and some Super League teams are unable to field a reserve team, and McDermott told SARL feels it is currently undervalued: “I don’t think we’ve given full value to the reserve team. I’m part of the generation that played in the reserve team and saw the value of reserve team.
“We look at reserve team and we think it’s all about getting players through to that first team and obviously that is the top priority. But let’s not forget when you have a reserve team set up, there are a number of players who are never going to reach the first team at that club, but could go off and play for another club or go off and then take their experiences and their learnings back to the level below.
“I think clubs should put more investment, more focus and more emphasis on the reserve team.”
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