Brisbane Broncos' football and performance director, Ben Ikin has spoken out against the idea of reinstating a national reserve grade competition for the NRL.
ARL chairman Peter V'Landys floated the contentious idea of returning to the old system of reserve-grade rugby league present throughout the 1980s and 90s - in which every first-grade squad also has a second-tier side - late last year.
Ikin stated the Broncos' position was "to continue with the status quo,” and expressed concerns that the introduction of an reserve grade could potentially damage the top-grade competition.
"It will narrow and weaken the pathway, which will eventually weaken the elite game," Ikin told the Courier-Mail.
While the idea of integrating the national reserve-grade competition is not currently being pursued, the concept of fielding reserve-grade versions of the Broncos, Cowboys and Titans in the Queensland-based Hostplus Cup has also been suggested, despite the feeder-team setup currently in place for all three NRL clubs.
The idea of a Broncos reserve-grade squad in Q-Cup also troubled Ikin due to the implications it would have on the current relationships with their current4 feeder clubs Souths Logan, Norths Devils and Wynnum Manly.
“We have wonderful partners in our affiliate clubs and we have contracts in place with them into next season and we will be honouring those contracts." Ikin declared.
