I write this with no malice intended to the player or club involved, and as much such will not name either, but I believe that a potentially dangerous precedent has been set by a recent decision by the Brisbane Division involving the 14A Competition, which I know a number of readers are aware of. A player (from a club not in finals contention) has been allowed by the Brisbane Division to transfer to another club (which will be in the finals), after initially being denied such approval by the full board of the BJRL, and will be eligible to play for his new club in the finals after only 3 games. May I state categorically that in this case the player approached his new club, not vice-versa, and in fact only approached the club after he was denied permission to transfer to a club in a lower division, and his appeal to the Division was not supported by the new club, so their is absolutely no inference of mid-season "poaching" in this situation. My worry however is that this decision could be used as a precedent in future by, say, a club in finals contention to "poach" players from teams out of contention late in the season. I am concerned about the potential impact of this on team loyalty and commitment, or is this a thing of the past, and should junior sport be allowed to head down the track of professional sport where in some cases transfers mid-season are now part and parcel of the game? I would be interested in any player (in particular) or supporter comments on this in either the Guest Book or by email. - THE WEBMASTER
