NRL guru Phil Gould says the NRL should block the Roosters' bid to allow 17-year-old Joseph Suaalii to play before his 18th birthday, adding that if anything the minimum age should be raised further.
In a move that is sure to miff his former boss Nick Politis, Gould was adamant the NRL needed to hold strong on its minimum age requirement of 18 and even argued for it to be changed to 20 or 21 in an effort to strengthen the code's second-tier competitions.
"I don't think he needs to play," Gould told Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast. "My view on this has always been, particularly with the younger players and teenagers, is to let them be teenagers. I don't think it's imperative that just because they might be good enough at 17 years of age that you have to play them.
"I think it sets a dangerous precedent, I don't think one player should be given special dispensation. My old boss at the Roosters will be ringing me tomorrow to abuse me over this. But they're going to get a better player (if they wait). The kid needs time. I don't think they need to rush him now. He can play plenty of football with the Bears.
"Personally, I think the game should hold strong. I would raise the age to 20 or 21. I'm not for teenagers rushing into the NRL at all. In the long-term sometimes I think it's detrimental to them. Some of our really great young players don't enjoy really long careers."
Gould, who has long advocated for establishing stronger player development pathways, believed holding youngsters until they were ready to face men in top-flight competition would have a two-pronged effect; setting up future stars for more successful careers and bolstering the league's second-tier comps by creating protected talent pools.
"The development of a player is working out what time he comes out of his age-group football to open football," Gould said. "The first thing he needs to prove to me is that he can play against men.
"That's where the NSW Cup and Queensland Cup are vitally important. Sometimes (players) take two or three goes at it, sometimes they go straight through and never come back. Some spend years there before they actually make it into first grade. Everyone is different. They mature at different times and handle it mentally and physically in different ways.
"I was a big fan of the national under 20s competition. It was the envy of all other sporting codes. It was a great development pathway and tool, not only for players but developing coaches and other aspects of your business from medical staff, coaching staff. It developed referees and officials, I thought it was very important competition.
"We've gotten away from that and after only three or four years we've seen the problems. That's why Peter V'landys is keen to get it back into clubs that they have to have vertical integration factored into their development processes and every club should play a part in developing future talent."
While Gould was sure that Suaalii, who is still a school student at Sydney's Kings College, would shine regardless of when he played, he believed the best thing for his long-term career was to exercise patience now.
"I'm not saying this kid won't handle NRL thrown at him now, I just think for the development for the long-term athlete is there is no need to be playing him at 17 years of age," he said.
"He's obviously genetically blessed against his age group, he's too good for them. But it's a big step up from that, and given that he hasn't played any football in the last 12 months you're saying that you want him to play NRL football now – is that really best for the development of the long-term athlete. There's no rush.
"Players aren't hitting their peaks until they're 27 or 28. Why do we need to keep rushing more and more teenagers in. We could have a really great national youth competition a second-tier competition with some really great talent in it – developing their bodies and their minds."
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