The Holden Cup or Toyota Cup, which appears to have been whored out to any car maker who could fork out enough cash has been a successful Under 20's competition for the past few years. It's done a great job in providing a clear pathway for players to progress through but it's apparently become a bit of a nuisance and could now be a thing of the past. It's all fine and dandy for the Australians because they can implement state-wide competitions in this age group, but what will this do for rugby league in Aotearoa?

We can't underestimate the impact having an Under 20's competition which has most of its games each weekend broadcast on telly has had on the junior ranks. This is the first cul de sac I come to when exploring the idea of not having an Under 20's competition that mirrors an NRL competition as it's been a great tool to use in getting young athletes into the rugby league set up.

Everyone wants to play on telly, there's a special sort of royalty that comes with it and all we need to do is look at First 15 rugby in Aotearoa. Going to a school that consistently gets televised games gives a player the opportunity to put themselves in the shop window, sure all sorts of scouts from a variety of different sports are there scoping these games out but being on telly makes it so much easier.

I won't lay all my cards on the table with the 'televised games' portion of this as players obviously seek more than a bit of face time, but it does play some part in continuing that shop window process.

It's a similar situation with the Under 20's and a whole bunch of players have flipped from promising rugby careers to pursue a rugby league career because that pathway is set in stone. The advantage of an Under 20's competition has been that local rugby players who have the ability to transition, have seen their careers mapped out ahead of them. From the outside looking in, it feels like rugby's pathways for players of the same age are more muddled and not quite as holistic as what the Under 20's competition offers.

Part of that is the requirement to pursue a trade, studies or hold down some sort of job while in the Under 20's. An NRL club can present not only an opportunity to pursue a career in rugby league, but they can also offer ways to further their lives outside of football because, well they have to.

That obviously has great benefits for all players, but when trying to sell a switch from rugby to rugby league, that could be a defining factor. Countless First 15 rugby players have made that switch and now play in the NRL, I doubt that would have happened without the Under 20's competition in its most recent form.

For the rugby league players, it gives them a chance to get in an environment which is a step up from their club scene. They are entrenched in the NRL club's style and culture and are able to enjoy the benefits of being a part of a professional organisation. There are two sides to this with local players being picked up by the Warriors and local players being picked up by any one of the 15 NRL clubs.

This results in possibly the biggest and most heartbreaking downside of the Under 20 competition, an issue that has been far from a one-off: suicide. There have been far too many young men who have been pursuing their NRL dream in the Under 20's take their lives for it to be a coincidence. A variety of issues are at play here but one could point to the close proximity to the NRL which is in part responsible for the success of the Under 20 competition, as being detrimental to the well being of young players, especially those plucked from their families here in Aotearoa.

Many clubs are stepping up their welfare strategies but it's pretty difficult to prepare a 18 or 19 year old for what they will encounter should they get injured. Their dream suddenly looks a lot darker and without the support of friends and families, the pressure of trying to provide for those people can take over.

It's a very complex issue, not one for me to get into the nitty gritty of, but it does look like the pressure of being so close to the NRL is becoming a negative factor. In trying to build a clear pathway and offer development opportunities, have we brought the two sides too close together? Possibly.

Having to travel to away games also fits in this catch-22 mould. Traveling to the various NRL clubs prepares these young players for what they will encounter should they make it to the NRL, but is also a big ask for clubs to fund this process. Travel, equipment, facilities and a bunch of other expenses must stack up and we definitely can't forget about how this may impact players. Players who aren't doing this as professionals, they must still juggle their day to day lives while training multiple times a week and then possibly flying to Brisbane, Townsville, Melbourne or Aotearoa and vice versa.

For what clubs put into the Under 20 competition, is it really worth it? Players will always tell you it is, because they'll do whatever it takes to play in the NRL, but with only two or three players consistently graduating from the Under 20 grade to NRL each season, is all that effort and expense worthwhile? (Two or three could be a vast over-estimation, but some years offer up five or six while other years offer up none so it's a safe guess).

The young lads who venture across the ditch after being scooped up by an NRL club may not be impacted too profoundly by the ditching on the Under 20 competition. They will partake in the local Under 20 competition which many people are saying would be on a state-wide basis, thus a bit smaller and more concentrated. I like that and I think it will cast the net a bit wider as well because NRL clubs will have more Under 20 games to watch and scout; I suspect there would be 10-16 teams in a New South Wales competition, around 10 teams in Queensland and who knows we could see a mini-league pop up in Victoria.

How will ditching the Under 20 competition impact the Warriors though? It would defeat the purpose if they were to go and compete in an Australian Under 20 comp but we need these players to be playing consistently tough football for them to get better. We know we have the talent as we have all seen how successful the Junior Warriors have been and you could argue that the Warriors have been the biggest benefactor of the Under 20 competition.

My first problem is in restricting this to the Warriors, especially if the Holden Cup is scratched. I would vouch for an Aotearoa-wide Under 20 competition which would consist of 10 teams; Northland, two Auckland teams, Tauranga, Hamilton, Central Districts, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago and West Coast/the rest of the South Island.

Nine weeks would see each team play each other on a weekend, with a few finals games to be played at a location decided at the start of each year.

This isn't the job of the Warriors and nor should it be as they only have a few spots available on development contracts or first grade contracts. This needs to be at the very least a joint-venture between the Warriors and the NZRL or just the NZRL. We can't look at this as a competition for the Warriors as we can build it up to become a place where NRL clubs come to scope out the best of our talent. This would keep our younger players in Aotearoa as they wouldn't need to go to Australia to be seen and to develop, that can be done here while still presenting players with an opportunity to impress whoever is watching.

Should a player be lured across the ditch, as will be the case with many of the players, they will do so a few years later than they would right now. A few years to mature, get to know yourself better, be more comfortable as yourself and to learn a bit about life. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather see our best young players stay in Aotearoa until they are 20 and then go to NRL clubs and be entrenched in their culture. Your expecting a lot from a 15-18 year old to head over to Australia and pursue a dream, surely we can offer something that looks after the player a bit better.

At the end of the season the best few kiwi teams play against the best few Australian teams.

I can think of a whole bunch of ways to make this a commercially viable operation starting with the fact that no one needs to rely on Sky Sports. There's this thing called the internet and the NZRL could show some pioneering kahunas and stream games (a tough ask right now considering how silly they are). But I think for this to work, it would need to embrace the grassroots nature of what it is. If you really want it, I'm sure you could find sponsors and partners etc, I mean I'd happily write about every single game and help build the profile for this competition. Again, it just takes a bit of imagination instead of being stuck inside this rugby league box that we have existed in.

Along with some sort of State Of Origin thing in Aotearoa, this would give kiwi rugby league fans something to really sink their teeth into and be proud of. At the moment we are still far too intertwined with Australia in terms of rugby league and the Holden Cup is the perfect example of this. At some stage we need to invest in our own country, our own talent and start to push rugby league further along. Maybe scratching the Holden Cup could be a blessing in disguise.