Mention Keebra Park High School to your kiwi cuzzy and they'll probably chew your ear off about Benji Marshall. Marshall leads a long list of #KiwiNRL talent that has moved from Aotearoa to Keebra Park, establishing their roots in what has to be considered as Australia's leading schoolboy rugby league program. Through Wests Tigers links with Keebra Park, Marshall was quickly drafted into the Tigers and the rest is history.

Times are changing though and last week it was announced that Keebra Park would move to being aligned with the Bulldogs. Think back to when Marshall first burst on to the scene, yup that's how long Keebra Park has been effectively under the Tigers' control so for the Bulldogs to now take on that role with the Under 20s competition soon to be cut, is a major move from the Bulldogs. 

Numerous clubs have set up links to various Queensland nurseries recently. Brisbane, North Queensland and Gold Coast obviously have feeder systems in Queensland, while Melbourne have long had a strong relationship with Easts Tigers (and Norths Devils before that). Melbourne now have a base on the Sunshine Coast and that's where much of their junior program will be based, Canberra only cut ties with Souths Logan in the last few years (after enjoying the services of Josh Papalii and Anthony Milford) and now the Bulldogs will have a production line of talent at their discretion.

Marshall is the Keebra Park x Wests Tigers poster boy, however many of Keebra Park's #KiwiNRL talent have gone on to represent other NRL clubs. Te Maire Martin followed Marshall's path, only to move to Penrith after playing for the Tigers juinor team while the likes of Lamar Liolevave, Watson Heleta, Kurtis Rowe and Delouise Hoeter also went on to join the Tigers junior team. 

Notable kiwis such as Greg Eastwood and Jordan Kahu went straight into the Broncos system, Isaac Liu is now with the Roosters, Agnatius Paasi and Leivaha Pulu are back on the Gold Coast after going through Keebra Park before battling away in reserve grade, Bodene Thompson went straight into the Titans' system (now at the Warriors) and Parramatta's Kenny Edwards is also a Keebra graduate. 

Considering the number of players who have gone through Keebra Park only to be snapped up by other NRL clubs, it's difficult to say if there's much benefit for the Bulldogs in making a big play for Keebra Park. Both the Tigers and Bulldogs have their own junior pathways in Sydney, however the Bulldogs may feel as though the Tigers didn't really make the most of their relationship with Keebra Park. Joining the #KiwiNRL group are Corey Norman, Tautau Moga and Ben Te'o who have gone on to be NRL players, just not at the Tigers.

You could argue that Keebra Park has been more beneficial to the Broncos than the Tigers; Norman, Kahu, Te'o, Eastwood, Jai Arrow, Payne Haas and George Fai all moved from Keebra to Brisbane while Moga and Marion Seve are currently with Brisbane. 

The timing is what catches the eye as the Bulldogs have linked up with Keebra Park just as the Under 20s competition comes to an end. How this develops the Bulldogs #KiwiNRL presence will be interesting as the Doggies have always had strong ties with Aotearoa, holding various camps around Aotearoa and moving regular games to Wellington. Current coach Des Hasler went out of his way to lure Brad Abbey and Raymond Faitala-Mariner away from the Warriors and he's got Waikato's Morgan Harper, Wesley College old boy Lopeti Mafi, Rotorua Boys High old boy Reuben Te Kani-Taylor and Mangere East juniors Ofa Finau and Kiko Manu in the Under 20s as well.

Given how eager all NRL clubs are to develop #KiwiNRL talent, I'd suggest that this move from the Bulldogs is as much about offering a comprehensive package to any young kiwi. Keebra Park has been a place where kiwi teenagers can get schooling while also enjoying far more footy time and resources than they would get elsewhere and with competition at an all time high for kiwi talent, having Keebra Park as a schooling option could give the Bulldogs an advantage.