Local people know that rugby league superstar Jarryd Hayne, along with Israel Folau and Krisnan Inu, grew up in the housing commission area of Minto.
But the question is: why didn’t they play for their local rugby league club, the Wests Tigers?
Basically because when it comes to talented juniors in the Macarthur area it’s virtually open slather, something that really annoys Tony Mathew, the CEO of Wests Leagues at Leumeah, which finances junior footy in the area.
Speaking to Tony recently about a related issue, the lack of use of local facilities like Campbelltown Sports Stadium, he noted that the poaching of local stars on the rise like Hayne should not be on and the NRL should do something about it.
“We put a heap of money into junior rugby league and there’s no arrangement in place with the NRL for the Wests Tigers to have some level of first option on these kids,’’ Tony told me.
“As a result, we give all this money to junior rugby league and Jarryd Hayne ends up at Parramatta, and Israel Foalu in Melbourne and Krisnan Inu also at the Eels.
“There needs to be a system where the local team [Wests Tigers in this case] gets encouraged to support junior development.
“Until they get that sorted out by the NRL it’s a big problem,’’ Tony said.
“So what you want is to get tribal loyalty where the local kids want to play for the local footy team and then you get the community wants to come down and watch because they know the players playing for the local team.
“All that stuff needs to be sorted out,’’ Tony said.
