'Here is bigger': NRL to tackle Hunter green space issue amid juniors boom

Finding sufficient green space to cater for the Hunter region's insatiable appetite for rugby league is the biggest challenge for the football code's administrators.

Sourcing office space for the National Rugby League Commission has proven more advantageous.

On Tuesday the NRL unveiled its new home base for northern NSW at the Hunter Sports Centre at Glendale as part of a three-year partnership with Lake Macquarie City Council.

The NRL's local and state office staff are based in the recently redeveloped sport and community building. They will also use the Hunter Sports Centre's facilities for seminars, training, coaching and officiating courses, workshops, community engagement programs and administration operations.

The Hunter Sports Centre reopened a year ago following a $52 million redevelopment.

Former Cronulla Sharks hooker turned NRL general manager of game development Dean Bosnich said the Hunter Sports Centre had facilities capable of housing an NRL franchise.

"This place is second to none," Mr Bosnich said. "When we first toured through here, we were blown away at the level of the facility."

While Mr Bosnich works predominantly out of the NRL headquarters in Moore Park, he lives in West Wallsend and is acutely aware of the challenges facing rugby league in the Hunter.

Participation is at a record high. Mr Bosnich said the Hunter was undoubtedly the heartland of rugby league in NSW, and the code was expected to have more than 13,000 players this winter.

In comparison, the Penrith district is tipped to have about 9000.

"Here is bigger [than western Sydney] and that's the common misconception," he said.

"Penrith is great and it's big, but here's bigger."

That growth is showing no signs of stagnation.

"The Hunter juniors have grown by eight to nine per cent a year lately," Mr Bosnich said.

"In an already massive comp, and you're adding hundreds of players per year and some years you're adding thousands."

Unsurprisingly, this growth has created problems.

Several Hunter clubs have reportedly been forced to turn junior players away due to a lack of capacity.

"You'd rather have that problem than not, but it's very hard to solve," Mr Bosnich said.

"Green space, I think, for all sports, is the biggest pressing thing for the future.

"How you can keep getting green space and the appropriate facilities along with it. There's a huge cost to those things.

"On that stuff we work with NSW Rugby League, councils, and governments to try and identify places like here, which are bursting at the seams."

The NRL has diversified its offerings to help cater for the rising demand, including the adoption of smaller fields and numbers for some junior games.

Connections have also been forged between touch football and Oztag and tackle versions of the sport.

"Everything we do is based on a participant journey," Mr Bosnich said.

"So we remove all the barriers to introduce them and then offer them progression at their speed.

"Some kids want to come in and jump straight to tackle and that's fine. Others want to go slow and play tag footy or touch and they might later try tackle footy and if it's not for them, we don't want to lose them.

"We want a lifelong connection to the sport."

Lake Macquarie mayor Adam Shultz, a one-time Knights and Lakes United junior, is a self-confessed "rugby league tragic".

He said the council was proud to have the sport based at Glendale.

"It is really turning into an elite hub for sport - community sport and elite sport," Cr Shultz said.

"Bringing the NRL into the precinct really does show the strength and the promise that is the Hunter Sports Centre."

Last September the A-League Women's Jets side announced a partnership with the Hunter Sports Centre to use the playing pitch and gymnasium for training as well as meeting rooms and sports science facilities.

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