It's a pathway that has produced eight Test representatives and another three State of Origin stars, with NRL boss David Gallop endorsing the national youth competition as a breeding ground for first grade footballers.

The Toyota Cup team of the year was unveiled in Sydney on Tuesday, with minor premiers the Warriors dominating the line-up with three nominations plus the coach in John Ackland.

There has been much speculation since the inception of the under-20s competition in 2008 about the ability of the junior set-up to produce NRL-ready talent, with many players from yesteryear lamenting the abolition of reserve grade.

While he admitted some work still needed to be done on strengthening the NSW and Queensland Cup competitions - Gallop said the emergence of talented players such as Keiran Foran, Kevin Locke, Jharal Yow Yeh and Jamal Idris from the youth competition was proof the pathway was working.

"There's been a fair bit of work done around the supporting competitions and there's more work that needs to be done, but the state leagues are in better shape than they potentially were," Gallop said.

"I think we need to focus on what this competition is producing, which is a unique thing in Australian sport.

"More work's been done to make sure those pathways are there for these guys if they don't necessarily make that step to first grade straight away."

One such player could be Warriors fullback Omar Slaimankhel, the 19-year-old Afghani refugee who has set the Toyota Cup alight over the past two seasons with a stunning 38 tries from 35 games.

While he has another year of eligibility in the youth competition, his path to the NRL is blocked by obstacles - namely Kevin Locke and Glen Fisiiahi.

"It's good in a way and bad in a way. It just makes me want it more, having them there," said Slaimankhel, who only converted from rugby union in 2010.

"It will make me train harder."

It's understandable then that he's not taking a NRL career for granted, as he combines his Bachelor of Health Science degree with playing as part of the 'No Work, No Study, No Play' policy that governs all players in the youth competition.

"This is just the Toyota Cup, then there's a pretty big step to the NRL so maybe one day I can make a career in league," Slaimankhel said.

Slaimankhel does at least have the Auckland Vulcans in the NSW Cup to play in to aid his development, an avenue which might not be available to St George Illawarra youngster Jack De Belin.

De Belin, one of eight members of the team of the year to have had a taste of NRL, could be forced to play park footy in the Illawarra in 2012 with the Dragons still not committed to having team in the NSW Cup.

"It would be a bit of a shame if I had to go back to the Carlton League in a sense because it is local footy," De Belin said.

"Even though it is of a high standard for bush footy, it's a lot slower.

"I'd prefer it if there was a (NSW Cup) side."

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