I am fine with the northern rivers boys in the MM Cup mate, they all played in the U18 Laurie Daley Cup for the Northern Rivers Titans earlier this season and as you say most now attend PBC, so them continuing to play together is great for them, a lot have played together since U12's or so.
The 2021 Northern Rivers Titans U18 Laurie Daley Cup squad is still very strong with still more than a few Titans contracted players in the side such as Rowan Mansfield, Tanu Nona, Michael Roberts, Blake Forder, Nic Torrens and Shane Caldwell-Davies to name a few.
Whilst the MM Cup is stronger the U18 Laurie Daley Cup is still a very very good standard and is a great introduction to the next level.
The 2021 U16 Andrew Johns Cup Northern Rivers side is exceptional with the likes of Lachlan Offley, Brady Turner, Cameron Bevan, Jaylan Teawa, Kye Cooper and Reshawn Anderson just some of the outstanding talent in the side.
In many ways it is the best of both worlds as more players from the Gold Coast/northern NSW area get an opportunity at the higher levels.