Liam Watts was shown the door by Cas aged 16.

That's how it goes it's hard to tell at that age how good they are going to be.

But the credit for his development is all Hull KR's having given him a chance at such a young age when Cas didn't want to. Doesn't matter where he was born he is a product of the Hull KR youth system not Castleford's.

Con Mika is set to sign for Hull KR after they are ready to give Misi Talaupapa the boot. Apparently Craig Sandercock has told him he won't feature in the side and is set to sign for Wakey

No he wasn't. He played for the Castleford first team in 2007 aged 17 and signed for Hull KR in 2008

Lee Smith is the preferred target, just depends on how much Leeds want him & for how much.
Was told CT had made the same inquiry....

If true I think it will come down to who offers the most, in this case I could be tempted to let you guys win the race to this signing.
FWIW I think Phelps will come to Wakefield and Smith to Cas.

Tbh I'm not a big fan of Lee Smith at all, not sure why though, just something isn't right about him

something not right about him signing for Cas...as a temperamental full back/winger/centre he would be an unnecessary duplication of Mathers.

DUPLICATION , now theres a word not as good as magnification or Sterilisation , but still good , you do know Monkey ,SMOKING is bad for you , .

And certainly wasn't shown the door. He left of his own accord, turning down a new contract here, because he thought he'd get more games at KR (which in hindsight he was probably right about).

What ever your smoking must be good stuff, Using the hull kolpack rovers youth system as an example!! you dont give much chance to your youth! when an over the hill ozzy will do.

Rovers have got an Aussie in the Academy side aswell. He had a very good year and isnt far from getting a full-time deal. Its going to blow peoples minds when they see that we are that keen to keep our Aussie numbers up that we are producing our own.

Except Cox and Taylor have done well and so totally proved you wrong on that front. Carlile has also played first team for Huddersfield, so the fact remains they ARE ready. It's just that Hull KR choose antipodean and overseas players ahead of them.

If ever you want an example of when a club has pushed through youth with no experience there's no better blueprint than ourselves this season. Clark and Eden have both come through with no first team experience, Walker, Milner, Holmes in their first full seasons etc.

No they haven't proved me wrong Cox is a great prospect but he would struggle to play at the intensity for a full season. Just look at Watts's first season he was ripping up for 3/4's of the season but towards the end he dropped right off and subsiquently had a below par season even before his car chase incident.

Taylor I believe can become a very good front rower who with more game time will take the place of the departing Aussies in a couple of years. Cox got a bit beat up against Catalans and still has a lot of work to do, as with Sheriff he had a couple of good games then a bit of a dodgy one, he'll still make a quality full back once he gets more game time but he isn't ready to be a first team regular.

If these kids are really good enough then we will have Aussies sat in the stands most weeks. They will prove to this new coach that they are better and then he won't need to go into the market to make sure we are competative in years to come because he'll show faith in them.

I dont agree with that look at some of our homegrown players from the last couple of years

milner-played 4 games last year, this year played 19, has looked very good this year, our best starting hooker.

clark- played 18 games in his debut season and has looked like one of our most dangerous players, didnt even have a squad number before the season started, now a big part of our plans and highly sought after.

Arundel- played 8 last year, played 26 sl games this year, more than any other cas player, been called up for the knights squad.

Holmes, thompson, walker (injuries permitting)all have similar stories and eden, davies and massey have a become good squad layers who will lay a bigger art next year. Sl i littered with players that were given a chance then shone with more and more game time and became regulars within a season. For gods sake noble only played tompkins due to injuries, he was kept out by a very average tim smith, look at him now.

Give kids a chance and they will take it, i'm not saying you have to play a team full of kids (though it nearly got us to the cc final) but you dont need to have a team full of aussies, many of whom are pretty average, 5 good overseas players can still bring alot to your team and help bring kids on.

In 2008 we used 12 overseas players and finished bottom, since then we stuck to the rfl giudlines and played less aussies and more kids and we have become a better team!

Senior keen on staying in Yorkshire! news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 277968.stm I just hope we are not one of the clubs!

Senior keen on staying in Yorkshire! news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 277968.stm I just hope we are not one of the clubs!

Of the 22 English players if they all out perform the Aussies in training and in games when given their opportunity we will not see much of the antipodeans.

I am going to watch my team, no matter where they come from they still wear the red and white and still have my full support. The only time this comes in to question is when it is the International scene which should be either place of birth or parents place of birth.

It is nice to see local and generally English players coming through and being better than those we employ from overseas however at this moment in time the players we have signed are better than the ones coming through but will aid the development and in years to come teams will not need these players in such numbers.

If the standard is to be set then I think it has to be from the top of the league down. Why do clubs who have been developing youngsters since the dawn of the SL era still need overseas players in their squads? Why a side have just made the GF why do you need to sign a Kiwi to play in a positon your home grown player is more than capable of playing regularly? Hohia has been playing hooker I think this year yet Saints have Roby and have just let Smith go, surely this should get more air time than a club who've had 5yrs to build a youth set-up and bring through youth that were maybe not going to make it all those years ago, yet still abide by the same rules.

If it is such a requirement and a major factor then the RFL just need to adjust the rules again. Make it more appealing to produce your own, help clubs to keep hold of their stars and discount them from the salary cap but put a ruling in place that the money saved on them not being on the salary cap can not go to an overseas player.

Once the RFL adjust the rules and stop the England side picking foreigners to represent our country then clubs will have to work within the rules. But as far as I am aware the SL isn't a competition to see who can produce the most home grown stars, the objective is to win the competition within the rules.