But we don't actually know what they can do at Super League level consistently. Sure give them game time, but for them to "walk straight into the first 17" they would have to be consistently better then the current incumbents who have proven themselves at Super League level.

They're however struggling to [i[ucontinue[/u[/i proving themselves at SL level ....sometimes you just need to have faith in the younger lads. Ask the Leeds present lads of 2004.

Which hasn't been very good more often than not and we've just wasted a golden chance over the last month to test these fellas reward their good form at u20 level whilst at 1st team level their counter-parts have been blasted apart at regular times and at others looked pretty ordinary.
We do have another chance after the semi to give 1 or 2 a go but i can't see it happening with this regime.

Which is more important ? The present coaching regime or the promising young lads ? For me that's the fundamental choice.... and there are no prizes for which of the two I would prioritise.

With the table so close from 2nd down to 8th, why would you deliberately weaken your side by picking players who are currently inferior to others in the same position?

If Singleton and Smith are that good right now, why isn't 5here a queue of SL clubs looking to take them on loan?

The only way we are deliberately weakening our side is the continuation of picking players like Hauraki and earlier in the season Kirke, using Clarkson as an "impact sub" and using JP and Kylie for an hour or more.
Both of the above have shown great form ala Ward in the U20's and whilst its good that they are on dual registrations in the championship neither would weaken us in fact in terms of the coach using the same players repeatedly barring a couple last friday they'd freshen us up and add more positives.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that comment.

We have been picking players for weeks who at times have been inferior to their oppossite numbers. I am not convinced that picking another youngster each week would in anyway weaken us to what we have been going with. The only way of determining whether that is correct is if those said players were given a shot.

Well it's only a game so not worth crying over.

Is it common practice to loan out such young players? Surely they should be developed here at Leeds better than anywhere else.
I posted this a while ago, but if Leeds as a club have a co-ordinated playing structure from junior to 1st team then players would transition best if they stayed within the club and learned that way. Part of that must be 1st team experience. We're not producing forwards at this club - none - Burgess and Scruton could have been two diamonds, but both felt they had to leave the club. We've loaned out two good young hookers to replace them by loaning in an average one - WTF? We haven't produced a good back row forward since Ablett - unbelievable.

Time for a bit of patience. I think that short term contracts for coaches encourage them to think about short term results and low risk selections and purchases. It's easy to loan out a young player and rely on weaker clubs to develop them and bring in a journeyman to "do a job". But if the likes of Widnes or any Championship team are so good at developing players then why are they so awful? Playing in a crap side with an average coaching setup is only going to encourage bad habits and sloppy play.

You want to give the better props (and they are better) like Leuluai, Peacock and Griffin periods of rest over the season and bring in youngsters/fringe players in their place. This both freshens the better props up while also giving an opportunity for the youngsters/fringe players to show what they can do and get experience.

Sadly, our coach doesn't seem to have realised this and has played pretty much the same tired, knackered pack so much over the season that they're getting mullered by half-decent opposition packs.

Players like Moore, Singleton and Kirke, while not world beaters, should have been played against teams like Wakefield and London and Castleford so when it comes to the big games the big players are at their best.

Post of the season? I couldn't agree more with this if I had typed it myself.