The only criticism I would have with Brian Mac this year is the two crucial games we lost at the back end of the season against lower opposition (Bradford & Broncos) we should have put a few more first teamer in, I believe we would have still won the CC and would have been competing for the dinner plate instead of settling for sixth place

Avenger RE-Acadamy downgrade it was more to do with Ablett & Burrow Coaching the jnrs but not holding the badges ironically the Club have chased the RFL for more courses to get them the relative badges yet still got downgraded.
As for M.Smith Wire chased and "paid" well to get him we have other propsects with the new batch of u15's to start as well.

I hope you are right. You always strike me as being one as most optimistic of what you see at junior levels.....but time after time we don't see the potential realised. Whether that is due to mis-management (which I suggest is at least partly responsible) or something else it IS becoming increasingly worrying. Maybe we are seeing the start of a period of decline. I hope not, but it looks increasingly likely

The thing many need to stop doing is judging these young lads on how the likes of McGuire ,Sinfield etc and more recently Hall & Watkins hit the ground running.
When I rate a player its purely on their potential and I sometimes think some expect them to come in and blow the SL away this as well when the "senior" pro's are struggling around them or even worse see them for limited minutes over a few games and write their careers off!
I won't and don't claim to be any kind of "expert" but I do see a lot of these games indeed so does Gotcha and we don't always agree on the "prospects" we watch!
Also as Jjb proved just because you aren't a quality player at 20 it doesn't mean you wont be & I'd like to see a return to u23's with a 3 player over age allowance as a minimum requirement for all SL clubs they get more money now so have no excuses!

I won't contend that, in fact I know that to be true and at least partly responsible for the downgrade, it's the same at many clubs though. Wakefield were in a similar position re the Clubs Youth Coaches with only 1 coach 'Working Towards' Level 3 and two others being Level 2, they too were in the Catch 22 of being punished for lack of qualifications and CPD while the RFL hadn't run any/enough courses.

The deliveries had a big part to play in the grading as too did the Data and Recording (Administration) of both Acadamies. Wakefields Academy though went from a 'Level 4' to a 'Level 3' bordering on 'Level 2' with the paperwork being the biggest failing.

All of that said, back to Leeds, big improvements required across the board but I have no doubt they'll make the changes necessary.

I don't believe it's policy either. But it is what has been delivered.