Read somewhere that this injury crises at Leeds is unprecedented. Whilst we might not have won games, I think with McGuire on the pitch for the WCC, he would have unlocked the brilliant NQC defense a lot more often and with Ward in the team against Catalan last Saturday, Leeds would have been able to defend better. Both of them were sensational in those departments last year and are currently injured.

I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised that Leeds didn't bring a new halfback through over the last decade. With 3 halfbacks as mainstays of the team there'd be little benefit in fighting other clubs for talent, and if I were a kid through the recent period of success I would probably have looked elsewhere also.

OTOH I do think the lack of forwards coming through over the years (although Scruton, Burgess and Clarkson should be on the list as reasonable players) is pretty poor until Ward.

It could be that, but it seems a bit unlikely, more likley thing for halves is they got moved to different positions when they were in the later stages of the accademy as they would be pushing for a place in a team with 3 internationals
Such as Lee smith and Jordan Tansey who got moved to the wing, or even Stevie Ward who I believe was a stand off for the majority of his time in the academy? If Sutcliffe and Lilly were a few years older they may have been made Hookers or something...

Another reason for our lack of a production line academy for nearly a decade is that we havnt had a coach since Tony smith or Daryl Powell who wanted to promote youth players, when he was coach we would regularly have a young player on the bench to come on for a stint to see how they went, compare that to now where the only way a player gets a chance is through the injury of others

A good example of this is Tom and George Burgess who are props from our academy that we for some reason never put the work into developing properly and let bradford take them off us

Yeah I'd really love Smith and Tansey to have been controlling us around the park in the halves, considering the amount of times over the years I saw them in city centre absolutely battered (I had to pick an absolute smashed Lee Smith up off the floor of a VIP area just 2 weeks before the '08 GF) whilst Smith got MOM that GF I seriously doubt their attitudes/discipline would've been a recipe for long term success.

Appreciate gale had to move to develop and not saying we could/should have kept him.Think he has really improved at Cas.

Memory must be going Luke Burgess and Scruton slipped my mind. Be interesting to see who comes through and gets a chance with Cameron smith and the polish lad who is too much for predictive text.

Lots of kids come up through age group rugby as half-backs, simply because they're the best player at that club and coaches want their hands on the ball as much as possible. They lack the skill set to make a professional half back though, so end up getting shifted into different positions as their careers develop.

Forwards are a difficult one. For much of the last decade, the Leeds pack has had a pretty settled look to it with the exception of the odd one or two who have come in and gone out again. Peacock, Leuluai, JJB, Ablett have all been around along with the likes of Bailey and Kirke for most of that time. To break into the side and stay in it, any Academy product has had to be of the very best quality.

The thing is people have looked like they could be quality but we dont seem to have put the time in
2 years ago we have a few injured props and Mulhern and Minchella are given games- both looked okay
Then some second rowers got injured and we gave game time to Alex Forster- looked good and one of the bright spots in London 2014
Then we had a crisis in the hooking role and Robbie Ward given again- again looked okay and was vital in beating Leigh in that CC QF

But once established players were back all were quickly forgotten about and shipped either on loan or back to the 19s until we needed them again through injuries, not given nearly enough first team game time to really progress
In fact since about 2009 are there any players except Ward and Watkins who wernt only given a chance through injuries?

Can't beat people with knowledge - pity that doesn't include you.

In 2014 you said once they had got the monkey off their back they would kick on - they didn't did they!! so I would say your hit rate is patchy at best and more to do with luck i.e. McGuire's stroke of genius - than any superior knowledge you might have

What we see from you a spoilt little child who thinks its OK to hurl personal abuse when someone doesn't tow the line - a bully who doesn't like his views challenged. Someone who jumps up and down when they right but find a host of excuses when they are not. Not clever not even close to being on a par with many on here - grow up and realise you don't get it right even half the time.

Perhaps sometime spent attending games might keep you off here a bit and it might give you perspective - RL is a game, a form of entertainment nothing more.

Of those you've named though, where are they now? Mulhern might do alright at Hull KR. Minchella and Foster won't make it in SL IMO. Ward's off playing bush league in Australia.

Maybe it's not what the club did, maybe they just didn't have the ability to start with.

Yea but we never really gave them a chance, they couldve been great if we gave them a chance in our team but as soon as a more established player was back they were sent away
Weve also had the Gale and the Burgess twins in our set up but they wernt given a chance either and were shipped on, all three will be in the england squad at the end of the year