By my reckoning, fans from Hull KR got a text last night Fozzard resigning for Saints, which happened today, so I would believe it.

Suppose we cant keep 'em all. The Leeds Acadamy is a constant treadmill of talent.

Would of liked to see him stay, looks liked he could be a very good player but with Delaney coming over and Watkins and Coady in the squad i suppose we cant keep them all and he will get the chance to play more at HKR, good luck to the lad if true.

Until they meet the Saints academy

Watkins is the better long term prospect and Ratu would only block his progress

I think you mean the reserves as the academy is a un 18 comp in which we are at the bottom end of the league , but yes the reserves are up there !

www.sporthull.co.uk/hullkr/news/ ... ticle.html

www.sporthull.co.uk/hullkr/news/ ... ticle.html

That would indicate what the top academies were rather than are to be honest.

For example, Wakefield and Wigan/Bulls are in the academy GF this year, I think Leeds ran in 10th.

The reserve GF is Saints v Wigan after Saints beat Leeds at the weekend.

Looking forward to watching the reserve final at the JJB on Sunday, hopefully a decent crowd on.

The success of an Academy shouldn't be measured by where it finishes in the league table in any particular season, it should be measured on how many top class first teamers it produces for itself and other clubs.

Absolutely agree, but stands to reason that the better academy/reserve sides are likely to have better and/or more prospects in them.

I would imagine the Leeds team that produced McGuire/Burrow et al performed pretty well in their academy leagues - although I have no idea whether that is true or not.

Doesn't necessarily transfer into first team players though - Leeds won a Colts title (the old under 19 competition) back in the early 80s (84 I think) and IIRC only two of that side went on to represent GB - Roy Powell and Paul Medley.

Age group rugby gives you an indication of who the best players are in that age group, but not always how they will cope with the transition to open age.

Besides, with two junior competitions running side by side for the SL clubs, there is always a temptation to "fast track" the better players of the younger group up into the older group or even the fringes of the first team squad, distorting results all around.

I know Leeds went through a spell recently where the Senior Academy side had a load of kids in it who were still Junior Academy eligible, and not surprisingly they struggled for results against their older counterparts at other clubs.

I should have made my self more clear, I wasnt meaning the position of the side in the league, just the amount of ex Leeds/Saints/Wigan Acadamy players (i.e. come though the junior ranks) that are now first teamers of other clubs.

And with Ratu now going to HKR and Gibson off as well (likely cas or Salford) thats two more that have come through Leeds' Acadamy that I predict will be regular first teamers at the clubs they are going to.

Can't blame him. His choices were to hang around at Leeds being at best third/fourth choice or probably get a locked in spot at KR. I still believe Leeds shouldn't have signed Delaney.

Regardless of results our current crop includes 3 very young players who have already played 1st team rugby and look very comfortable in doing so, Allan, Jones Bishop and Watkins. If each season brings one or two of that standard its' fine and I could care less what results the Academy team produces.

In the nineties didn't we win something like 8 Academy titles in a row with very little 1st team success. I think those teams were a generation before McGuire, Burrow etc. I think it was the Marcus Vass, Kris Smith era.