Not a point scoring excersise but how many first teamers did come through the wire academy?

Last night Riley, Harrison and Cooper came through academy. Also this season Evans, O'Brien, McCarthy, Blythe, Dwyer, Currie and Williams had varied numbers of starting 17 slots. That's not bad for a side that ( as Sally C pointed out ) was so strapped for cash in the late 1990s that we scrapped the 'A' team to save money. It takes years to re-build a youth set up. As some have pointed out, we can't be doing too badly now given yesterday's Valvoline result.

Yes, with Warrington's Academy it was essentially reboot and rebuild from scratch around 10 years ago. We had scrapped the academy temporarily in the late 1990s. Richie Mathers was on the books as a schoolboy around that time before he went over to Leeds.

We set up a scholarship system with William Beamont school and have put more and more effort into the youth set up but also we were starting from a much further behind position because compared to places like Leeds and Wigan or the Cas/Wakey area that have lots of junior clubs around, Warrington doesn't historically have the same density of junior players and clubs on our doorstep. In that context we have done really well in terms of catch up over the last decade.

In terms of really good players that we have produced, since Harris and Scully came through in the mid 1990s there is only really Paul Wood and Chris RIley that have been consistent top SL players that would interest the top clubs. Ian Sibbit is the other one that went on to have a long SL career albeit most of it not with us. Paul Noone l thought was a decent player but just as he looked to have cracked it in 2005, he seemed to fall out of favour in 2006 and after being released by us disappeared. The more recent generation of young players, Harrison, Cooper, McCarthy, Evans, are good though, and have been able to hold their own in a top side.

At the moment I am fairly optimistic that we will have a fair few SL standard players from the ranks coming through as the Academy team has been strong for the last few years and we have had a good set of representative call ups at junior level. The real question is if/where the likes of Sinfield/McGuire/Burrow are going to come from. No matter how good the coaching is they can't manufacture a player of that calibre they can only help players reach their own maximum potential. Those Leeds guys not only had huge natural ability but also great attitudes and mental discipline which made them reach and stay at the top, again this is born not made.

As for the argument that Warrington have been buying up young talent from other clubs this is true, but this is nothing unusual from us, top sides have done it all the time. Since we have been able to spend up to the full salary cap we have been spending the same as the other top clubs but the lack of having a lot of big guns from our own academy in the first team has left us with more apparent signing power than our rivals: Leeds, Wigan and Saints are having to use salary cap space on Sinfield, McGuire, O'Loughlin, Tomkins, Roby etc and those guys will be on good salaries. Although we'd love to have had those guys come through, the fact we haven't, has left us with more spare cash lying over hence we've been the front runners in the market for the best young players at the smaller clubs eg Myler, Ratchford, Atkins etc. This is a better use of funds than signing ageing players or big names for the sake of it.

But also lets be honest other big clubs have done this all the time. Guys like Iestyn Harris and Gareth Ellis were huge players for Leeds that came through smaller clubs academy systems and Leeds don't need to feel guilty about that, neither do Saints for signing Sculthorpe and Wilkin. People notice Warrington because they have become more active in that market in recent years. If we do manage to bring through some big guns out of our own youth system though we will have less salary cap space and so will be less big players in the market.

I would love to know how Warrington do manage their salary cap with all the big names in it !!!

That's because they play for the love of the game and to win trophies at a big club. Also I imagine the opportunity to work under [iuber[/i coach tony smith would be a factor as well.

They're the new big game team, they've replaced saints with their star studded line up and their 'win every single final we play in' team.

I wouldnt be totally down if we do lose as Leeds are thee Grand Final side and also Leeds owe us in a Final after two pretty easy wins in the end at Wembley.

Should be a great game I felt our semi last year was good enough to be a Grand Final, it had everything.

all the players wags are very expensive cleaners r its a live cap it can't be breached

List your squad next to Wire's squad, estimate their salaries, and you'll probably find there really isn't much difference between the salary totals.....

For a start, I'm willing to wager that nobody in the Wire squad is earning more than Sinfield or McGuire.

i bet they do. and i bet benny westwood hopes he gets the same type of contract as he did last time

You haven't a clue, pal.....Admit it, you know jack. If you knew what all the players were earning, you wouldn't spend your time on here.

You're like the majority on these boards, claim to know all the 'inside' info, but actually just get your stuff from the local taxi driver or your own over-active imagination.

Saints used to be the grand final masters. But then relatively new kids on the block leeds rolled up and blew them out of the water in 2007.

Now, leeds, are the wiley old grand final masters and warrington the hungry new kids on the block, ready to blow them out of the water.

As a fan i feel so different looking ahead to the GF than i did the CCF. The CC i was nervous all week about 'could we finally nail the missing piece'. Already i feel quite relaxed about next Saturday (similar to last year), you get the same sense from the players. It's a case of whether or not it's a complete roll reversal and Warrington feel more tension about the 'their missing piece' than they did at Wembley where they'd already done it twice.

Despite the gap in final league placings no-one at Wire should underestimate Leeds.

I don't think the Wire fans are underestimating Leeds as much as their own supporters are!

Leeds Grand Final record is outstanding. A really tough team who never give up. Should be a great game

While I'm clearly not going to wager on something that is pure speculation, I'd plump for one or more of Waterhouse, Westwood, Atkins, Myler (big money signing), M.Monaghan and maybe even Hodgson (reigning MoS when signed...tho' maybe resigned since then).

Oh and I'd imagine J.Monaghans contract took a pretty healthy jump after the first one-year-dog-botherer-deal.