He might be electric with ball in hand. But he can not defend for toffee. He seriously needs to improve that part of his game if he is going to come close to getting a chance at Hardakers shirt.

It's the same in the 16's also. Mazive is great with ball in hand, but just like through his youth club days, he can not defend.

We struck gold with Hardaker, and his defensive abilities. Hard to be so good at that part of the game.

Defence can be coached and I'm not 100% in agreement that he cant "defend for toffee" he is a bit light weight in contact defensively nor am I saying he is ready for SL now but I think he has stacks of potential and is class in attack.

Yes, at under 12's. Of the highlights I have seen, got to say, I don't just think his defence is bad, I think it is shocking.

His ability with the ball masks this issue, and to be fair at that level it probably can, but not at super league. It is something he needs to work on personally, rather than coaching.

Highlights?
I'm not after a tit for tat type of point scoring debate but i've been to quite a few games & I wouldn't describe his defence as you have.
Highlights don't show when he has made try saving tackles and there have been plenty.
I absolutely agree it's not as good as ZH but there are plenty of SL NOW not as good as he is.
I also agree he has to work on it as well but like I said it can be coached or are you saying at 17 Defence can't be Coached?

I wasn't having a tit for tat. I agree with the point you have made, and it is only highlights.

I am just saying from that his defence is always questionable. If it was individual times, then it is not an issue, but there has being plenty tries scored against where you would expect your fullback to have stopped it. If he is having a problem at that level, then he certainly would at super league.

I am not saying at 17 defence can not be coached, I am saying it should not have to be. The coaching on defence at that level should be on systems, not on individual tackling. That is done at under 12's.

Both defence and tackling (two completely different things) can be coached at any age. One thing you can't coach is pace.

True, but there have been players with pace that for whatever reason have failed to develop these skills. Kevin Penny and Leroy Rivett are two hyped examples.

The problem is that full back tackling technique is very different to every other position, so it's often not coached at amateur level. Partly for valid reasons (you might not have an identified full back in your team/he might not come every week/it's not always helpful to specialise at such a young age) and partly for "wrong" reasons (the standard of amateur coaching is quite poor/skills in general aren't taught enough at amateur level).
Also at academy level you get into much more intricate skills such as holding players up over the line, which I highly doubt is coached at amateur level.

Not to mention both the physical and mental development of players happens at different ages, he might be currently lacking the strength or dexterity required to consistently pull off good tackles, or the perception or confidence to do so. All of which can come naturally in the years to come.

Also, some people (I'm not necessarily saying you do here, it's a general comment) forget that these lads aren't full time and that, especially with young lads, there's only so much training you can do with them each week before it starts negatively affecting their development rather than positively.

So, Tautai has signed for Wigan. Last night Ali Lauatiti had tweeted he was leaving Wakey for "rugby". In the same tweet he mentioned Kirmond to Leeds. Wonder if there's any truth in that

i heard we were talking to kirmond last pre-season

Ah Danny Kirmond. Positively rolls off the tongue...

Interested to see what the club does with the likes of Keinhorst, Minns and Duckworth when they come back.

The cover for the threequarter line is going, IIRC none of the three will be Under 19s eligible for 2015. So do you keep them around, kicking their heels or going on dual reg, or do you cut your losses and let them go elsewhere, leaving you without any experienced threequarter cover?

Is this also Ash Handley's last year at 19s? Has to be now or never for him, looks a lot better on the wing than he has in the centres IMO, has matured physically and is a big, strong lad.

If you catch the highlights of the 19s game against Hull, check out his mid-air finish in the corner. Positively Hall-esque.

I'd give that signing a thumbs up!

Careful what you say there Gareth - one slip of the tongue and you could be in the sh*t.

I hope we don't sign Kirmond, I've a feeling whoever does will have o pay far more than he is actually worth, he is knocking on a bit and we aren't struggling for young back rowers.